california is all right!

well, it's good to know that the fun doesn't end once you leave portland. i've almost hit the 2 week point in my new location, santa cruz, california. last week was a bruiser. it started out with innocent orientation information meeting and crescendoed into a nightmare of entrance exams. after 6 hours of tests in chemistry subjects that i barely remember taking in college i was ready to escape for the weekend.

with my bike in tow i headed up the coast to san francisco. bike on a bus. bike on a train. bike under my feet! this weekend the Bicycle Film Festival was stopping in the city and i was ecstatic to check out the bike subculture up in san fran. fixed gear bicycles/track bikes are all the rage. i was in line with one neat guy joking about how ridiculous all the wicked fancy/expensive fixies are here and he laughed in agreement saying he was a bit annoyed/embarrassed to ride his conservative track bike in this ultra saturated environment. he laughed about how he felt like he'd unintentionally joined the crowd.

later i run into him with my rusty, dirty, squeaky, old french road bike only to discover him sporting his ULTRA FANCY fixie. he checked out my ghetto fabulous ride, ogling my (direct quote) "industrial chic paint job". when he inquired as to how i achieved such a sweet effect with the colors and variation in shade i had to let the guy know it was just a really old bike; naturally weathered over time. it was a really hilarious moment. i really didn't encounter that many vintage frames over the weekend, which made me giggle considering the fact that i rarely encountered anything but vintage frames in portland.

san francisco feels far less friendly that portland in general, but at the festival everyone was really fantastic. i hung out with a man that had a pedal powered generator attachment on his xtracycle, and traveled around playing music with the help of audience participation. he, along with many others, further fueled my interest in xtracycles. as soon as i find a way to get my trek hybrid down here i am planning on making my first investment in one so i can start going on camping trips down the coast. ah, what a life hey?

i also ran into an awesome dude named brian who i seem to run into all over the west. i met him in portland, saw him again (with his beautiful pink tall bike) at burning man, and once again bumped into him at the film fest. he gave me a big hug and we, once again, reminded each other of our names! funny how that seems to matter so little the more amazing people you meet. there was also a really great guy named aaron there who didn't make it to any of the films because he had spent the whole weekend building a sweet ultra stretched out cruiser that he was sharing with everyone. i took it around the block giggling at the silly dimensions the whole way. he was a blast and we had a good dance session to james brown later that evening.

the most exciting encounter was with a really wonderful guy named daniel. we met in a small enclosed box , in the middle of the desert, full of mirrors and christmas lights during one of the more epic dust storms at burning man this year. he was the only person i met on the playa that rocked a fixie and i got to give him props for that type of dedication! i mentioned that i may attend the film fest, half imagining it wouldn't be possible, but sure enough we ran into each other friday afternoon. small world hey?

we ended up talking a bunch. it was super fun to talk to someone pursuing really cool community based projects in the city. it's rad to meet other people out there who cherish playing, love to build stuff, and are making things happen! i loved his company and maybe in the future we can work on a project together. hooray for new friends.

aside from all the neat folks the films were really amazing as well. there was a lot of super 8 footage, which exudes a strange magic no matter the subject being filmed. in conjunction with bicycles it was really powerful and beautiful. super 8 footage reminds me of old photographs. i love it. particularly the film 'SKI.BOYS'. it was put together by the zenga brothers, who are also involved in the winking circle. the video is all about playing. they ride bikes because it's fun and makes them laugh. if you ever get a chance to see the film don't miss it. it plays in all sorts of bicycle film fests. it's actually the third time i've seen it at a bike film fest...

the last show was fixie mania. i've never seen so many aerospokes in my life! the crowd went nuts the whole time. messengers everywhere. afterwards burnsy (a guy from my burning man camp who is a gem of gems) and peter went on a bike ride. well, we climbed hills really. san francisco has hills like i've never known. they just go on forever at grades you wouldn't believe.

i've been climbing a lot on my bike lately because the university of california, santa cruz campus is perched above the city atop a sizable hill. it's about 4.5 miles up and about 4 of those miles consist of significant uphill grades. at the top of the hill i'm panting and waving around my arms like rocky. some mornings i even throw a few punches into the air and giggle to myself amongst the giant redwoods that encase my building. note the usage of 'my' in that last sentence. i even have an office! you can send things to me via the chemistry department. i have my own mailbox! i feel so official. okay, okay i share the office with 18 other people, so what!

the point of this tangent being this: before this weekend i really felt like i'd been climbing some serious hills. but they're nothing compared to the hills in san fran. they are generally pretty short, but they are steep as sin. my road bike only has 10 speeds and i have to shift my front derailer with my foot, so it was quite an adventure heading up to buena vista park from the mission.

turns out vintage french parts are hard to find and the derailer on there now only has one limit screw, which is strange and thus results in my resorting using a flip flop to change gears. it is actually pretty fun, especially when you ride with people that have fully functioning bicycles. when they realize that i am shifting with my feet we usually have a pretty good laugh. i also have friction shifting, which is great for portland. lately, however, while climbing hills the shifters slip and inevitably at the point where i really have to put my all into pumping up a hill i accidentally am shifted into a tougher gear against my will. bummer.

okay that's the end of my mini bike rant.

the view from the park was really awesome. you get up above the city really quick and then it's all glittering lights intertwined with an obsidian ocean. riding down almost makes the climb worth it. flying down steep hills in the dark is hard to beat (zoobomb!). it was nice to get some riding in after sitting in a theater all day. finally we returned to capp street for the afterp party. there were a bunch of fun bikes to be ridden in the street. i love people who build bikes because they will inevitably be stoked on letting other people try them out. freak bike builders are often refreshingly humble too. i attempted and (unfortunately) failed to free mount the tall bike, which was pretty frustrating. each tall bike is different and sometimes it's tricky to learn how to mount a new one. i need to build a really tall one for myself without a step so i will finally master the real tall ones. then i will be an unstoppable freak bike riding machine. hooray!

it took some encouraging, but burnsy pulled me away from the street and up 6 flights of stairs to the 'after party'. it's times like these that i am reminded that this city is a real deal city, unlike portland. the view was nothing but giant sky scrapers and twinkling lights. the parties i've been to are either in gallery spaces or ghetto warehouse rooms. they are so 'industrial chic' it makes me giggle. i always feel like i've stumbled onto a movie set. like a man with a fuzzy microphone is going to push me out of the shot at any moment.

the party was a blast. parties full of bikers are always fun because we need to play. all night long there was a tiny little bike (maybe a foot and a half long) with a giant person teetering atop it attempting weaving through the sea of well-defined pairs of calves! people were running double dutch next to the hilarious dance floor, and later that space was taken over by some slack line people who rigged up a p-cord line and were rocking it amongst many an astonished attendee.

i had a blast meeting new faces and giggling at all the silly games we play. that's why i love parties like this. it's great to witness people get bored of standing around, and rather than leaving they create something, change up the atmosphere, and inevitably have people smiling in seconds.

what else. i collected some potential pen pal addresses and am stoked about my new print project. the perfect snail mail gift. oh baby.

ps. upon arriving home i was whisked to a fantastic 'san francisco mime troupe' performance and then headed on my bike down a beautiful road along the west cliffs to hula hoop the sun away!

moral of the story. fun people live in california too. i met some really good ones! inspiration lives!

sorry i didn't edit this. it's probably a grammar disaster!

exciting things happening tomorrow:

1. receiving the entrance exam results
2. pay day! this will be the first paycheck i've seen in weeks. fresh produce here i come!
3. meeting older grad students at a chemistry department retreat with an open bar. thank you government for funding science; an honorable cause indeed.