Mission Mission

This opportunistic bus managed to lodge itself into the intersection for not one, but two (2!!!!!) traffic light cycles this morning, no doubt causing Muni traffic down Market Street to merge into an even more congealed morass than normal.  Not even daring cyclists could get through!  If you were late for work downtown this morning, you know who to blame.

Protip:  If you’re about to cross Market Street and the light turns yellow, just stop.  It’s not going to work out.

Look at the size of that baton. And three or four of them were wearing gas masks.

All we wanted to do was cruise down Powell into the morass of Black Friday shoppers and see what was up, but NOOO. These guys had to blockade the whole neighborhood all geared up for war. God forbid anybody messes with commerce on the biggest shopping day of the year.

The ride was super fun though. A small group, nimble, good attitudes, and a few scenic stops:

Sure, we here in San Francisco think we have it bad, what with bad drivers and menace-level cab drivers and Muni malpractice, but cyclists in Chicago have to deal with ROVING GANGS OF ARMED BIKEJACKERS:

His swing missed thanks to a tight swerve and when he threw the chair, it went wild over and behind me.  Turning up Damen, I saw another guy running toward me.  There was no way I’d get past him, so I cocked my leg for a kick and gave him my best.  I don’t know if I connected.  His elbow went right into my chest and stopped the bike hard.  A couple other guys came up from behind and waled on my back until I hit the ground, my head bouncing off the pavement.

As any cornered animal will tell you, adrenaline’s a hell of a thing.  While a few guys kicked me in the chest and back, two other guys tried to steal the bike, and I wasn’t letting go.

It’s like a Cormac McCarthy novel or something! Read on.

[via Sea of Static]

[Photo by swade]

And the video is great too — an ideal length. No online video should be much longer than this, unless it’s epicly gnarly.

[via Urban Velo]

Epicly shot, epicly scored, and this dude performs a mess of feats that look downright computer generated. But for real!

Just watch:

[via neas]

It’s no secret that we have a bit of a bag fetish here. And yes I mean those bags. Messenger bags. Yup, after a long day of hard riding there’s nothing like having a big sweaty sack on your back.

Chrome bags just launched a custom bag program at their flagship store in SOMA. This was formerly available only in the NYC store, but now Chrome’s vastly superior hometown gets it. So if one of the selections in their current spread of pre-set color combinations isn’t loud enough for you to adequately express yourself, then just go pick your own.

The way it works is you go in to their store on 4th and Brennan, talk to a “in-store live-sewing expert”, and watch your custom bag take shape. I’m not sure what kinds of services this expert offers. It could be anything from “yeah, just pick from these 15 colors” to “oh nuh-uh, girl. That scheme does not go with your eyes.” You’re just going to have to go see for yourself.

Get the scoop on Chrome’s other fine products at their website.

CONTEST

Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about you poor creative types who are still rocking that high-school Jansport with the broken zipper. Chrome has kindly offered a FREE custom Citizen bag to one lucky reader here. But as you know, we don’t just give stuff away to anybody. You have to work for it, and this is gonna be a tough one.

In the spirit of color schemes, here are 5 mission color combinations that you might recognize. First commenter to name the locations of all 5 wins (leave a real email address, ok?). Guess as many times as you want. It’s as simple as that. Get to it!

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

I’ll supply hints in the comments if it turns out this is too much of a stumper.

At first we thought the heavy smoke emanating from the roof was just exhaust from Limon’s kitchen, but their staff informed us that was not the case, so they called 911.  Ten firetrucks later, it was determined that the fixies are safe and sound.  Crisis averted!

My Lucky Number’s One posted this picture and had this to say:

Cars keep almost running over cyclists in the bike lane right here. Cyclists are being amazingly polite in getting their attention.

Politeness is good, right? But does it make a lasting enough impression on the average dick motorist? How do you teach people to share the road and be more aware of their surroundings? What are the answers to these seemingly unanswerable age-old questions?

Okay, so the dudes that pop half-mile wheelies through city traffic are probably the type of cyclists that make people who aren’t cyclists hate cyclists (say that 10 times fast). But I’m not gonna lie, it’s a blast watching these reckless assholes fly through the insane intersections of Manhattan in the trailer for Empire, screening at Mission Workshop on Friday.

Sure, we’ve got the morning Market St. scrum, but does that really compare the the car/pedestrian clusterfuck that is Times Square? As the New Yorkers say, “forget about it!” Wait, do they still say that? New York readers please confirm/deny. Also chime in on these babies: “Why are you breaking my balls?” “Let’s get some fucking pizza” and “Fuck you, asshole!”

Back to the trailer. Check out those amazing skitchin’ shots. In case you aren’t familiar with the 1994 Sega Genesis game of the same name, “Skitchin’” is when you grab on to a car and hitch a ride. It’s like swimming with the whales except the whale is your enemy.

Check out the youtube trailer and the details below:

Mission Workshop is hosting Bicycle Film Festival San Francisco with the screening of Empire.  The Bicycle Film Festival is a platform to celebrate the bicycle through music, art and of course film.  As part of it’s 10th anniversary line-up the festival will be showing Empire at Mission Workshop Friday, November 12 at 6:00pm, tickets are $7 and can be purchased at the BFF website: http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com/san-francisco

Let’s be fair,  though. SF probably started this sort of bike video nonsense with Mash.

Every time I ride BART, I’ve always noticed the sign at the bottom of the escalator that forcefully commands, “No Bikes on Escalator,” and have wondered why that is the case.  A periodic loudspeaker announcement clarifies that it’s for our own safety and that of our fellow BART riders, but this has always seemed like a cop-out to me.

I really can’t tell what’s so dangerous about holding a bike on an escalator while it’s moving upwards.  Surely, you don’t need to monopolize the whole escalator like the person above is doing; there is plenty of space to fit both you and your bicycle while also keeping an avenue open on the left side for others who want to pass.  Moreover, doesn’t it seem even more dangerous for a smallish individual to attempt to lug his or her bicycle up that daunting BART staircase?

Some quick research reveals that while some people are completely against the idea, certain situations sometimes make it a necessity.  So, how do YOU feel about bikes on escalators?  Can anyone provide a cogent reason for why this is a forbidden practice?

[Photo by tinka516]