Day 3 Checkpoint: Oceano, CA

Friday, January 29, 2009. Day three of my TEDride: Lucia to Oceano
 
I got off to an earlier start this morning, after breakfast at the Lucia Lodge. Mid-morning I had a grueling climb between Gorda and Ragged Point. From there it was pretty smooth cycling along the central coast plain. I made the halfway point of [...]

Day 2 Checkpoint: Lucia, CA

Thursday, January 28, 2009. Day two of my TEDride: Monterey to Lucia
 
 
Greetings from a place called Lucia – a remote little outpost on the Central Coast between Big Sur and San Simeon – 67.6 miles south of Monterey. I arrived at 6:00, just as it was getting too dark to follow the narrow shoulder of [...]

Checkpoint: Monterey, CA

Wednesday, January 28, 2009. Day one of my TEDride: SF to Monterey
Greetings from Monterey, Califonia, the birthplace of the TED confrence (www.ted.com), and its home for 24 years. I arrived at the entrance of the Portola Plaza Hotel, where TED was held for years, at 6:40pm. I logged 139 miles in 11 hours and 20 [...]

How I Roll…

Time to hit the road to Long Beach! I’m headed to the Golden Gate Bridge right now to begin the trip properly from mid-span. Here’s a video I made last night showing you the details of my ride…

Strange Change

Last week, on two separate and unrelated occasions, I received as change a JFK half-dollar coin and a two-dollar bill. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this, and on both occasions I hesitated, considered asking for “normal” change (quarters and ones), but then decided to pocket the awkward currency. In both instances my [...]

Sunday Drive

Today I went for a longer test drive on my new Rivendell touring bike, in preparation for my 500-mile trek to Long Beach to attend the TED Conference. It was a glorious morning here in San Francisco – clean streets, clear air and a brisk ocean breeze. I headed out to the Golden Gate Bridge [...]

Saturday Test Drive

Well, I took my new Rivendell for a test drive this morning. I ride a SoulCraft single speed everyday to work, so I’m reacquainting myself with gear shifting. I outfitted the bike with a mountain bike handle bar and twist shifters. I like riding upright – easier on my back. Gears and fatter tires make [...]

Got my new Rivendell bicycle!

On Thursday (now yesterday) I took BART to Walnut Creek to get my new Rivendell touring bicycle, which I will be riding 500 miles from SF to Long Beach to attend the TED conference (and back again). More about my ride later. TED runs February 4-7, and Rickshaw is once again the TEDbag sponsor, with [...]

What a day!

Making good on one of my New Year’s resolutions — to start using the various web resources I’ve been diligently avoiding  – I’m now drowning in a deluge of tweets, wall postings, comments and emails from my head-first foray into social networking. To think, we didn’t even have PCs when I was in college. This is [...]

It’s a brand new day!

Good morning! Today, those two words ring differently in my ears — because I sincerely believe that this morning is different — in a very good way. I believe yesterday was an inflection point in the history of America. Not because the problems we face this morning are any less than those we faced yesterday [...]