Tweed Ride

On 11 November I wrote that the day before I had returned from the café and we started getting ready trying on outfits, grabbing things and packing the bikes. We were running out of time and I was in a bit of a panic.

My friend came down quietly when I was ready and we went to Dolores Park for the Tweed Ride. I noted that the people who had arrived and some took a photo of me.  It turned out everyone was in the wrong spot. My friend and I took a few photos and she passed around the waiver sheet. Then she herded everyone up to the tennis courts where her co-organizer was waiting.

I saw a lot of people with whom I had interacted with over the previous months. One had a hat with a new band, which I had seen in on Twitter. I managed to keep quiet while my friend noisily addressed her crowd with her new tweed megaphone. The photographer took our photo as did a few others. I saw a lot of people I knew pretty well.

We rode up 18th to Sanchez and on to Steiner without any problem. Some acquaintances from the ride in Sacramento were late but they found us along the route. On our first few blocks I spoke to a clothier, a cargo bike expert and a man on a recumbent. Only one car passed us.

I kept looking back trying to find my friend. She caught up as the recumbent approached. An acquaintance from the weekly ride was at market with us. I noticed that her son was wearing pants that seemed familiar. The guy on the recumbent said his wife had an old bike. I saw her on Waller.

I fell into a conversation with one of the originators of the ride while climbing Fell. He told me about the flash mobs he had been involved in. He let me know that he is co-originator for the ride hadn’t had a chance to come because he was really sick.

I noticed that one of my close acquaintances was the very last person in the group when we were in the Panhandle. I made sure she was in front of me. We were at the Schrader Valve when I saw one of the guys that had gone on the Beret and Baguette Ride come up quickly and excited. He told me he had only heard about the ride the day before. He was wearing his beret.

We took Pelosi. My friend and one of the others got together. I brought my noisy bike close to theirs to share. They appreciated it.  We knew we were headed to the Blue Playground at Tenth so I zoomed ahead and beat the lead. We went through the Bandshell. The lady with the hat and band commented on the new route. I shared with her the story of how it was created. She said Golden Gate Park was great.

At the playground I threw my jacket down a location for the picnic. My Sacramento Tweed companions sat with me. My friend was busy organizing. They made announcements and I unpacked quietly. She sat with us a bit later but very noisily ran off to the museums at one point. She needed to be alone together.

I enjoyed my time quietly. The clothier’s lady friend told me they had gone dancing at Lindy in The Park.  I noted a bit of intrigue amongst the organizers as I walked around. There was a noisy crying incident at a slide. I ate my sandwich and spoke to a bunch of people.

Eventually, my friend started announcing the day’s events and I got to know the playground. It was too noisy for me. My companions from Beret and Baguette and weekly ride were nearby. There was a prize for best outfits and bike in a few others and they won one of them. I skipped it all but eventually the group started setting up for pictures so I went to join in. I brought my friend some prosecco and she finished it quick.

I quietly wandered into the tunnel then and when I came back I dumped the bottle as everyone got ready to go. My friend and I got ready separately and we left with some of the Sacramento people.

On the ride to our destination - a coffee shop near downtown - my riding companion asked me about the my old college buddies as we rode to Page Street. I quietly led the way to Webster and took us to Hayes Valley.  At the coffee shop I sat quietly inside while my friend locked up.  A moment later my friend was greeting the party - they had just shown up.

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.