Boneshaker

On the fifteenth of November I wrote that I finished typing and told my freind i was headed to her house.  I organized my bikes and got my extra jacket.  I rode to Judah thinking I needed to fill the Trucker’s tires.  I caught an N shuttle and rode to 9th from where I rode my bike.  I brought my bike in and she was making spaghetti squash and finishing preparations for the Tweed Ride.

In the morning of the day that I wrote this I was up at 830 and around 1030.  I met my friend at Patricia’s Green.  She was with the previous years prize winners.  I started talking to a participant about his boneshaker.  An acquaintance came by and I introduced them to each other.  A lot of people showed up around then.  I listed out a few people in my mind but had a hard time remembering names.

We rode to Grove and I noted that a few people hadn’t arrived.  We rode to Polk then.  I noted that some stragglers had had trouble but we had made it to Polk and Post.  Two people sent me messages and that caused me no end of troubles.

We topped out at Leavenworth and descended to Union Square and made it through to Market--one of the participants and I stopped traffic at Post and Kearny using these signs that my friend had made.  She did some dangerous stuff on Post using them and I told her that I would take care of those things while sweeping.

On Market one of the photographers pointed out that a participant had a popped tire and I tried to help them with it but was not quite successful.  That was when several of the stragglers showed up.  the participant sent the group of us to the next stop-- the Market Street Railway Museum-- and said he would see us soon.  When we arrived at the plaza I fretted about it until I noted that his friends had retrieved him.

My friend and another person had parked in a funny place.  The group went to do the museum tour.  I had tea with one of the previous year’s prize winners and shot the breeze with an organizer until my friend went across the way to the Ferry Building to meet some others.  Later I watched the bikes with some acquaintances.

When my friend returned we went to pier 14 to take a group photo.  I was worried about the bikes but some lady was there watching.  I left a bit early to go ride the Embarcadero and rode slowly until the leadership took over.  I talked to acquaintances as we rode around AT&T park and I got to know a few others.  We passed through Willie Mays and then headed down Townsend.  Later we went all the way around showplace circle and I occupied as much space as possible--even walking at times-- to send the message to motorists on 13th.  There were a few cops and even an ambulance in a couple of places as we crossed from the protected lanes and headed up Harrison.

We went to twenty-second and I stopped a couple of times to stay with people when they had troubles.  In one place a motorcyclist yelled at a guy.  I followed in the back for a few blocks but headed to the front when my friend took over as sweep.

My piano playing freidn had been inside trying to make the piano work but the bartender nixed the idea.  Others were waiting at the bar as well.  I bought a few of us a toast and then we all got to know each other.  I even tried to give one of the photographers a tweed jacket.

After I had a sandwich I saw the MC Sandra and she bought me and my friend a drink.  They went to the podium.  Later I stepped out for a breather as the room had become pretty loud with clapping and stood with a new acquaintance when I came back in.  I gave the winners a hug and then hung out with the photographer.

I ended up standing with the boneshaker for a while and then went back inside to stand with the photographer for a bit.  Later I took photos of with the ladies.  As the afternoon died down I sat with my riding partner and buddy drinking beer beer.  When the last couple was getting ready to go my friend and I them to Octavia.  I had a bag on my arm and that was really cumbersome but the rest of the ride was alright.

Back at my friend’s place I wrote up the day's experience and then we got the bikes and went to Winterfest.  At the valet on Mission there was a band playing and the leader had been on the Tweed Ride.  He waved at us.

We dropped our bikes and went inside.  One canvasser was at the door and warned us about the board vote.  We saw a Tweed Ride person as we entered.  I got a new membership and we dropped our coats off.  We said hi to the art curators and got a small meal.  We had sat next to a lady my friend knew from Tango.  After that we went to get beers and made pictures.  We caught people I knew from the Tweed ride and the bike valet there.

We were trying to look at the art displays but kept bumping into people that we knew.  We formed a Tweed knot for a while and I talked to a valet on break.  Eventually, we crossed the floor interacting with more people until we were able to look at the art curator’s piece of Cesar Chavez.  That was where we bumped into other friends.

When the announcements began I fell into a conversation with a teacher I knew and I told him I would email him.  We had another drink then and started to leave but bumped into a freind who I gave my last nickel to.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.