Post ~ SF
When I left San Francisco just over 4 years ago,
there were people riding bicycles,
but it was mostly racers like H
commuting in to work or headed out for a ride,
bicycle couriers in the financial district,
fixie riders going the wrong way and blasting through red lights,
and a few miscellaneous people like me.
Now everytime I return to the City
I see more and more changes ~ for the bicycle good
and it pleases me to no end.
San Francisco has the perfect weather for a bicycle culture
and the perfect people to embrace it.
Now that the great annoying weight has been lifted
things are starting to move along at a fast clip.
On my last visit I noticed people on bicycles everywhere,
Geary, Market, 3rd, you name it they were there.
This time the first impression that hit me was the view from my hotel.
As I looked down at the street - what did I see
but a number of bicycle lane markings going down Post,
it was a beautiful sight to behold indeed.
Later on in my day as I found myself retracing my steps down Battery,
past my old bus stop in the financial district,
gloriously chic bicyclists, gals and guys, were silently gliding by,
like a ballet,
they were beautifully winding their way through rush hour traffic,
the muffled silence of the City and their presence taking my breath away,
a scene that definitely did not exist when I walked these steets.
Darn it for being with my boss on a way to a meeting and not having time to take a picture!
photo: SFBC
And it hasn't, and isn't, stopping there.
When I return next time,
look what will be waiting for me!
Not only has San Francisco changed, but the world has changed.
Maybe it is the bicycle colored eyes I view my surroundings with,
but I do not entirely think so.
Bicycles are everywhere.
Banana Republic is taking full advantage of the world being round
by launching a Fall campaign plastered in bicycles.
Walking in the City I saw a HUGE billboard of this same ad I saw in my W magazine on the plane out.
And then walking into the Banana downtown,
look what greeted me - a Pashley!
mk ad in W magazine
Tgt ad in W
feature picture in Sunset
Some may say this mass marketing
of the beloved bicycle
will be a passing fancy,
likely so.
But I do not think bicycling
is a passing fancy,
because the world,
she is round...
