One dad’s vision has turned into a pedal-powered Critical Mass for kids, as the second iteration drew more than triple the number than last month’s morning bike meetup.  

When SF dad Peter Belden started a monthly “Bike Bus” ride for kids heading to school in December, he told SFGate "There were almost 30 people in the bus, and I think the next one will be double or triple." Well, that “next one” was this morning, starting at 7:30 a.m. at Eighth Avenue in Golden Gate Park.

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And eyewitness accounts say Belden got more than double or triple those numbers. One rider tweeted that the meetup drew “over 100 kids, families, and supporters riding safely to school,” and the above video from the Page Slow Street Instagram account indicates there may have been more.

This concept seems to have started in Barcelona, which NPR reports is known as the “bicibús.” Those every-Friday rides spread to other cities in Spain, and apparently now to San Francisco as well.

And it is kind of a political advocacy move, as these are organized by KidSafe SF, who are vocal proponents of keeping JFK Drive car-free, the car-free Great Highway, and keeping Slow Streets.

There is not a specific announced date announced for a February Bike Bus, but the Page Slow Streets site says “there will be future events as well.“ They encourage interested riders of all ages to register with KidSafeSF for more information.

Related: SF Dad Starts ‘Bike Bus’ of Kids Riding to School, It Swells to Several Dozen In Size [SFist]

Image: @skttrbrain via Twitter

An 86-year-old man who was well known in the Lamorinda area for bicycling hundreds of miles every week and advocating for bike safety on the roads was hit by a car and killed on Tuesday less than a mile from his home.

Joe Shami, who lived in Lafayette, died from injuries sustained in the collision at Olympic Boulevard and Pleasant Hill Road, as KRON4 reports, just after 6:45 a.m. on Tuesday. He was known for bicycling up Mount Diablo and back at least once a week, beginning at least 10 years ago, and as the Mercury News reports, he was known in the cycling community as "The Legend of Mount Diablo."

When Shami was 83 in 2018 the East Bay Times covered the story of his 500th consecutive week of biking up the mountain at least once a week.

"He was just amazed at how everybody thought he was such a legend and hero, because he was just doing what he loved," says close friend Linda Kwong to the Mercury News. "He didn’t have any idea how much he inspired people."

Kwong, who leads the Mount Diablo Cyclists group, says that Shami was always surprised by how many people knew his name and said "hi" on his rides. "He just didn’t get that his riding created hope and inspiration for everyone around him. But he just didn’t understand. And I’d say to him: ‘That’s why you’re a legend!’ He was just a great, great friend and person."

Kwong told KRON4 that she "never thought that someone would hit him with a car and kill him like that," and that she was devastated and still processing the news.

Shami had always lived an active life, running 10 marathons before he took up cycling. And that 500-week streak ended up lasting 615 weeks, but ended when he blew out a tire.

He was injured after being hit by a car on his bike at least once before, and he was a vocal advocate for sharing the road, as KRON4 reports. Local cyclists say he helped to get bicycle turnouts installed on Mount Diablo in recent years, which greatly reduced collisions.

As Shami himself told the East Bay Times three years ago of his bicycling passion, "It’s a spiritual experience. You’re with nature and when you go early, it’s quiet and peaceful. The mountain is awesome. You really don’t know what to expect each time. The seasons change. It goes from green and verdant to completely dry. It’s always different — every week."

Photo: Linda Kwong/Mount Diablo Cyclists

Imagine the horror of being publicly shamed by a concerned citizen after blowing through an intersection on your bike along the Wiggle. Well, you won't have to imagine it much longer.

Next Thursday afternoon at the corner of Waller and Steiner — a particularly dangerous part of the bike route which runs through the Lower Haight and Panhandle — one man is holding a "Referee The Wiggle" event. Hosting the slightly fanciful stunt, which San Francisco Citizen and Hoodline have highlighted, is Morgan Fitzgibbons. With a one-time demonstration, he hopes to calls attention to unsafe biking behavior year-round.

If a cyclist fails to signal or stop, or cuts in front of pedestrians instead of maneuvering behind them, Fitzgibbons and any volunteers who share his vision will toss down yellow flags, you know, like at a football game. In an event listing on the site Neighborhland, Fitzgibbons writes that "While 95% of cyclists using the Wiggle are really incredibly respectful of other road users, there is that small minority who give us all a bad name. I've always wanted to dress as a referee and hand out yellow and red cards to bad cyclists (and maybe some cars and peds too) and I'm using NOW! as my excuse!"

NOW! is a series of events seeking to improve the Panhandle held from April 19th through the 25th and includes everything from free outdoor dance classes to 4/20 clean up efforts. In the 'hood he seems to love so well, Fitzgibbons has also founded a community group cleverly named The Wigg Party. That organization has made its mission is to "make the community that uses the Wiggle a leader in the transformation to sustainability and resilience."

So, if it's not a ticket or a collision you truly fear, but instead public humiliation, then bike carefully from 3 to 3:30 p.m. next Thursday. Or hey, come out — in stripes, too? — and referee with Fitzgibbons. As he writes, "Come join me in shaming the few bad cyclists out there and making the Wiggle just a little bit safer and more courteous!"

Related: Video: Driver Cuts Off Cyclist, Responds With Profanity And Threats

A photo posted by Vahe Hovhannisyan (@vhpoet) on Apr 12, 2015 at 10:09am PDT

"I'm still trying to recover," James Grady, who organized last Saturday's Mission Crit fixed-gear bike race, tells SFist. "It was pretty overwhelming for me." What took place last year in a parking lot with 20 racers occurred this year with around 70 participants.

And that's not all. Grady estimates that a thousand people came out to watch the men's and women's races on a short circuit. The Mission became a velodrome for the night courtesy of what Grady estimated to Mission Mission was total cost of $10,000, of which he received $6,300 in donations from sponsors and crowdfunding participants.

The fast-paced action took place on this course under cover of relative darkness.

The SFMTA even did its part, declining to invoke the typical $30,000 fee to reroute buses. Spectators even chipped in to raise a few hundred dollars toward The Broken Bones Fund for city bike messengers. Here, some audience shots from the evening.

Previously: Of Course The Mission Gets A Fixed-Gear Bike Race This Weekend

Picture a race from the Fast and the Furious. It's quick, its urban, but this time, it's on bikes. Fixies, to be exact. Also, it's street legal.

James Grady is the force behind the Mission Crit, which stands for a "crit" or a "criterium," and is being held this Saturday starting at 7 p.m. It's a fixed-gear bike race that's been given the thumbs up from the city, which took months of planning and insurance approval.

Grady tells SFist his race will appeal to fans of cycling and non-fans alike in part because of its simplicity. "It's going to be a bunch of laps of people going really really fast on bicycles," he says.

Last year Grady held his first crit in a parking lot south of AT&T Park with 20 riders. That was thrilling, but this year, there are 60 male racers and a wait list of 15, with well-known cyclists traveling in for the event. There's also an 8 person women's race to be held first.

The crit's format is admittedly byzantine, but passersby and spectators will surely get the gist. The course is about a half-mile long and the races are each 40 minutes. At the 20 minute mark, Grady will do some math to figure out how long the average lap takes the leading riders,and then determine how many laps will be left in the race based on that figure.

That's when things really heat up, he explains. For the first 20 minutes, "What people are doing is establishing positions and figuring everything else out, not necessarily going 100%." That said, you can't just hang out and save energy: "if a rider is lapped they are out," says Grady.

Here's a look at the course:

The Mission Crit's format is much the same as the Red Hook Crit, which drew thousands of spectators last year. The best way to get in to see the race, according to Grady, is at 16th and Harrison Street. The women's race starts at 8, the men's race at 9. Though spectating is free, tickets can be bought and some prizes will be given out, and ticket sales will go to benefit bike messengers who can't work due to injuries. So, if you'd like to see people darting around the Mission on fixed-gear bikes in a more organized fashion than usual, here's the Facebook event.

BENEFIT: Yellow Bike Project, a volunteer-powered community bike shop, is hosting its inaugural Upcycle Ball, featuring a live performance by Hottub, and DJ sets by maus haus, DJ Deep, and Mr. Pillz. Be sure to donate any spare bike parts and tools! (8 p.m. to 2 a.m., Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street)

ART: Cassel Gallery and Goorin Bros. Hat Company present the closing event for American Made, a "satirical and earnest" exploration of "the zeitgeist and an illumination of what artist participants believe it means to be 'Made in America'." Tonight's event will also feature live music. (8 to 11 p.m., Cassel Goorin Gallery, 1261 Howard Street)

MUSIC: Go Van Gogh, who play an eclectic mix of genres, "Country Music From Many Countries," plays Bissap Baobab, "San Francisco's finest Senegalese restaurant night club," tonight. (10 p.m. to 1 a.m., Bissap Baobab, 3372 19th Street)

Good news for bicyclists navigating the bevy of Golden Gate pedestrians: the Bridge will reopen the west side bicycle throughway sometime in early to mid-September. Closed since May for retrofitting, the east side portion of the bridge has been a cramped assortment of bicycle commuters and pedestrian tourists. The city heeded complaints and painted bicycle lines along the shared sidewalk earlier last month, but the reopening couldn't come a moment too soon.

Official relaunch date announced later today, we'll update when we know more.

[SF Appeal]

29-year-old Anthony Michael Martin, a former professional cyclist, disappeared Saturday afternoon, according to friends, while bicycling in the Oakland/Berkeley hills. Ominously, his cell phone was discovered by another cyclist on Tunnel Road in Berkeley later that day.

Martin goes by the name "Mike," and friends are seeking any information about his disappearance. He's described as slender, six feet tall, and likely wearing street clothes when he was cycling on a fluorescent green and white road bike. Anyone with information is urged to call the Berkeley Police Department at (510) 981-5900.

Be extra careful out there today, folks! It's the 3rd Annual Bike to School Day, in which approximately 3,000 students at more than 40 schools throughout town will be pedaling to school and back. Bay City News via SF Appeal reports that several San Francisco supervisors will be coming along for the ride, including Eric Mar, David Chiu, Jane Kim, Carmen Chu, John Avalos, and Scott Wiener.

Fifteen San Francisco schools participate in the yearlong Safe Routes to School program, encouraging families to bike and walk to school daily. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition says that the majority of the students live within a mile of the participating schools, and San Francisco Unified School District is working to install bike racks at all the schools in the city.

As the Bike to School Day site notes:

If the number of kids who walk and bike to school was restored to 1969 levels, our nation would cut 3.2 billion vehicle miles, 1.5 million tons of CO2, and 89,000 tons of other pollutants annually. This is the equivalent of keeping more than 250,000 cars off the road for a year.

- Pedroso, M., 2008, Safe Routes to School: Steps to a Greener Future

Read some endearing stories about kids and their families who are participating in the event over at SF Bike Coalition.

SPUR came out with a report today outlining how S.F. can use the large influx of money that the upcoming America's Cup will undoubtedly generate as an impetus to make major, much needed investments to the city now.

Suggested improvements include

• Building the F-Line extension to Fort Mason to accommodate the anticipated 200,000 to a million visitors per day who will need reliable transportation to get to on-share spectator areas. (We need only look at Bay to Breakers and Outside Lands for examples of how well Muni melts down when trying to accommodate large events.)
• Implement SPUR's Embikeadero (PDF) plan, which consists of a separated two-way bike path alongside the Embarcadero that would enhance the safety of cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists alike.
• Get moving on the The Jefferson Street Redesign, which would “Europeanize” Fisherman’s Wharf, transforming an "aging destination into a place that San Franciscans and visitors alike will find beautiful and compelling, while investing in the one of the city’s most important economic generators."

Head over to SPUR to read more.

[Via Streetsblog]

The Bay Citizen has created a handy new interactive map pinpointing all of the reported bike accidents that occurred in San Francisco during the past two years. Crashes reported to SFPD increased from 555 in 2009 to 602 in 2010. They note that many accidents don't get reported. So, help them out by adding yours to the map.

Bay Citizen also published a bunch of in-depth data that tries to make sense out of the accidents. They found that most of the neighborhoods with major biking thoroughfares, such as The Mission SoMa, and Downtown had the highest number of crashes. Naturally, Market Street had 139 accidents in the last two years, significantly more than any other street.

Keep an eye out for those trouble zones, and stay safe, folks!