www.AnywhereBicycleRepair.com, originally uploaded by Roebot.

I’m riding the Gran Fondo 50 mile on Sunday. It’s been about 600 miles since my last tune up; so, I had my bike tuned up, tires trued and a flat repaired by Stu from www.AnywhereBicycleRepair.com. He came to my house at 6:30 pm last night and gave my ride more love than anyone ever has. It’s riding better today than the day I bought it. This guy is a consummate professional. Moreover, he charged about the same as what it would have cost me were I to take it to a bicycle shop. I can not recommend Stu enough.

My long rides  are Sunday morning. This week will be a 40+ mile ride. Let me know if you’re interested in joining me. This week I’m heading to Cabrillo.

Alas, our Christmas dinner plans were dashed because my kids were sick and we couldn’t expose the triplets. We did have a wonderful time nonetheless. We visited Mission Bay Park and then later, since we hadn’t planned for Christmas dinner, we ordered dinner from Celadon Thai. It was great, we had duck. It reminded me of “A Christmas Story”.

The day after Christmas we took the kids to the Zoo. I hope my kids will realize how lucky they are to have Seaworld, the San Diego Zoo and countless parks and beaches within a couple miles from our house.

I love San Diego. It is an idyllic place to raise kids.

I caught this on both MarshallK and PodcastHotel’s posterous. You whacky Portlandians. Anyway, I found it amusing and oddly resonant.

Five days a week I am subjected to motorists screaming obscenities at me, threatening me and feinting their vehicles recklessly close to me. Why? Because I bicycle to and from work.

From where I live in Hillcrest / Mission automobile traffic and a very steep downhill run. On the way home, which is uphill, I take 5th Hills it is just under three miles to my office, if I take a direct route. On the way to work, I commonly take a route through neighborhoods that have little Avenue near Balboa Park. 5th is a three lane, one way road. It is less steep coming up the hill and it provides a longer route for me to exercise.

Traffic in downtown San Diego is sparse. This is not San Francisco, Seattle or even Minneapolis. Traffic in San Diego is so sparse in fact it is odd to those of us who are accustomed to cities like San Francisco.

San Diego Gaslamp District at 6:30 PM on a Friday night.

Leaving from work I turn on 5th Avenue from Beech Street. I usually will bike on the sidewalk, which is illegal, for the first several blocks because that first section of 5th Avenue is busy with speeding cars getting on and off Highway 5. Moreover, there is little to no foot traffic in that area.

By the time I reach Kalmia Street, where foot traffic begins to pickup, I take to the road. When I bike on roads with no bike paths I tend to take up an entire traffic lane if there are parked cars. San Diego has very few bike lanes. By taking up a traffic lane I ensure motorists see me. This is legal. In fact, this is the only way to legally bike when there is no bike lane.

Why is it important to stay to the center of the lane taking it up entirely? It’s as simple as it is unobvious to passing motorists. When I stay to the side of the lane I risk cars pulling out from side streets and car doors opening, which then force me to skirt erratically and dangerously into traffic.

When I take up the traffic lane I can pretty much keep up with the traffic – thanks to the traffic lights. However, every day I have, at least, one road raged motorist verbally accosting me, or worse. Motorists will honk and scream obscenities at me, flash me the finger while shouting, threaten verbally to run me over and even go so far as to feint their vehicle dangerously close to me. These feints are often so close that were I to flinch and crash my bike I would be run over by them or the vehicle behind them.

One day while commuting home a motorist in a van squeezed me out of the traffic lane into a parked car while screaming profanities at me and honking. The door of the parked car opened and the only way I could avoid getting run over by the van or hitting the car door was to drop my bike. I looked up as the van drove off and it was the catering van from Cafe Zucchero, a restaurant two blocks from my office. I learned later the driver’s name is Greg. Thanks Greg. I can assure you that had you not forced me to crash I would have gotten to the next light just as fast as you.

Damien, one of my co-workers, was biking to work recently when a Police officer demanded he move out of the traffic lane over his loud speaker. A Police officer. Clearly, this fellow does not know the law. Nor do the belligerent motorists who regularly accost me. When I bike alongside them at the next traffic light after they’ve verbally assaulted me, for biking, I will inform them I am obeying the traffic laws and so too should they. Those brave enough to acknowledge my presence will usually scream at me not to take a lane and threaten me again with being run over.

Recently, I have noticed public service ads around town that state “Lose the Roaditude” and are directed at bicyclists. These instruct bicyclists to obey traffic laws. “Roaditude”? Bicyclists? I suspect these stem from the rise in popularity of Critical Mass here in San Diego. Is it any wonder Critical Mass is growing in popularity?

Where are the “Share the Road” signs? Where are the public service ads informing motorists of their obligations to bicyclists? I want to see an effort to inform motorists of bicyclists rights. There needs to be a concerted effort of City officials and Police to protect bicyclists.

08/03/2009 Route
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I’m often asked the same questions about Critical Mass. Who determines the route? Is there a prescribed route? Whoever is in the front determines the route and no there is not a prescribed route. In fact, this last Critical Mass Damien and I led it for the last eight miles out of Pacific Beach and up to Mission Hills. We were ready to go home.

One of the reasons Roe was diagnosed early is because his enterprising mother (Tara, featured above) used our Flip Video to record him while he was exhibiting symptoms late at night. Today the Flip Video again improved Roe’s healthcare.

Often when Tara, or I, go to the pediatrician we have many questions or pertinent information for the other to ask or share. In the hustle to get out the door with the distraction of children it is often difficult for either of us to remember. Before I left for work, at Tara’s request, I recorded a short 20 second video on our Flip with my questions. Tara watched the video, but as I too often do, she had forgotten a couple of my questions. Yay Flip! She had it with her at Dr. Gerber’s office and shared the video with him.

By the way, Dr. Gerber is  our wonderful pediatrician. I highly recommend him. He is at Scripps Medical in Hillcrest. He is very thorough, never rushed, always takes the time with us in the office and is happy to call us after hours to answer questions. Many of Tara’s mom friends take their children to Dr. Gerber as well. They all love him and think he’s a handsome fellow. So, if you’re looking for a pediatrician in San Diego….