Have you ever done something that was so crazy you thought at the same time: This was awesome!!!! and I am such an idiot!!!! Well, I did that on the way from the ride. It turns out that I got so excited that I totally forgot how to ride a bike… SAFELY!!!

But first thing first. This weekend I did an awesome bike ride organized by San Francisco Bicycling Coalition called Seven Hells of SF (Steepest Hills of SF III) Tour. There were about 20 to 30 people of various skills. The leader gave us a ride sheet and disclaimer. Something about gruesome death and dismemberment.

So we started the ride and soon we were at the first climb. One cool thing about that climb. On the way to it, some surfer dude from a jeep pulled half of his body out of his truck and asked if we are doing that climb. Upon confirmation, he exclaimed: YOU GUYS ROCK!!! In a surfer dude lingo.

So, since the first climb was super tough and I wasn’t prepared for it, I lifted the front wheel and the bike turned quickly, so I had to step off the bike half way up the climb. But I quickly jumped back on and finished the climb. Next climbs went without incident, but I did have to repeat one, so that the ride leader some photos of me.

Awesome ride and SFBC did a great job organizing it.

Ok, so the crazy thing. On the way back, I was having way too much fun riding over the hills of SF. I was going up and down roads and avoiding the stopped traffic. Do you know you are way faster on the bike in SF? Anyway, on one of the downhills, actually on the flat section in the middle of one of the downhill, the guy in front of me made a quick stop. This caused me to squeeze my break, but unfortunately I squeezed the front one a bit too much… This was a bad idea, since it caused my rear wheel to lift. For some reason I was still moving, but I was propped up on the front wheel. I knew I was going to die, but I enjoyed the moment anyway. It was, for the lack of better word, AWESOME!! Some strange luck or supreme being’s intervention caused my bike to fall back on both wheels and I was able to ride away with nothing but a slight whiplash. And I had a huge grin on my face. I am talking the grin that would shadow the sun. I just did a front freaking endo with my bike and recovered. I figured out that the people behind me are probably still washing their pants.

Ok, that is it… I escaped sure death on Saturday, which means I will probably get ran over by an ASSUV today.

Tags: Cycling,Safety,San Francisco
Categories: Biking, Travel
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Interesting video showing why cyclists should be riding in the middle of the lane and not on the side.

Tags: Bike to Work,Cycling,Safety
Categories: Biking, Causes
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On Saturday I started day by biking up Old La Honda road, down west 84, up west Alpine Road and back down Page Mill. The weather forecast was rain, rain, and rain. Of course the big difference between US east coast and west coast is that on the East coast when the forecast gets it wrong, the weather sucks big time. Here in California, when the forecast gets it wrong, it is a gorgeous day. Case in point, Saturday.

Anyway, in the afternoon I attended the Memorial Ride for Matt Peterson and Kristy Gough that were killed by a Sheriff deputy a week before. There were about 1000 cyclists all possible color and shape. We started at Foothill College and ride towards the Steven’s Canyon Road. The nice thing was that police was super cooperative and they blocked road for us. The ride itself was slow, but it was really nice to see so many cyclists joining. At the end, there was a small memorial for the cyclists that included a big cross, team jersey, lots of flowers, etc.

Tags: Cycling,Memorial,Safety
Categories: Biking
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On Sunday local Sheriff deputy allegedly drowse off while driving on the Steven’s Canyon Road, cross double yellow line and crash into three cyclists. Two of them died, one was taken to the ER. Some more information: “Oakland cyclist killed Sunday was a world champion athlete“

In the spirit of this, I would like to ask all you drivers, watch this video and next time you drive, make pay attention. Think of it this way: If you are hit, you have airbags, seat belts, etc, you may have some scrapes. But, if you hit me, I will probably die.

Tags: Cycling,Safety
Categories: Biking, Random, Rants
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Ok, why are insurance companies so weird? The health one are probably the worst, but I will save this for some future rant. After having an accident with my car, I called the other driver’s insurance company. They were, well, the word helpful would probably be really far on the list. They were returning my calls after days of leaving messages. They are probably really busy.

When I finally talked to their claims agent, he asked me if I will go through my insurance or through them. I wonder if people who are not guilty actually go through their own insurance just to make things simple. That said when I called my insurance first, they asked me what car I drive and what is the license plate etc. After explaining them that I have been their customer for years and that I have been driving this car for more than a year, the operator said that this is claims department and not customer service. Well, their computer networks are probably really secure and so they cannot just check their customer information.

But, to go back to the original story. After waiting for the other insurance company for about a week and talking to the person, well, I was not impressed with their performance. Eventually I faxed them the estimate from the body shop and they send me check without telling me that they are accepting the charge. It took me a while before I realized why there is some random company sending me check.

My favorite body shop was more than happy to fix my car in no time. In the mean time, I was driving rental, which was some random American SUV. One day I will complain about SUVs, but for now, let me just say that this is not comfortable car at all. It is big, but it drives much worse than my Scion tC. The good thing is that after the body shop fixed the bumper everything else worked out. I guess if denouement is good, everything is good.

Tags: Driving,Safety
Categories: Rants
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