Sunday - Critical Mass San Francisco - 8 miles

Today's team included two ex-team members Ed and Tom, guest members Leaf and Paloma, as well as JB, Adam, and me. We all took BART into the City. Paloma had a flat tire that she didn't notice until she was ready to go so Leaf packed his floor pump(!) in a backpack and fixed it on the train. Leaf wore his UCDavis skin suit so he looked rather odd with racing kit and an overstuffed rucksack.

There was the usual crowd at Justin Herman Plaza - lots of kooks, drag queens, and other "alternative" people. We got there just after 6 so most of the soap boxing was over and we started whooping until some accidental tourist rode off and everyone followed her - she was quite surprised to find herself the leader of Critical Mass if only for a few blocks. We rode around the Financial District, past the Transamerica Pyramid and into Chinatown where I saw some old ladies rummaging through the garbage cans of a produce store that had just closed - lots of fruit that was just past its prime - yum. Then we headed for the tunnel on Stockton St and that was a big kick. There were at least three guys with steroid stereos - two of them had dedicated stereo trailers - I've seen these guys before… Critical Mass hardcore types. At a few intersections someone lit some smoke bombs but it was all in fun. We turned south again and passed up some culinary arts school where all the chef students were out on the sidewalk slapping us high fives. Then down Valencia into the Mission by which time it was getting pretty dark and things started to break up.

Got back on BART at a little after 8 and home just after 9 to keep myself in good graces with the girls at home.