A friend made a good point today: in case shit hits the fan, you could do worse than own a bicycle. Think about it: earthquake, tsunami, governmental shut-down, what have you — gas is not going to be cheap or easy to get, and you’re still going to need to be able to get around. Why the morbid turn of conversation? Probs because we spent today cruising through (a completely unmorbid) Sunday Streets, Great Highway edition.
Crashing waves and hordes of bikers, you see, were the catalyst for all the survivalist talk — as well as my own, admittedly poor follow-up thought that bike folk could build coalitions with the gun rights groups over the question of self-sufficiency.
But around me, folks were reveling in their break from excessive use of fossil fuels, not morosing out. The second Sunday Streets of the year was not the most densely packed and attraction-studded event the series has held (the Mission, etc., makes for better people watching, strictly speaking) but it was the most pleasant this year to traverse on a bike.
Long, glorious stretch of beachside road, the SF Arts Commission Streets Smarts program’s DIY mural wall, Rock the Bike utilizing its double decker pedal tree to pump up the crowd and simultaneously get people stoked for June’s Bicycle Music Festival, a Twister game courtesy of the Urban Diversion folks greeted bikers emerging from Golden Gate Park, locally screen-printed whale tees hawked by a guy who lives across the street — not to mention your usual Sunday afternoon Lindy Hop session and an attempt at breaking the Guinness record for longest chain of roller skaters, both out on JFK Drive by the deYoung. And the bao truck, of course.
Anyway, just another sunny weekend in SF. I’m sure you were braving the sunshine and high winds somewhere equally lovely, but all the same you might like to see how your city brethren survived their Sunday.