Women's Nike Marathon

I went to watch the Nike Woman's Marathon in San Francisco where two of my family members were registered to do their 1st ever full marathon. The course had the runners start at Union Square downtown San Francisco and finish at the Great Highway near Golden Gate Park. We managed to find parking along a side street running parallel to the Great Highway that was a few miles from the finish.

The whole family was there for moral support. I figured I would bring my xtracycle along to give the kids a ride around while we wait for our two runners to come by. We positioned ourselves near mile 17/24 of the course and setup tables and chairs, brought cow bells and all kinds of snacks and drinks.

It was overcast and cold, but the kids did not seem to really mind. The kids took turns riding on the back of the xtracycle while we waited. When the first of our marathoners, Cici showed up I ended up following her the rest of the run to and promised her a ride back if she completed the marathon.

I ended up shuttling both marathoners, Cici and Bubet back after their run, logging 20 miles of my own. They were glad I was there for the support and of course the ride back!

Congratulations to the both of them for completing their 1st full marathon!

Cici still all smiles after 26 miles!

Bubet making out like a caped crusader!

Coming in for a landing!

Job well done you two!

Bike To Work Day

One day in the month of May is "Bike To Work Day". The purpose of the event is to promote cycling as a form of transportation to the workplace, to celebrate those who bicycle commute throughout the year, to demonstrate an environmentally friendly transportation option, and to promote clean air.

Normally I commute home from work, but on this day I chose to ride to work. The bike of choice for the event? My Xtracycle. Used mainly for errands around town I figured it would be a good day to ride it all 45 miles!

My Xtracycle is ready to go!

One of many typical Energizer stations set up during "Bike to Work Day". This one just happens to be along my route.

StumpJumper FS Is Now A Longtail

Back in 1993 I bought a Specialized StumpJumper FS. As long as I had the bike it rarely saw duty on the single track as much as I would have liked. Rather, it spent a majority of its life on short trips on the street. I even used this bike twice on the Death Ride. The first time on off road tires and the second time on slicks.

Fast forward 2007. While on vacation in Hawaii, I noticed that people liked getting around on bikes on the island. There was this one bike I saw at a rental shop hauling of all things, a surf board! I thought that was one of the coolest things to see. I found out it was an Xtracycle conversion. Turns out, you can get these conversion kits called FreeRadical Hitchless Trailer online or from a LBS that carries them.

The kit has everything you need to convert your bike to a longtail. I found a new one on eBay for less $$ that some guy decided not use and ended snatching it up.

If you do your own wrenching, you can convert a bike in about 1 1/2 hours. Since the conversion, my mountain bike is getting alot more miles now. Its just plain fun to ride! This conversion is completely reversible.

After a while, I wanted to put full fenders on the bike, but there are no eyelets on my front fork or on the FreeRadical. I hear that the new FreeRadicals have eyelets on them now. A visit to my local hardware store electrical department I found GB Electrical Cushion Clamps, 1" diameter (P/N PPR-1600) and 5/8" diameter (P/N 1558) that would do the job. So now the longtail is rain ready.

Here are pics of the clamps installed on the bike.