Bay Area temp housing

Fritz posting here. I need a place to stay. I'm browsing Craigslist for a 1BR to rent through the end of May in the SF Bay Area. Since many of you read Cyclelicious from the Bay Area, I figure why not post my quest for a room here?

I'm willing to pay up to $750/month for a room beginning this Monday or Tuesday (April 3-4) until the end of May, though I have some flexibility either way on the start and end date. The room will be just for me, my clothing, personal hygiene stuff, laptop computer, cellphone and one bicycle. I'd like to be within about three miles of a Caltrain station. Free WiFi in the vicinity is a bonus. I'm sociable but quiet. The only mind-altering drug I take is caffeine.

I'm focusing mostly around Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and the South Bay, though I may go as far north as Millbrae and maybe even into South San Francisco. East Bay locations near the Dumbarton Bridge (e.g. Fremont or Newark) would also work well. I don't mind sitting on the train for an hour and a half if the price is right -- i.e. I'll take your guest room in Gilroy if it's cheap enough.

All I'm looking for is a reasonably quiet place to crash at night, eat my bowl of cereal in the morning, and occasionally eat dinner at night. If all you have is a bare floor, I'll buy an air mattress, folding chair and card table. I also plan to be gone about half the weekends through May.

Please contact me if you have something like this! I can meet you beginning this Sunday.

Inadvertently Funny Cycling Picture

The above picture appears on VeloNews today, Milram teammates Erik Zabel (background) and Alessandro Petachhi (foreground) in one of their more recent races. I just had to post it, and I look forward to some of the comments for this one...

Bicycle theft prevention

Jonathan has published an article about bicycle theft prevention over at BikePortland. All of the advice is what I consider common sense, but bikes keep getting stolen so I guess not everybody knows how to lock up their bikes. Among the theft prevention tips:

• Use a good lock. Thin cable locks are fine if your bike is in your plain view, but U-locks are the only good deterrant.
  
• Don't keep the bike on the front porch. I've known several people who've had their bikes stolen from the front porch, even when the bike is locked to something.
  
• Don't hide the bike. Don't park your bike back by the garbage dumpster or behind a wall; that allows the thief to work without observation. Put the bike out front where there are people.
  
• Don't just lock the front wheel. To me it's unbelievable that people do this, but I see it all the time. I also see a lone wheel without the bike locked to a bike rack all the time.

Photo info: NL/Nieuwegein/Bicycle? by Oop.

Anime bicycle

I watched Japanese cartoons when I was a kid growing up in Japan, but today there are adults that really geek out on Japanese anime (pronounced "ann ee may"). For ¥47,000 (about US$400), you can buy the special edition Neon Genesis Evangelion Bicycle. This is a junky-looking full suspension Bicycle-Shaped-Object (BSO) with low-end components and a hinge in the top tube so the bike folds in half. This "EVA 01 BIKE" was introduced at the Tokyo Anime Fair on March 23. I think one of my neighbors paid about $50 for a similar toy bike with a Power Rangers motif or something.

Tags: evangelion, anime, bicycle, bso

Carlton Reid podcast

Carlton Reid, editor of Bike Biz, has a Podcast site. In his latest audio blog, Carlton interviews Elizabeth Train (Bikes Belong) and Andy Clarke (League of American Bicyclists) who talk about the role of advocacy in securing $5 billion on U.S. Federal spending for cyclists and pedestrians.

Locally, Boulder County is spending $1.7 million to widen Nelson Road, a very popular cycling route running five miles from Longmont to the foothills. I ride this road often and I would personally enjoy the benefit of extra space if I weren't moving next week.

Dangerous roads, dangerous drivers

Cycle Dog writes about them both from the perspective of the Vehicular Cyclist. I ride vehicularly and I'm teaching my children to do the same. There are roads, however, that I take regularly that I'll bypass when I my children are cycling with me. My son (age 10) is confident in riding on most city streets. The only roads he avoids are narrow streets with very heavy traffic -- he's not quite confident enough to take the lane -- and streets with heavy, high speed traffic like this one. This photo was taken from my bike during my evening commute; the speed limit is 35 switching to 55 right after the intersection.

My daughter still rides a trailer bike for longer trips. Saturday my kids and I biked a total of 17 miles around town, my son on his bike, me pulling the trailer bike and and a kids trailer so I could haul dog food and other things I purchased.

Tags: vehicular+cycling, trailer, advocacy, facilities

Pro Cycling Manager

At first I thought this must be a joke. I haven't had time to download and try it out (remember, I'm moving next week), but some people online claim to have tried it out. I'm into bikes, but I'm not sure I'm geeky enough to play a game where I pretend to manage a pro bicycle team. Then again, maybe it would make a cool prize in a future contest. Via.