A small and quiet change happened today, perhaps one that, for many of you, went unnoticed. For the first time in our 3+ year history Box Dog Bikes was open from 11-7pm on the last Friday of the month.
When we started the shop it was our intention to focus on supporting and sustaining the larger bicycle communities in San Francisco. This has been a broad goal, undefined in its specifics, for better or worse. But, from the start it was important to us to somehow mark our participation and enthusiasm for the growing community of urban bicycle commuters and people who choose to live their life, for the most part, without cars.* Thus, for the last two hours of the last Friday of every month, we have been closed for business during the hours of Critical Mass. Although not being open does not itself directly support or advance the cause(s) of Critical Mass, it was, at least, a strong symbolic gesture in their favor. It was as if we were saying both, “Go out, and ride,” and “These last hours in the month are special, to be put aside to participate in something bigger than what any one of us are.” At the time, it was all that we knew how to do.
Writing this now, I still feel conflicted about our recent decision to be open for business during those hours. But I think the motivations behind the decision are interesting, and worth exposure to a public forum (this blog). To be honest, there is a degree to which we simply need the money. Its a weird thing to say publicly, and its not as though we are hurting, but its also not as though we are ballin’ either. But beyond that, beyond the mundane business transactions, I think are some thoughts and ideas that are important, and I hope a bit thoughtful too.
Last year around this time I was hit during Critical Mass. Immediately prior to the accident I was having a truly amazing time. It was a hot early summer night – something really worth savoring in our foggy city. The Mass had really completed a good velo-volution about the city, and was on the freeway underpass on San Jose Ave just by Glen Park. I had lost my girlfriend in the mass, and was drifting towards the rear of the pack in hopes of encountering her or another friendly face. As I rounded the underpass and approached the incline that separates the Glenn Park exit from the freeway entarance, I was hit by another bicyclist who was travelling very rapidly.
I don’t have a clear memory of what happened. I flipped over my track bike, hit my head hard (was wearing a helmet) as I rotated forward, and landed on my stomach/arms/hands. It really fucking hurt. The guy who hit me was incredibly drunk, and was really an asshole. No one really stopped to help me, but the police motorcade came up on us quickly and not so nicely encouraged me to get off the road.
My experience last year with the Mass was incredibly disappointing. Having grown up in the city I have ridden Mass religiously, and have always enjoyed its chaos. I can’t tell you how proud I was to be a 13 year old, riding with my Dad, during one of the largest CM’s ever (maybe 1997? maybe 5000 people?), experiencing the freedom of riding on the newly constructed section of I-280 behind Potrero Hill. The list of moments of monumental joy, of soaring feelings of belonging, purpose and clarity have all been overshadowed by my experiences of Critical Mass as an adult. Too often I have talked myself into going, and too often I have left in disgust as another rider gets into another pointless yelling match with another stupid driver. I’m truly disappointed in myself, and in the city, that I don’t have the perserverance to continue to ride and to continue to define Critical Mass in my own terms.
Today the weather has turned again. It was truly beautiful out. And instead of riding with the Mass, I chose to meet up with a couple of dear friends and ride out to the beach. You should have been there. Really this is a great year to be living here – and the ride through Golden Gate park is such a joy! Here is a picture I took with my cameraphone just after I had an encounter with some drivers:
Returning from our ride to the beach we were riding 2 abreast, chatting and enjoying the day. We took up some of the lane, but it really didnt seem like a big deal given the context. A car pulled up behind us, but instead of pulling over to the side we continued to ride in doubles. The driver laid on his horn, and I waived him passed me – riding slowly without my hands off the bars. Keep in mind that there was no other traffic in the Park at this time of the night. He switched into the oncoming lane, floored it, and yelled “Fuck You” out his window. OK dude, whatever, your an asshole idiot in a car big deal. But what really is getting to me is the next dude in line.
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A second car pulled up behind us and laid on his horn. Friday, 6:30PM in Golden Gate Park on Martin Luther King Drive just before the duck pond. Its a nice spring night out. We are on a single lane road in a public park. This road runs adjacent to a four lane commuter corridor, Lincon Way. There is no oncoming traffic in the opposite lane, and the driver had clear visibility for at least 1000 ft. He honked and yelled, but I didn’t feel like moving so I waved for him to pass me. If I were a slow car, or a horse, or a weirdo on a Segway I would have been regarded differently, but because I was on a bicycle as the driver passed the passenger stuck his upper body out of the window and gave me the double middle finger and yelled, “Fuck you asshole! Share the road!”
The levels of absurdity in this situation cannot be rivaled. The relatively tame rhetoric of bicycle advocates had just been inverted and spit back at me to justify aggressive automobile driving and (attempt to) make me look like I was in the wrong.
As I rode home I thought about the people and the things I was seeing around me. On Market and Van Ness, I saw the Mass riding up 9th St a couple of blocks in the distance. Knowing that it was happening made me happy. Right now its not for me to ride in, and I hope that those who do ride it spend more time enjoying the volume of people and the beauty of the randomness of riding in the city we live in than trying to out-yell yell-y drivers. I took a right on 11th St., and at a stoplight looked up to see a yupster couple locking their his-and-hers black track bikes. It is such a common sight here that I often fail to revel in its wonder – these people were without a doubt of a demographic and income bracket that 3 years ago would have been parking a hybrid. I continued on my way home and approached an intersection at the same time as a pedestrian. We both slowed down, but he smiled and waived me to ride on.
Thinking of these post park encounters, I realized that these are the people that I share the road with. We share a common set of beliefs about sharing public goods such as the roads, and have enough self respect and decency to be grown up, even when things are not totally ideal. The man who mistook the park road for a thoroughfare, and his place behind the wheel as his place on his own backwards ass high horse, that man I do not share the road with. He can fuck himself until he realizes that he is a jackass, and then he can grow up and deal with a much more pleasant and a much more responsible outside world.
In the mean time I will take the last couple of hours of every last Friday of every month, to go out and ride on my own. For me this time will always remain special. It has been a part of my life for such a long time, and so deeply connects me to so many people I hold close, and my native city which I love so much. And I’ll let you know if I get back in the Mass.
As a last note: What this time means to other people I can’t say. We realized at some point that we were not leaving Box Dog at 5pm on the last Friday of the month and racing down to Justin Herman Plaza. It kind of became a joke, and instead of being an act of (symbolic) support, it was in fact the opposite. Instead of growing bicycle culture, we were not participating in it & not even servicing people who were on their bikes at that time. We decided to remain open during this time because our original intent of expanding bicycle culture is happening in many other more substantive ways, and so that we could serve the people who get off of work on a given Friday and need help with their bicycles.
At Box Dog we are constantly looking for other, more direct, means of supporting bicycle culture(s) here in the city, in the country, and all over the world. As many of you may know, we participated in a pilot program to retail SFBC memberships. Based in part on our success, the program is now all city wide. Additionally, thanks to the initiative of Dan T., we are now introducing some very introductory classes on bicycle repair. Look forward to seeing those expand. And stay tuned for updated on more community events, races, rides, fundraisers, asshole driver alerts, etc.
Any responses on my Critical Mass commentary would be much appreciated.
* Authors disclosure: my brother, mother, girlfriend and best friend all have cars that I use with some frequency – I don’t exactly have a car free lifestyle. Its more like a less-car than a car-less life. But at least its that!
