Response to LovelyBicycle's review of Swift Industries Polaris Porteur Bag

LovelyBicycle is a well-written bicycle/cycling-centered blog that I peruse some times. Today the author posted a thoughtful review on the Polaris porteur bag made by Swift Industries. Since I have had some experience in the last two years with two different porteur racks and two different porteur bags (including Polaris's predecessor, the Pelican), and I use my Kogswell Porteur almost daily. I thought I would comment on her post to add a perspective from someone with extended experience with the porteur bag set up. Here is what I posted on the blogpost:

Accessibility of content during riding
Also, bag can stay open w/o obstructing view

"HI, nice review. I have used porteur rack/bag extensively for the last two years. The bike is a Kogswell P/R with a low-trail fork, which is designed to carry heavy load up front. I have used two different porteur racks--VO and a Roseland rack specifically designed for the Kogswell Fork. I used Polaris's predecessor Pelican for a while before switching to a custom bag made by Ely Rodriguez of Ruth Works. Though the Pelican is of very high quality, some of the issues you mentioned in your review--inaccessibility of content while riding or even standing over the bike, for example--led me to have Ely make a custom bag.

Now the Ruth Works bag attaches to my front rack with an ortlieb pannier hooks and two velcro straps in the front-bottom, and I have a kryptonite thin lock cable attached to it so I can lock it to the bike when I go run my errands. I typically carry a thin/light grocery bag in the porteur bag so I can take it out for shopping. When I am done, I simply drop the entire grocery bag with the content in the porteur bag and begin riding.

The bag opens toward me, and I can access the content while riding much like a boxy handlebar bag. The ortlieb pannier hooks are quick-release and taking the bag off and putting it on is pretty easy, though carry a boxy bag off the bike is not easy so the bag stays on the bike virtually all the time. The bag can stay open, and the lid simply folds down to the front of the bag and doesn't obstruct my view

Besides being a daily workhorse carrying up to 50lbs of grocery (I have carried a 20lbs bag of brown rice AND 30 lbs of grocery from farmers' market once), I have also done a 200k brevet on it once and toured with bag filled up with stuff twice now. Because the bike is designed to carry a moderate to heavy load up-front, the bike stays extremely stable at speed, even as I descended the winding roads of the Santa Cruz mountains this past weekend (with a full load in the bag).

My wife carries all her stuff on her 1982 Trek 720 in panniers on a Tubus Logo rear rack, as the Trek 720 has extremely long chainstays and is designed to be very stable with heavy rear load. I agree with many folks who have already posted here, bike designs matter the most when deciding where to carry the load. I do think that I appreciate some of the design element of my Ruth Works bag more than the Swift, such as content accessibility during riding or standing over bike, and the fact that the bag can stay open when big content overflows and I can still ride. But the Polaris looks like a great bag for the right use."

On the ridge, ready to descend, carry a full load up front and stable through corners

Red and Black

My Kogswell P/R porteur is my go-to bike around town and even takes on occasional short brevet duty. It's got a big porteur rack from Roseland that attaches to the fork crown and mid-fork braze-ons. I also have a custom front boxy porteur bag from Ruth Works Bags. Slowly, the bike's color scheme has moved toward red and black.

The frame is black, as well as the saddle, the brakes, the rear derailleur, the downtube shifters, the rack, and the bag. Red parts are less numerous, but certainly stand out--handlebar tape, derailleur pulleys, and now tires, which are Soma B-line tires. I like them in black, but I like them in red even more. They are nice, smooth and quiet tires that are cheaper and last longer than my other favorite Grand Bois red Hetres. I really like how my bike looks and functions right now, apparently, someone else thinks so, too.

Buddhist Bicycle Pilgrimage 2012 Edition: Day 2

I woke up sunday morning and went to have brunch with the same friends I had dinner with last night. It was a busy weekend at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, a Buddhist campus where I work part of the week. A group of Humboldt State University students were making their semiannual visit; a well-respected community member passed away recently and his family was doing a service on campus that day. And of course, the pilgrims on the Buddhist Bicycle Pilgrimage would arrive later on this day. I decided to ride all the way here on day 1 instead of staying with the group at KOA in Asti so I could help to prepare to greet the pilgrims and make sure their program--including a sit-down meal--would go without a hitch.


I got some colleagues to communicate with the kitchen and the assembly hall to confirm the schedule. Scott, who has driven the gear truck for many years of the pilgrimage showed up first. After he unloaded "modesty attires" from the truck we stood on the curb outside the gate for a while. Heidi, whom I have known since the first edition of the pilgrimage, showed up next as she was assigned to help me set up the meals later. It won't be until slightly past 10AM when the first two riders showed up. 10 minutes later, other riders and some volunteer-driven vehicles began to string in. I helped to get them settle down, and gathered them together. Soon, Rev. Heng Sure, who was giving the talk to the group today, came and led a big group of them to the assembly hall for a short tour and a talk. As more pilgrims came in, I directed them toward the assembly hall to join the group.


I walked in a little later to the hall to check in. I gently inform Rev. Heng Sure that he had 15 minutes left, then I walked with Heidi to the kitchen and began to transport food to the dining hall. The kitchen/restaurant staff had prepare plenty of very delicious vegetarian food for the group, complete with dessert and organic grape juice made from grapes grown in the vineyards on the ground. Soon the group, finished with the talk, came and enjoyed the meal. I waited for most of them to finish eating, then changed into riding gears, and left for Abhayagiri Monastery.

Even though the temperature was noticeably higher than day 1, a light breeze made it fairly comfortable still. I rode through Ukiah toward the northern edge of the town. The day's last "hill" was on Eastside-Calpella Road connecting Ukiah to Redwood Valley. Before I hit the day's last rest stop at Lion's Park, I caught up with Rachel. We rode the last stretch, most of it under the shade of trees lining Tomki Road to Abhayagiri. Surprisingly, we were among the first to arrive, even though I left Talmage pretty late. After a refreshing shower, I chatted with many fellow pilgrims to compare notes on their experience. I had a great chat with good friend and veteran BBPer (including being the coordinator one year) Eileen how her non-riding participation this year (she coordinated the supply-and-gear cars) turned out to be a great experience. As more and more folks came up, the compound where we were to have the closing ceremony was abuzzed with folks happy that they have completely a wonderful journey.

Buddhist Bicycle Pilgrimage 2012 Edition: Day 1

Pilgrims Checking in at Spirit Rock

The Buddhist Bicycle Pilgrimage is a Bay Area weekend event that combines cycling and visit to Buddhist centers in the area. Dennis Crean started the event in 2002 and I have participated in it for all 11 times, and 10 times as a rider (though every year I helped out in coordinating some parts of the events). This year I didn't register for the event until a week before, but my participation was never in serious doubt. Lauren Van Ham, who began as a participant in 2007, served as the main coordinator. On Friday night before the weekend, I got my bike ready to go, and arranged for my carpool ride to Spirit Rock Meditation Center in the morning. I got up at 5AM, gathered my stuff, and headed to Spirit Rock.

Opening Ceremony

Many folks were already there, putting stuff on the gear truck, dropping off food donation at the barn, and checking in with the folks at the assembly hall. Julie Wester, who was leading a silent retreat for women, opened the weekend with a short talk. After Lauren and Dennis gave some instructions for the weekend, we filed out of the hall to start the ride.

Sukho on his Bridgestone XO-2

A fellow came up to me as I was getting to hop on my bike. Sukho came with two friends from Portland, Oregon to participate in this event. He recognized me because he'd seen pictures of my Specialized Sequoia on the Internet. In fact, he came to know about the BBP through this blog. I was very happy to know that 1) someone actually reads my blog, and 2) that it was able to draw people this event. I wished him a good ride and then got on the road.

folks at Cheese Factory

The day started in Woodacre and inched its way toward lunch in Graton near Sebastopol. I rode with different folks at different time as we went on Nicasio Valley Road and Point Reyes-Petaluma Road to the first rest stop at Cheese Factory. I drafted behind a Santana Tandem for part of the stretch, and chatted with the stoker along the way.

Drafting behind the Tandem

After Cheese Factory, I rode with another couple on a Santana Tandem on Hicks Valley Road and Wilson Hill Road. I caught up with friend and veteran BBPer Leon Sun on Chileno Valley Road. Leon missed the first rest stop, but we weren't far from the second rest stop at this point. We chatted all the way to Tomales-Petaluma Road, and Two Rock Church came up quickly on Spring Hill Road. A dozen of riders were there already.

Two Rock Church

After fueling up with some food and topped up my bottles, I got on the road again now heading toward Graton. It was close to 10AM when I left, and I was aiming to get to Sae Tae Win II in Graton before 11:30AM. Valley Ford is a wide road that often serves as a tunnel for wind blowing from the ocean. The relatively smooth pavement and flat profile makes it pleasant to ride even with a slight headwind. A right turn on Roblar gave me some respite from the wind (and the dung smell that came with it). The pavement was much more suspect on Roblar, but the scenery improved significantly on this slightly cloudy sunny morning. I rode mostly solo on this stretch and the following set of turns, zigzagging toward Sebastopol. You get lots of narrow vineyard roads, short stretches on some major county thoroughfares, and even a stretch on the beautiful West County Recreational Trail. On Ragle Road, I passed a beautiful soccer field in a county park where kids were out playing. Just before 11:30, I turned off the trail and entered Graton. I sat up and rolled leisurely to Sae Tae Win II Center for lunch.

Sae Tae Win II lunch stop

Lunch was simple and adequate, as many riders rolled in I chatted with folks, some familiar and many new. One of the major concerns for this year's event was the forecast of high temperatures (90's) in Sonoma County on both days. However, the fog lifted late and it was still relatively cool as I got ready to depart after listening to the talk given by a teacher at Sae Tae Win II. I didn't linger too long and wanted to take advantage of the cool weather as much as I could. I departed Sae Tae Win II with a new-comer to the BBP. Rachel found out about the ride on a Internet forum and signed up two weeks ago. As we were leaving, she asked about the route immediately out of the center and since I knew the route by heart, I asked her to tag along.

We chatted and rode north on another stretch of the West County Trail to Forestville, then rolled toward Russian River on River and Wholer Road. We crossed the river and turned east on Westside Road toward Healdsburg. As we chatted I found out that Rachel actually goes to the same Gym (Ironworks) as I do and attends the same spin classes. We stopped on Middleton Farm and rested some, then continued toward Cloverdale. West Dry Creek Road is one of my favorite roads in Sonoma County, and after cross the river on Lambert Bridge, we turned north on Dry Creek Road. It was approximately 2:45 at this point, and it was definitely getting hotter, but still quite bearable even with my long-sleeve base layer.

Shadow Panda on River Road

On Canyon Road toward Geyserville, I began to felt some fatigue. Even though we were less than 10 miles away from the campground, my plan for the day was to go all the way to City of Ten Thousand Buddhas as I wanted extra time in the morning on Sunday to prepare for the arrival of BBP. The water stop on Geyserville Road provided just the rest and refreshment I needed. I grabbed several extra energy bars for the additional distance, and rolled toward the campground with Rachel. We turned off on Washington School Road and crossed the river again. Soon, the bottom of the big hill before KOA Campground loomed before us. I waved Rachel goodbye and wished her a good evening with the group and continued toward Ukiah.

Riding on HWY 101

Now it was getting pretty warm, and even though I didn't feel hungry, my legs were telling me otherwise. I merged onto Geyser Road from River Road, then found a shady spot on the side of the road to take a rest. I made myself eat 2 energy bars, and drank a good portion of my remaining water. After resting for about 5 minutes, I rode on at a slightly reduced pace to recover some more. I turned right on HWY 101 and began the 9-mile stretch on the highway. The road had been repaved recently and the shoulder was wide pretty much the entire way and I felt pretty safe throughout. Mountains on the west provided much needed respite from the sun and the heat, and the occasional zooming-by of big rigs pulled me along like a vacuum cleaner. I stopped at the Rock Shop for a short rest, and dragged myself to Hopland with basically no water left.

Sunset View on Old River Road

I bought some drinks at a general store in Hopland, rested some, ate some more food, and continued on the last stretch to my destination. Now close to 6, even though the sun is still out, the temperature has begun to dip, especially on shady stretches of Old River Road. Usually I can power through the gentle rollers of this road with gusto, but with 100 miles in my legs I was contented to go at a reduced pace of 13-14 mph. My shadow grew longer and longer as I got closer to Talmage. The scenery of vineyards under the setting sun was extremely picturesque, though I was hesitant to stop too much as I was eager to get to my destination for a much deserved shower and dinner. The gate of City of Ten Thousand Buddhas appeared soon enough, and I rolled in slowly toward my cottage. I later joined some friends for dinner at Ellie's Mut Hut in Ukiah after taking a hot shower. I had a restful sleep all the way to dawn.

Sequoia at CTTB

At the end of the day, my tally was 114 miles. I have never missed participating in this event since its inception, and my experience varied from year to year. Some years I wasn't physically ready and suffered some. Some years in extreme heat I dragged myself to the end of the day on both days. In the last couple of years I have been in good shape, and the relatively cool weather helped me to have physically pleasant two days on the bike. But every year I have always felt the great and warm energy from everyone participating in this year's event. This year especially I felt Lauren's great enthusiasm and warm, caring energy permeated the whole event on this first day. It was a beautiful day!

Carmel to San Jose

A friend needed his car driven down to Carmel from Berkeley. I thought about different ways to do that--get my wife to follow me in our own Volvo, spend a day at the beach then come back to Berkeley, drive down then take the bus to San Jose, then Amtrak back to Berkeley. I have never ridden the route between Santa Cruz and Monterey, so I put my Specialized Sequoia in the car and drove down to Carmel in the morning. I took a walk with my friend along the water front and chatted for a while. At around 10 or so I departed from his house in Carmel and began to ride northward.
Originally I wanted to take 17-mile drive along the coast to Monterey then get on the Monterey Recreational Trail. Given that I started later than I planned, I rode across Highway 1 then climbed Aquajito Road to descend into Monterey. This alternative route saved me about 10 miles of riding.


I got on the Monterey Rec. Trail near the Naval Postgraduate Academy in Monterey. The trail is very nice--well-paved, great views, and not crowded. It also allows a cyclist or a runner to stay off the street for quite a long way. I rode the trail all the way to Molera Road. Molera Road is a wide side road to HWY 1 nestled in vegetable fields. I had to get on HWY 1 north. Though the shoulder is wide, and I saw few other cyclists, mostly in the opposite direction, this wasn't a fun stretch to ride. The cars went by pretty fast, and even though I mostly felt safe, the noise was loud. It was also very exposed, and I had to battle headwind all the way until I turned off on Salinas Road. The conventional wisdom of riding north-south on the west coast held pretty true today!


Salinas Road passes through the small town of Pajaro en route to Watsonville. I could have stayed on the coast and take San Andreas Road to Aptos, then Capitola and Santa Cruz. But turning inland to Watsonville gave me more shelter from the headwind. I found a Safeway along the road, locked my bike and bought some food while I pondered my options. The miles of headwind on HWY 1 tired me out some, so part of me is tempted to find a bus to take to San Jose. However, not having any sort of connected device with me I  would have to ask for direction to a transit terminal, then figure out the time of the bus. Given it was the weekend, it's likely that even if a bus runs to San Jose, the time gap would be huge (later I found out that there is no direct bus between Watsonville and Santa Cruz). I decided to load up on energy bars and ride Eureka Canyon Road to the Summit and back to San Jose via the Los Gatos Creek Trail.


From Safeway I rode the mostly flat 4 miles to Corralito. Eureka Canyon Road stayed basically flat for more than a mile after it begins. As the climb increased in gradient, I began to suffer a little, mostly from a desire to take a nap. I got off the bike 3 times to drink and ate food, and closed my eyes for 5 minutes to see if the desire to sleep would subside. I definite struggled more this time than when I rode it during last Christmas, even though I was carrying more load then. After what seemed like a long time, I got to the intersection of Highland Way, which though started with a short downhill section, climbed gently for a couple of miles before finally descending to become Summit Road. At this point, it was clear to me that I would miss the 5:50pm train at San Jose, so I took a more leisurely pace down Old Santa Cruz Highway and on the Los Gatos Creek Trail. It was getting close to sunset and folks were out for their evening stroll/jog/ride. I got to Amtrak station at 6:25, and waited until 7:50 for the next train. It was a nice day of riding.


Eureka Canyon Road and Highland Way combined to be the highlight of the route. It was shaded and gradient was gentle. Once you get to the top you get a great view of the valley below. If I don't have to I won't ride south-north along the coast for very much, as the headwind really makes it miserable. My sequoia performed well; on a short section of dirt on Los Gatos Creek Trail the 650b Col de la Vie tires performed well. One thing I am thinking about changing on the bike is the 50T large chainring on the crankset. For this type of riding I think 46T or 48T is plenty for the flat, and allows me to stay on the big ring longer on the gentle climbs.

Re-taping handlebar and applying Shellac on the Sequoia

Dirty bar tape

The handlebar set up on the Specialized Sequoia has been transferred intact from the Rawland cSogn, to the Rivendell Bleriot, and now to the Sequoia. As time went on and as cloth tapes got dirty and worn out, I simply added another layer of cloth tapes on top. I did re-tape the handlebar when I replaced the fork earlier in the year because I had to replace the cables and the housings as they were too short for the new set up. I didn't have any new tape at the time so I simply put the old tapes--all three layers of them in (dirty) brown, (dirty) yellow, and (dirty) orange--back on the handlebar. I also taped the outer-most layer in a way such that the cleaner sides of the tape (previously under the spiral of the tape) are now exposed. While that makes the tape look newer, the sticky adhesive residue on the tape also attracted dirt and grime quickly so the tapes turned black quickly.

Fresh blue tape, pre-shellac

I finally got sick of looking at the dirty, slightly torn, and worn out tape and decided to add a new layer on top. Multiple layers of tapes make the handlebar more comfortable to hold. The new color is blue--not navy, not sky blue, but a nice middle-of-the-road blue. It felt so clean and non-slimy. I like the color quite a bit. However, knowing that dirt, sunscreen, sweat, and other stuff will transfer quickly to the bare cloth tape from my hand and gloves, I decided to finally try shellacking the tape to keep them looking new longer.

Color Comparison

Applying shellac on the cloth tape also have other benefits of creating a seal on the tape and allow them to last longer. When I wear the shellac out in the future, I can just apply another layer. I had a can of clear Shellac that I bought a while ago but never used, and I applied it generously to the tapes. The result is a darker and more glossy color. I applied two layers to let the seal last longer. I will report on how the shellacked tapes do in staying clean as after a few months.

Darker Color after 2 coat of clear Shellac

Marin County Solo Near Century

The summer is more than half way over, and my tank is almost empty as I have worked all year without a real break since coming back from bereavement in February. I also just got a lung-busting cold in the middle of July that almost cost me the chance to complete a bike ride we were training to do. I finally feel stronger again, and before diving back into work, I decided to take most of the day for a long ride.

Sequoia on Cross Marin Trail

I started the day early, and got myself to San Francisco by 6:20AM via BART. I rode along the northeastern edges of the city to the bridge then crossed over on the eastern sidewalk. The entire city and most of southern Marin county was still shrouded in fog at this point. I rolled up Camino Alto and down through the hamlets--roads I have ridden so many times on San Francisco Randonneurs' brevets or otherwise. Whites Hill got my heart pumping and the subsequent flats on Sir Francis Drake kept the heart rate up. Soon I crossed a pedestrian bridge shortly after the town of Lagunita to get on the Cross Marin Trail.

Top of the hill before Olema

A gem of a trail it is, and a great joy to ride on. The first portion is mostly dirt, but pretty packed down at this time of the year, and the speed remained high. The latter part of the trail has some newly laid down gravel that required a little more attentiveness but nothing too bad. Through the redwood groves I rolled, and in no time I was at the foot of the climb before Olema. The sky was clear by now but it was still breezy. Not many cars were on the road at this hour. I took my time getting to the top and enjoyed a fast descent. I purposely began braking a little later than usual to test the new brakes I have on the Sequoia--avid shorty 4. Initially, when I first installed them a couple of weeks ago, they weren't so hot in terms of stopping power, and they definitely squealed. I realized that the cable carriers were sitting too high for these low-to-mid profile brakes. I have since lowered the cable yoke, and on this occasion they stopped great and were silent.

Bear Valley Visitor Center lot

I stopped at the Bear Valley visitor center to fill up my water bottle (and I only brought one today) and eat some food. I wasn't planning on going to the lighthouse nor Marshall in the north, like the SFR 200k route, but planned on going on Limantour Road on a bike for the first time. If there was an aim today besides getting out and ride, it was to check out 1 or 2 camp sites that one can bike to. One of these sites is Sky Camp, which is reachable via 1.2 miles of hiking/biking on Sky Trail, which starts on Limantour Road.

Dirt on Sky Trail

The portion of Limantour Road I was riding is a steady, 3.75-mile hill that climbs 900+ feet. Although the gradient isn't steep, it's a relatively low climb. I found a good rhythm and kept a good pace to the top. Shortly after the road flattened, I came upon the trail head for Sky Trail. Though short, the Sky Trail was much more difficult than the much longer Limantour Road. The road surface was decent, but the trail has short steep pitches around tight corners, and even though the condition of the trail is decent, there is still uneven surfaces and loose gravel to negotiate. My rear Panaracer Col de la Vie tires, which has worn ridges, slipped a couple of times. I climbed to the summit of Sky Trail, and was a fraction of a mile away from reaching the actual campsite. But I was satisfied of my finding that the trail is ridable, and the scenery very nice--we will come back for an overnighter later!

View from Sky Trail

I was wary of the descent, mostly because I was afraid that the rear tire is too worn to provide good traction. It turned out to be OK as the brakes worked well again to keep my speed down without locking up my wheels. I got back to the trail head and was about to tackle my next off-road adventure--Inverness Ridge Trail to Mt Vision--when I realized I got a puncture on my rear tire.

Apparently a sharp piece of rock got through the worn area to the tube, and created a slow leak. I removed the culprit rock, patched up the tube, and remounted the wheel. One of the added advantage of 650b wide tires is that getting them up to 45 psi with a frame pump is relatively easy and painless (and I can't say the same about narrow tires that need to be filled up to 100 psi). I did manage to bend the nozzle a little bit. Although it showed no signs of leaking, I decided to forgo Mt Vision and instead ride down on Limantour Road to reach Pt Reyes Station quickly.

Sequoia at BMC

I stopped by Mike Varley's Black Mountain Cycles to ask his opinion about the nozzle, and also to buy some energy food and a pair of brake pad inserts (salmon color) for the front brakes. Although these Avid Short 4 stopped great, they will stop better in wet conditions with salmon color pads. Mike said the nozzle should be OK. I pumped up the tire a little more with his floor pump now that my off-road adventures are over for the day, and the floor pump head seemed to have helped straighten the nozzle back some. After filling up my bottle and getting a piece of snack at the Bovine Bakery, I began the return leg of my ride

Rolling along HWY 1 near the Lagoon

I had various options for getting back to San Francisco. I could go through Nicasio and rejoin Sir Francis Drake, I could retrace my step and get on the Cross Marin Trail. I decided that I haven't ridden south bound on HWY 1 to Stinson Beach, and maybe I can catch that famous north-south tailwind for the stretch. The road down to Bolinas was a set of pleasant, but not remarkable rollers. But I was definitely wrong about the tailwind, as I felt no help, and at times had to fight a headwind. The temperature got cooler as I approached the lagoon, and fog was already forming on the horizon around noon.

Resting at Stinson

The stretch of HWY along the Bolinas Lagoon is one of the most pleasant. One is riding at water-level, and various type of migrant and non-migrant birds casually float on the water surface. The temperature seems to be always cool and the pavement is outstanding. You stay on the big ring and power through the slight roller fairly effortlessly. Soon the crowd at Stinson Beach began to emerge. I sat on the beach people-watched for a while after filling up my bottle again and ate some bars. Now I am feeling a craving for real food, but I didn't want to fight with the swarm of tourists and beach-goers in the town's small number of establishments. I rested my legs and rolled again.

View from Panoramic Hwy

Now I have to tackle a major climb--up Panoramic Hwy to Pantoll Ranger Station. The scenic road gains 1400 ft in 4 miles, and steep in pitches on the lower sections. I tucked in on the drops, and spun up on a pretty low gear (34/28T I think most of the way), and enjoyed the scenery as I climbed up. The upper portion was much more covered and the gradient eased. It was a struggle after 60 some miles in my legs and no real food in my stomach at lunch time. The beautiful scenery and the cool breeze offered solace. I got to the ranger station huffing and puffing, but know that there is no tough climb left.

I stopped at Whole Foods in Mill Valley after dropping down from Mt Tam. I got some dolma, beet salad, and hummus at the salad bar, and a coconut water. The meal was very satisfying and gave me a second wind on my ride back to the City. After climbing up Alexander to the bridge, i had to contend with tourists on the eastern sidewalk again as the western sidewalk is only open on weekends. I was careful and rode defensively, but still got knocked over near the end by an unsuspecting tourist. The damage was a piece of lost skin on my hand and some small bruises as my right arm and hand made contact with the guard rail. After yelling at him to pay more attention, I rolled on, intending to catch BART before it becomes off-limit for bikes.

I got to BART station at 3:40, some 9 hours after I started this morning, and got back to Berkeley just after 4PM. The tally of the day--94 miles, 6500 ft of climbing, much pleasant to breath-taking scenery, and an opportunity to stretch my legs and clear my head. Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarter wrote an excellent piece on sensible performance bicycles for non-racers that I resonated a lot. Today's journey was a good example of what he is talking about. On a steel bike with wide-tires and fenders, racks, dynamo lighting, and a decent-sized bag, I was able to travel on both paved and unpaved surfaces, and traveled a lot of distance and rode some difficult terrain in not quite a day. The bike--an 80's Specialized Sequoia--has a frameset with standard-size tubes (not over-sized) that's lighter and more responsive, and allows the bike to stay under a reasonable weight even with all the "added" features mentioned above. I am by far not a fast cyclist, as I always finish in the bottom quartile of SFR brevets, but with a bike that's somewhat aimed at performance and a basic level of fitness, I get to go far today without rushing and enjoy the spectacular amazing coastal California scenery.