Weekend: Two Wheels

Sorry for the delay, my family is in town and it makes it hard to get writing time. This was a packed weekend, with lots of biking in the city, Fleet Week, a race and a parade.

On Friday, Rob and I joined friends out at Bike Party. We rode around SOMA and Dogpatch with a few hundred others and stopped for a dance party at Pier 35. It was a gorgeous night with the city full of tourists and military on shore leave. This photo may appear like a sea of reflectors and blinky lights...but I swear there's a bear in a tutu and a trombone player:

Saturday, I slept in and Rob went for a bike ride in the morning. After a late breakfast, we rode the tandem over to Golden Gate Park for my company picnic. The Blue Angels zoomed overhead while we BBQ'd and watched dogs run around. A highlight was when a giant Stealth Bomber broke through the clouds on its way to the airshow. Back at home in the evening, Rob and I cleaned house while listening to Radio Lab and prepared for my family's visit.

On Sunday, we slept in, read the paper and had a big egg and sausage breakfast in the morning. At 11:30, we left for Tour de Cupcake registration. This "alley cat" (bike messenger style) race gave us 7 checkpoints to hit and 5 cupcake-eating stations as a fundraiser for Bike Kitchen. That's our friend's folding Strida bike representing "Team Wrong Bike."

Race started at 1:30 and we rode quickly through Portrero Hill to the Financial District and North Beach. The Columbus Day parade combined with Fleet Week traffic made for mayhem as we dashed around Washington Square:

From North Beach we headed through Cow Hollow and over the hills on Steiner St. To Alamo Square and Duboce Triangle before riding way out to Spreckles Lake in the park. Over Corona Heights, down to the Mission and back to the finish line. Our final race time was 26 miles in under 3 hours, fueled by cupcakes alone. A quick drink at the afterparty with our team to celebrate finishing around 70th out of 300.

Back home with just enough time to shower and have a cup of tea before my parents and sister arrived. Jean is in town from North Carolina for postdoc job interviews. No one wanted to go out for dinner, so while she practiced her science speeches, I threw together a dinner of chicken lentil soup and salad.

I'm off work tomorrow to spend time with the family before everyone heads home. With the rainy weather, we're going to the Academy of Sciences for an adventure and lunch.