raaaaaaah

Gold Sprints

This is what I'm going to be doing later today:

Wish me some luck.

Yesterday there was this:

Pay attention bike riders: This is how you should use these things when there are two bikes. If you angle your bike, like in the picture, it makes adding a second one easy.

I saw this happy piece of cardboard around 24th and Shotwell.

Lamborghinis

I've seen Lambos three days in a row.



Was out in the Presidio. Went to Danielle Steel's place. Visited US District and the other Court on McAllister. Had another banh mi from Saigon Sammich. Was more or less busy all day doing the same old stuff.

Am I "Tycoon Status" yet?

Am I? Saw this on the way to work. I used to be all about attaining Baller Status, but I will now update that to Tycoon.

I ate lunch in Union Square with a friend from the bike shuttle as I often do. More 桜桜桜. Cherry blossoms are everywhere these days. Maybe they're not cherry, but blossoms at least.

Duuuude. This was my lunch from Lee's Deli on Battery. They sell by the pound for not too much, and sold for $9.00. That's a personal Lee's record.

It was pounds of food, but it's all about TYCOON STATUS now.

Had a pick up at 720 California. Got there via Grant which runs through Chinatown. One of these buildings is taller than the other.

I shaved my beard and am 14 years old again. It was all donated to locks of love.

John Locke:

Tuesday 花見

I enjoyed the blossoming trees on the 700 block of Alabama as I made my last drop before lunch.

I bought a burrito from a truck around the corner and sat down here to eat it. It wasn't long before some pigeons started creepin' on me.

Later on I got a front flat because I'd jinxed myself by talking about how I never get flats this morning on the bike shuttle. I could have used a new tube, but I decided to patch it because I wasn't in a hurry and it's more economical. Above is me in the lobby of 51 Federal waiting for the glue to dry.

This is what a patched tube looks like.

I stopped to watch the break dancers on Market street.

This guy was my favorite and he had the tightest outfit. Every time his turn came around, the guy to his right in the background, crouched over in the white t would eventually have to tell him "that's enough, come back, come back" because he apparently was stretching out his turn too long.

At the end of the day I saw this dude carrying his toilet home with him. A true champion.

Further Reflection

I wrote about the reflectors on UPS trucks in an earlier post. Like Hot Chip says, nothing's new forever.




I had a drop on Liggett Ave. in the Presidio. There was a birthday party for a little girl set up down the street. There was bouncy castle and two set tables with mini Swedish flags in the centerpiece decorations which reminded me of the time I wandered around the suburbs of Basil, Switzerland high.

Weird neighborhood unlike most others in SF. Also reminds me of the one in A Wrinkle in Time where everybody's jumping rope in unison and all that.

Woah

We were SLAMMED today. Six riders short. One of the busiest days of my career. Rode all over town till 6:30. Exhausted.

Got a free beer at the Anchor Steam tasting room when I was there picking something up at around 5:30 today. Picking up a 1700 Mariposa going to 100 Larkin on my way out to 2565 3rd after five? DUDE

Once again, exhuasted. Gonna eat some spaghetti and take a shower.

Pier 39, dry heave

Yesterday I delivered some jewelry from a place at the beginning of Bryant St. by the Bay to Pier 39:

Pier 39 is truly the 39th circle of Hell, one of the worst places in San Francisco, and should be avoided at all costs along with Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli Square and jail.


Then today I had to drop off a big roll from 2nd street to a jobsite on 5600 3rd St. A "jobsite" is usually a trailer set up near a construction site. This one wasn't occupied this afternoon so I had to take the roll back. Luckily I had a drop on Yosemite St. nearby, so riding way the hell out to the HP wasn't a total loss.

There I had to walk through some mystery workshop to find the recipient of the odd-shaped package I'd carried over. There were two barrels full of green liquid, spinning:

And this:
Not sure either. I rode back to 461 2nd, another fresh atrium and returned the roll:

afk

will put something up tonight. trying to navigate through the protesters downtown today. I guess the war will be ending after this protest, so that's good.

nasty

Rode up some nasty hills today.

Not enough sleep this week.

Wednesday

God dammit. I got another ticket for running a red light this afternoon around the 3400 Block of California. I'm sick of this shit.





I delivered some blood from 400 Parnassus to the hospital on 45 Castro.

Just noticed that the city set up one of those counter devices near the Gough/Octavia entrance where bikers keep getting run over:

I locked up my bike half assedly in front of 2 EC:

SSS

I started off the day with a super sick skitch all the way down Telegraph on the back of this pickup with hella clean graphics:

But other than that, the day was pretty slow. Aside from a 3700 block of Broderick and a few others, I didn't do much longboard. At the end of the day I noticed that our system fucked up and only gave me $6.33 for that run. My dispatcher looked into it and corrected it - $11.67 - of which I get 37%. If I didn't love the longboard work so much and have such low rent, I'd be out of Speedway because they rape us so badly with so little lube when it comes to pay. Sadder still, this tag was one we picked up from NOBS after buying them out and I know they made way more for it.

What's up with dogs licking the shit out of my legs? These two went for it when I showed up to drop off a package at 240 Stockton.


Towards the end of the day I got a delicious pork bun with all sorts of shit in it from Saigon Sandwich which I ate after dropping off a Charles Schwab tag at the 701 Grant Bank of America in Chinatown. Still hungry, I went over to this place down the street which claimed to be the oldest Chinese Bakery in SF with pictures of the time Bill Clinton visited on the wall.

I got the worst ha gow of my life there. It tasted like food poisoning. The cookies were good though.

Spring Fling Alley Cat

I raced in a fun alleycat through the O on Saturday.

Standing around before the race:

I had to sport my front: "Oakland" back: "Town Bussiness [sic]" shirt.

Briefing before the start at the amphitheater in Mosswood Park:

I came in 8th place out of sixty or so finishers. I stuck with my (lazy) plan to follow someone fast, riding with James from Mash for most of the race. On the way to the last checkpoint I caught up with Morgan in 5th place and hung with him till about thirty feet from the finish when my motherfucking chain popped off! Argh!!!

A few posts ago: "I'm going to try to follow the winner then beat him at the end and don't want my chain popping off."

So I would have been 5th or 6th, but while I was running the few feet to the finish, carrying my bike, two guys flew in ahead of me.

The finish was at Oliver, Adam and Dewey's house on 25th and MLK

Some good bands played in the back yard and things got a little hectic for a minute

More pictures of the race by OwenErnst here.

The Week In Review

Instead of showing up to work on four hours of sleep, I slept in and was just late. It was the right decision. Busy day, with my final tag out on 44th ave, an inch from the Pacific Ocean.


Sex workers marched down Market Street with a police escort.


A spooky staircase in the medical building on Jackson street in Chinatown.

Lots of ships in the bay. Hard to see, but there were. Going down this street, 21st I think, is great fun by the way.

Out on 44th and Judah, smelling the ocean air, satisfied with everything.

Light soda is free at Economy Restaurant Fixtures on 7th st, as is popcorn. (What's up Bianca. I stopped here after dropping by to see you a week or two ago. Save me a cupcake.) On this day they were out of popped corn and all of the sodas were mysteriously flat or didn't have enough syrup. When I mentioned this to the guy as I handed him the package, he reminded me I shouldn't complain about free soda. Dick.

Gonna go to bed early to-night and hyphenate words like it was the mid 19th century. Rest up for to-morrow's alleycat.

March 6, 2008

Dang, staying up this late always fucks me up the next day. I've been working on my bike and had to finish. I took apart and cleaned the drive train. It was filthy and now it's clean. Just tested it out and it feels much better.

I've ordered new parts (chain rings, cassette, chain) through the Wilsons catalog (bike parts at wholesale prices, good deal) at work to replace my worn stuff so this will probably be the last time I clean it.

I wanted it to be in good shape for the alleycat this Saturday. I'm going to try to follow the winner then beat him at the end and don't want my chain popping off.



I ran into Fastboots over at 3333 California this morning:

Then again later on at 400 Treat St. This time he was holding two huge boxes of paper that must have weighed 30 pounds each:

He insisted that I try it on, and the shit was HEAVY to be sure.



I saw this painting in an office downtown yesterday. Looks like a Sunset district street:


And some of this:



To the three people that read my blog: The last post is messed up. I was going to write about what's in my bag, but I can't get the whole picture to show. As soon as I figure it out, I'll make it better.