Mission Mission

Story time:  My mom is visiting the city this weekend for a teacher’s workshop, and I was racking my brain trying to come up with the perfect Saturday activity we could do that would best embody the spirit of San Francisco, when it suddenly dawned on me…

BICYCLE MUSIC FESTIVAL!  Where else can you find the perfect combination of bicycles, music (being powered and transported by bicycles!), food, and some of the raddest folks in town?  And to top it all off, the meandering route, which begins in Golden Gate Park, winds its way through the city until ending up in a ridiculous, fun-filled afterparty at 22nd and Bartlett (the same spot where the Mission Community Market takes place every Thursday).

Good thing I have an extra bike for mom!  It’s probably going to be even bigger than when the 2010 one temporarily took over Oak Street:

Watch:

[via kottke.org]

Launch is in August, but no luck here in the Mission. Mission Local reports:

[T]here are no firm plans to build stations in the Mission at this point. SOMA, the Financial District and Embarcadero will share 35 stations with 350 bikes during the first stage of the pilot, which ends in early 2014. Other regional partners will divvy up the remaining bikes between San Jose, Mountain View, Palo Alto and Redwood City. A second stage, to be determined, will expand the service by up to 1,000 bikes. [link]

Dumb! I LOVE bike sharing. I go to DC every now and then just to ride their bike-share bikes. I went to New York last week to be there for the launch of their program, and it was awesome in every way (even despite several first-week glitches). Bike sharing will be awesome in SF, and for SF, so I’m bummed there’s no Mission service planned. Cross your fingers.

(Thanks, Jess.)

UPDATE: Although, I guess New York has the same problem. (But at least there are like three stations in central Williamsburg.)

This is almost as rad as the time that guy tracked down the guy who stole his bike on Craigslist and traveled all the way from Portland to Seattle to set up a sting operation.  From Fossil Fool:

Stolen bike recovered in heroic fashion on Bartlett St. as members of the Rock The Bike crew pedal power their way through a U-Lock. If your bike is stolen in the Mission, mobilize your networks to get lots of eyeballs working for you, pattern matching your bike against all the ones they see. Bike thieves aren’t the brightest bulbs on the tree…

Nice work SF cyclist community!

BREAKING: SFPD source says garbage truck struck & killed cyclist at 16th & S. Van Ness within last 20 minutes

— Stan Bunger (@BungerKCBS) May 23, 2013

One more shot from 17th & South Van Ness.cc: @missionmission twitter.com/terrapin_sf/st…

— terrapin_sf (@terrapin_sf) May 23, 2013

This morning on South Van Ness between 16th and 17th.

[via KRON 4's FB page]

@kcbstraffic serious accident at van ness and 16th. Van ness blocked. twitter.com/cruisezero/sta…

— pcruise (@cruisezero) May 23, 2013

UPDATE: SFist has identified the cyclist as 21 year old Dylan Mitchell.

Our good pal Kate reminded about this gem from 1986 that stars Kevin Bacon as a hotshot stockbroker who loses it all and becomes a bicycle messenger on the mean streets of San Francisco.  Check out the trailer to also catch a glimpse of him racing a young Lawrence Fishburne down some speedy SF hills!

Also, more people need to be doing this in front of bars:

Just be glad the forklift owner didn’t show up and cruise off with your ride!

[via Lindsey]

Invasive non-native aqua cycles spotted at 24th and Bartlett Attic bike lockup area. Cosmic coincidence?

Just ride your bicycle through a goddamn forest.

Still, I suppose this isn’t as bad as the last ridiculous thing that happened to my bike.

(Title inspiration from Vic)

There’s an opening party on Friday, a full program of rad biking films on Saturday, and a race at GG Park on Sunday, with an afterparty at (where else?) Bender’s.

Check out all the details here, and RSVP and invite your friends here.