Thursday, September 2, 2010

the world, she is round...


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...