And here’s the Strava.Com segment what used to be called the Castro Street Bomb (and then the Castro Street Descent). It’s not too exciting. Rather sedate, actually. But I’m sure if you’re hauling butt to become the latest Strava.Com “KOM” (King of the Mountain) and you may or may not be “Idaho Rolling” through red lights, then it could be very exciting / addicting:
What if I started a Market Street Drag Race website for car drivers? They could make a segment like “Second Street to Sixth Street Drag” or something and people could keep track of their times using the GPS. Would you say that I was encouraging recklessness? Or not?
And here’s part of the “Strava Kills” topic at the MTBR.Com forums:
Sad thing is, even as this story makes it’s way around the cycling community, there are people that pull the same **** — running reds/stop signs/etc. from SF down to SCruz — that won’t connect this situation with possibilities around their own actions.”
And I’d link you to what they’re saying at the SF Fixed.Com boards but I don’t know how to do that. (It’s a bit contentious over there these days, I understand.)
“21456. Whenever a pedestrian control signal showing the words “WALK” or “WAIT” or “DON’T WALK” or other approved symbol is in place, the signal shall indicate as follows:
(a) “WALK” or approved “Walking Person” symbol. A pedestrian facing the signal may proceed across the roadway in the direction of the signal, but shall yield the right-of-way to vehicles lawfully within the intersection at the time that signal is first shown….”
What this is saying is that pedestrians in California need to let traffic clear an intersection before walking when the WALK turns on for them.
(Most pedestrians in San Francisco don’t seem to know this….)
See how that works? You want to warn your fellow riders that there are cops handing out speeding tickets on Highway 37 (aka Sears Point Road) up there in the Great White North, so all you have to do is to tap your head in an exaggerated fashion when you see others going the opposite way.
I’m sure that the bike rental place at the foot of Market Street pushed smelly neon-green helmets on this gaggle of northern Europeans heading outbound, but no dice.
Those are the Euros for you. (You could say the same thing about electrified bikes (helmet use required in CA regardless of age) or mopeds or motorcycles or whatnot, right? Where’s the line?)
Dude’s all over town, day and night. He’s got a bike lock and bike lights and he uses his Segway for everything, ranging all over the Ci-tay – Western Addition, the Tenderloin, you name it.
Bumped into him at a DCCC meeting on Golden Gate one time, the one where people were all upset about the rankings of the official Democratic Party endorsements. (Turned out the rankings didn’t matter, but Malia Cohen’s #2 endorsement that night, along with a few other things, is what made her your new District Ten Supe. Anyway…)
Truly, he is the 415′s new Segway Champion of San Francisco:
Now, ponytailed lawyer guy (at least he looks like a lawyer to me) is still Segway Master of Market, so that should be some consolation. Look for him betwixt the Castro and the Financh:
You certainly can say bicycle riding is a la mode these days in the 415, right?
But when fashionable people start hitting the streets, they find that wearing a helmet can become a burden.
So all you can do is just sling the thing over your shoulder with all your other accessories and then ride, ride, ride.
Click to expand
The Helmet Issue is a toughie for those who want a vast increase in the number of bikes on the Streets of San Francisco. In France, when a casual rider on a rental bike like a Velib gets killed for want of a helmet, people go ces’t la vie.
In America, people go to a lawyer and sue, sue, sue the city. And the county.
