DutchBurrito: I was surprised to find myself rolling down a long dark street with lots of debris on the side of the road and a turnaround at the bottom overlooking the 163!

You stumbled upon the dead-end at the top of the now abandoned ramp connecting Richmond with I-163: Pic1, Pic2. The abandoned section of freeway, together with another shuttered ramp at Quince just to the north on the I-163, is noted in a Wiki article on unused sections of California freeways. More info on both shuttered ramps here.

One of the SDBikeCommuter Townie Rides last Spring traveled past both ramps on the dirt trail on the opposite (west) side of the freeway.

I thought I've seen the strangest bikes but my wife saw a racing trike with 700c wheels today on the PCH in Solana Beach. I can grasp the idea for the utilitarian use of trikes but I'm still trying to wrap my mind on the idea behind it for racing...

i rode a really high end vintage 700c trike once. scary! they are so weird. you steer left and it goes right. i went one whole block on it and jumped off of it as fast as i could. i don't know how anyone rides them.

I'm goin' to Santa Barbara! Woo woo! Bicycle Fashion Show! Woo woo! Oh happy day! Woo woo!

I would LOVE to test ride one, I just find it pointless considering they're cost prohibitive for me.

Another one:

Ronnie James Dio, the frontman of heavy metal bands Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven and Hell, has passed away from his battle with stomach cancer. He was 67.

"To me the biggest injustice on earth was when they started calling people like New Kids on the Block, N'Sync, Pussycat Dolls, Bananarama a band. That's not a band. A band are people who sit around and play, they know what music is about, they play guitars, basses, drums, saxophones, cellos, and they come together and collectively they commute this music," he said.

"We live in a Bic society, by that I mean that unless you succeed in something you get thrown away just like a Bic pen. It runs out of ink, you throw it away," he said. "Well, that's what industry people do these days, to artists, to real bands. It's a shame, because as I said in the song 'Heaven And Hell,' 'The world is full of kings and queens, who blind your eyes and steal your dreams. It's heaven and hell.' That's what it's all about really."

"The Right Stuff:" Sam Shepard is the epitome of cool depicting Chuck Yeager.

i ran over a garter snake while out on a road ride. first time runing over a snake. it was really thin and i was doing about 30mph so theres not much more to say.

I always thought John was the punk of the group, that he should have been a Stone, and that Brian Jones with his page boy cut, lute shaped guitar and harpsichord should have been a Beatle. Instead he ended up at the bottom of Anita Pallenberg's swimming pool!

I met my future wife Jolie of the seminal San Diego grrrl bands The Cockpits and The Dinettes backstage at a Dead Kennedys show at Fairmount Hall in July 1981. I had tickets to The Kinks at the Sports Aroma for August 15. I asked her out and the rest, as they say, is history.



Band members Sue Ferguson and Jolie in 1979.

Remember those days, as boys, when you got your first BMX? Ripping. Jumping. Bunny hopping. Trying out tricks.
I just got two BMXs from Craigslist. I get to be a kid again with my son who will be turning 9 this June.

markphilips:Remember those days, as boys, when you got your first BMX? Ripping. Jumping. Bunny hopping. Trying out tricks.
I just got two BMXs from Craigslist. I get to be a kid again with my son who will be turning 9 this June.

When the film "On Any Sunday" came out in 1971 there were no BMX bikes, so we had to invent them ourselves. Starting with Schwinn Stingrays we rode them until we found all the places they would break, then took them down to Cerveny's Welding in PB to have gussets welded into the frames at the top tube. Kevin at California Bicycle when it was next to Mitch's Surf Shop on Pearl St. built me a 36 spoke wheel on a 3-speed Sturmey Archer coaster brake hub. We would take a tape measure with us to UCSD and measure our jumps to see who could fly the farthest. When we bent an Ashtabula one-piece crank the day was over.

Another way we would compete with each other was to play "ditch." One of us would yell "GO!" and the chase was on. The objective was to make some sort of physical contact with the other rider's bike or body. We rode so hard that when one of us was finally caught we collapsed on the lawn, gasping for breath. This was probably the beginning of my cycling fitness.

I remember chasing my friend Bill Sweeney, coming around a corner behind the lecture hall at Revelle. Bill was already in the elevator. He waved "French Connection" style at me as the door closed before I could get there. On another occasion he lost me by busting a flight off a loading dock and bouncing off the top of a trash dumpster, then landing it in the parking lot and taking off. We were completely insane.

One day I was at my friend's house on Eads Ave. I had left my bike outside on the lawn for just a moment. When I came out it was GONE! Several months later I got a call from my friend Dave (who now lives in South Park). He had been walking in his neighborhood on La Jolla Scenic Drive. As he passed a house with the garage door open, he noticed my distinctive creation inside. No one was around so he walked in and recovered it.

When I came home from a year away at university I immediately asked for my bikes. My parents looked at each other and said they had sold both my bikes at a garage sale while I was away studying. I practically fainted. I still haven't forgiven them for it.

Street art or traffic calming strategy?

Came into work after 8 days of vacation and found a thank you card from my confirmation class/parents and a $120 giftcard to performance bicycle (wouldn't have been my first choice, but it's totally the thought that counts). What to get??

wow!

I've heard of "Power Plant Cost Escalation: Nuclear and Coal Capital Costs, Regulation and Economics." been trying to track it down for months.

FYI: My brother does logistics for the city of NY and does NOT own a car. Doesn't bike though, just walking and the subway.

markphilips:I thought I've seen the strangest bikes but my wife saw a racing trike with 700c wheels today on the PCH in Solana Beach. I can grasp the idea for the utilitarian use of trikes but I'm still trying to wrap my mind on the idea behind it for racing...

alt="" />

I wonder if this was the guy that the paper had an article on the other day? He was a Navy officer who had a stroke and lost the use of his right side and the trike allows him to ride and race... He is part of the Challenged Athelete's Foundation...

I adore baseball. Here's one reason why.

I Heart North Korea Soccer: "You love North Korea, so advertise it! One size fits most."

http://www.worldsoccershop.com/7421.html

This one has probably been posted here a gazillion times already, so one more time can hardly hurt:

batmick:Just a quick rant.

Last week a buckle broke on my Sidi shoes. I asked on here for a local source and Phoenix suggested Adams Avenue Bikes. Sure enough they had them but they are asking $45 for a pair!!!
As much as I support local, small business I cannot condone this kind of price gouging. I now ordered them from the UK for under $20 shipped. So much for buying local...

I hear you. I'm always really conflicted when purchasing new parts. I want to support the local shops and I know why their prices are higher (Although I don't understand why their sometimes 2-3 times the online price WITH SHIPPING...) but I just can't afford to pay the difference. I rationalize it by telling myself that if I ever have enough money, that I WILL support the local shops. It really is nicer to ride down and get a part and ride home with it to install the SAME day. Maybe someday.

^^ I take the freeway the whole way I can.... 15 to 163 to 5 south to the airport exit... I can say at around 0630, the traffic isn't bad... I do the commute by bike when I can, but most days a 42 mile round trip just isn't feasable by bike for me...

^^ did you really expect anything less from an obvious pot-stirer and questionable "journalist"? People like that write that kind of drival just to get more hit on their blog or maybe get a spot on some talk show somewhere...

I write these people off as idiots that aren't usually worth a response...

Chris

Haha @ Thom.

I honestly re-read that article 3 times to find a hint of sarcasm or irony. I couldn't detect any but I'm still hopeful that it's all a joke.

My initial reaction was with laughter :)

Hillbilly: My initial reaction was with laughter

Me too! I was cracking up the whole time I was reading through his site. Poor guy. But I still think it has to be a joke.

I found this recently on the bikeforums.net board. Someone in Vista posted the following about a close call:

"The truck driver was impressed enough to pause in his cellphone conversation. I was only able to call him a 'Guh!', (which is Adrenalian for 'idiot.')"

This term is rapidly expanding outward from its source. I predict it will soon be part of our local lexicon.

I assume it's a plosive exclamation rhyming with "Duh!"