December 2023 Riding Highlights

Jan 2, 2024

RIP my Ricoh GR III which is finally giving up. It fell out a few months ago when I went over a cable ramp from some construction with my stem caddy open. That busted the image stabilization. Now the motherboard battery seems to be going. So this post includes some of the last photos taken with it. I may not replace it because I don’t like how unrepairable they are. Anywho, let’s look at some coyotes!!

This one was howling for a long while by a road in Golden Gate Park. It didn’t seem disturbed by all the passing humans, which is unfortunate.

If you are comfortable doing so, we encourage you to “haze” the coyote, which means trying to scare the animal off by making loud noises, waving your arms, and appearing as large as possible. Hazing a coyote does not put you at risk of being hurt by the coyote and is an effective way of restoring an individual animal’s natural fear of humans.

A coyote howling in the grass in front of a line of trees.

And this one on the left was running through JFK Promenade — hi sweet pupper ❤️.

Two cyclists on a rainy day biking along a tree-lined road with a coyote running on to the grass in front of them.

By the way, cars are the number one cause of death for coyotes in San Francisco. Another reason for more car-free areas, especially in the park.¹

In speaking of wildlife in the park, there’s this one heron that hangs out around Metson Lake a lot.

A Great Blue Heron on a path in front of a lake, under a tree with sparse leaves.

And the bison! Which you get a much better look at from the north side of the paddock than the south. This one is scratching itself on the tree 😭. Sorry for the fencing, not much you can do.

A bison rubbing against a tree beside another bison lying down in the grass.

Near the end of the month we were treated to a perfectly misty vibe on our favourite Golden Gate Park trails. The trails are so comfortable right now. They’re soft and tacky from the rain — they feel better than riding on the road. I wonder how much of that is because there’s nothing but sand dunes under a little bit of soil.

Looking face-on at Kat biking down a wide dirt path in low misty light with her dynamo light shining on two puddles in front of her.

I love the park so much.

Looking from the side on a hill at Kat biking across a dirt path between a lot of trees.

Kat biking up a dirt trail just off the road with a cone of light from her dynamo and tree leaves framing her.

We’ve been on the north side trails of Golden Gate Park a lot lately. We’ll exit them by the Dutch Windmill² and hop across JFK to cut through this cute path to the old streetcar right-of-way. This gets us back to the car-free road part of the park or the south side trail network.

Kat biking down a gravel path with railings and foliage on each side. It's all wet and misty.

Looking at Kat from behind going down some slightly winding single track in a grassy forest.

Everything was covered in condensation and mist this day. It was the best.

A large patch of dewy clover with mist in the background.

Great Highway Park

Our Christmas Eve plans stayed outdoors since a bunch of us were sick. But we did our classic park and Great Walkway out-and-back. I did this on my new Brompton (“N Judah Explore”) which was its longest ride so far! We got a great sunset that day.

Looking out at the Pacific Ocean at golden hour with the low sun poking through the clouds a bit. There's someone biking through the sand on Ocean Beach.

My Brompton was photobombed/blessed by the cutest dog.

An unfolded brown Brompton resting against a barrier in front of Ocean Beach. A blurry dog is running across the foreground.

Ben gave the Brompton a shot. There was someone else riding a blue and silver one up and down, too. I’ve noticed a lot more of them around since owning one.

Ben riding a folding bike with a large blue bag on a cloudy day.

Obligatory “parked”-mode vanity photo in the middle of the park.

A Brompton with the rear frame folded under in the middle of a road with dramatic clouds behind it.

These were from before Christmas Eve but while we’re at Ocean Beach.

Looking south on the median of the Great Highway with many people walking and cycling. A dramatic sunlit cloud is rolling through in the background.

Ice plant in the foreground, then the sidewalk on the beach, the sand dunes, and the Pacific Ocean.

Look at that new Bridgestone BB-1 though.

Looking at Kat riding her BB-1 from behind at golden hour.

Lake Merced

Kat and I rode around Lake Merced one Friday. That one little single track loop at Lake Merced is so fun.

Kat riding towards a large tree on some slightly overgrown single track.

Kat riding some single track filled with foliage with a low sun and tree line in the background.

We also checked out Fort Funston while we were over there.

A flooded concrete battery in shadow in the foreground but sunlit in the background.

The Lake Merced Quick-Build has started and we rode the completed bit of two-way bike lane just because. It’s nice to see concrete for once. Even though it probably isn’t high enough for the speeds vehicles travel here.