The bicycle is the
most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart. ~Iris Murdoch
In San Francisco
bicycling is not just a recreational activity, it’s a way of life. We were no the first to start a popular
event called Critical Mass but we were the ones who brought it to the states. Critical
Mass is a bicycling event typically held on the last Friday of every month in
over 300 cities around the world. While the ride was originally founded in 1992
in San Francisco with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city
was to cyclists, the leaderless structure of Critical Mass makes it impossible
to assign it any one specific goal. In fact, the purpose of Critical Mass is
not formalized beyond the direct action of meeting at a set location and time
and traveling as a group through city or town streets on bikes.
It takes place on the
last Friday of the month at 5:30 at Justin Herman Plaza, between Embarcadero BART
and the Ferry Building.
We also have people
so dedicated to avoiding the hills in our lovely San Francisco that they have
researched the “paths of least resistance”. One of these paths is called the Wiggle. The Wiggle is a
zig-zagging bicycle route that minimizes the inclines of the central areas of
San Francisco, California. In a city with street grades approaching 30%, the
grades of The Wiggle never surpasses 6% and averages only 3% while rising 120
feet over its one mile course. The path generally follows the historical route
of the long since paved-over Sans Souci Valley watercourse, winding through the
Lower Haight neighborhood toward the Panhandle section of Golden Gate Park.
So after you Bike the
Bridge and see the sights of Fisherman’s Warf you can enjoy the sub culture
that surrounds bicycling in the city.
