This post was written by Robert Leone of the Knickerbikers, San Diego’s Bicycle Touring Club and board member at the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition. This post is a report on the Tour de Five Cities benefit that was organized by Jeff Motch, one of the owners of Blind Lady Ale House.
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The Plan and the Man
A wonderful recreational opportunity for a scouting of San Diego Bay by bicycle came about thanks to Jeff, one of the owners of the Blind Lady Alehouse. The idea was a recreational, no-ego bike ride from the Adams Avenue area down to Barrio Logan. From there we’d round about San Diego Bay in a clockwise direction, ending up at the Coronado Ferry Landing. We’d then take the ferry (toll: $3.75!) across to downtown San Diego, return to Barrio Logan and climb back to Adams Avenue for a finish at the Blind Lady Alehouse. On your left is a picture of Jeff, who barely made it onto the 12:30 PM ferry from Coronado because he took the time to take some pictures.
The Start at Adams Avenue Bicycle Shop
The Adams Avenue Bicycle Shop has several advantages for weekend recreational ride starts. If you ask nicely, they’ll open the shop to support the event. If you ask even more nicely, they’ll have their espresso machine
running. On top of that, it’s a known, easy to find location. Further, it’s in a part of town that features a great many cyclists. It’s got a wide sidewalk, which is great for marshalling a lot of cyclists. And we did have a lot — more than eighty according to some counters.
Note for coffee fans: If you do like your espresso, and you’re going to a morning start event beginning at Adams Avenue Bicycles, bring your own cup! Adams Avenue Bicycles does have some nice ceramic cups, but due to “shrinkage” I think they’re down to two. And let’s save on the paper and foam cups too. Incidentally, if you do like your coffee and coffee drinks, remember this route — it goes past Café Calabria, Latte mi Corazon, and Ryan Bros.
Down the Road — One Flat Tire at a Time!
One irritating element of riding is flat tires. Pneumatics are the wonder that made speed and comfort on the “safety” bicycle possible, but the price is the potential for a flat. The previous week a rider mounted on Schalbe Marathon Pluses and factory “Slime” inner tubes had to replace one of his tubes when he hit a nail. I’ve double-flatted on puncture vines (also known as “goat heads” and “Russian Thistle”). Large events not only include a greater likelihood of someone in the ride flatting, but also a bit of exuberant riding at the start. As a result, my usual practice on larger events is to try to start behind the main mass, and ride behind them, at least in the beginning. I sometimes pick up speed or position in the group after the initial starting chaos has subsided. I also tend to carry too much junk on my bike, much of which is over-preparation for flats.
I didn’t have any on this ride, but both I and Jeff, who was tail-ending his own ride, saw several, and pitched in with some of the fixes. If I had to give a flat tire an award for sheer theatrical quality, it’d be this one — we were riding past a small group taking a breather along the side of Glorietta Bay before heading to the Ferry Landing when we heard the sudden pop and release of air indicative of a tube just giving up.
It turns out it was the second flat of the day for that wheel. Perhaps the tube had been installed with a bit of it installed between the tire bead and the wheel rim (done that). The rider and one of his pals decided that while the Ferry was more than forty-five minutes from its next departure, they might as well patch.
On the Boat!
There were a sizeable number of Five Cities Ride riders waiting for the 12:30 PM ferry from Coronado to downtown San Diego. In part, it was because the ferry ticket machine at the foot of the pier had been intermittently out of order. It also didn’t help any that the Cabrillo, the ferry boat with the bike racks on the inside, was out of order. It had been running yesterday. Thus, we were boarding the smaller Silvergate, which features space for bikes along the outside rail of the lower deck.
On to the finish.
From the downtown terminal near Broadway we on the 12:30 PM ferry meandered down Harbor Drive (it’s a quandry for some whether to ride the bike path or the road — both have their merits and detractions).
Then we crossed the overpass above the rail yards near the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal, made a left onto Cesar E. Chavez Parkway, and headed back up to Adams Avenue.
It was great to see our friends from the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition had added several of their portable bike parking racks to the two racks the Blind Lady Alehouse provides for their human-powered patrons. It was also nice for the Blind Lady Alehouse staff to allow the SDCBC temporary racks some storage space after the post-ride festivities subsided.
I’ll note here that many groups traditionally ride the Bay Shore Bikeway from downtown San Diego, Old Town San Diego or Mission Bay. It’s one of the flattest relatively long rides available for those not enthused by hills. However, the rises up 25th Street and 30th Street that were part of this ride were nice approximations to the ride over the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge that will be part of Bike the Bay on 29 August 2010.
Text and photos by Robert Leone
Much thanks to Robert for a throughly entertaining writeup of the Tour de Five Cities benefit ride.