Even a couple of years ago there usually weren't that many bikes in the bike car. High gas prices have changed that. Nowadays Mountain View is about the last stop for the northbound train where you can be sure to get on. Even that is less certain than it used to be. I took the above pictures before getting to Palo Alto, and as you can see there isn't much room left in the bike racks.

Not only that, but a lot of the bike parking at the station is in use.

    

At every stop some would get off, and at least that many would want to get on. I saw several people told to get off because there wasn't any room for their bikes. The only way to get more bikes on Caltrain is as folding bikes in the luggage car or something like that.

     

Once I got to Justin Herman Plaza there was lots of fun to be had. Uncle Sam and the guy with the clipboard were gathering signatures on the petition to rename the SF Sewage Plant after 43. The goal is to have it on the ballot in the fall. The idea is to have it renamed by January 20th, so San Francisco can "flush Bush" during the inaugural address. I was bummed you had to be a San Francisco voter to sign.

  

Once the ride started I felt like the party got moving. Later I asked somebody about the police escort and he said the SFPD "has a special task group for that." I gather it's a batch of police that volunteers to come out every month to keep everybody safe for a shift or something like that. In any case I was surprised the first time I saw them, but I've since gotten used to their presence. Critical Mass had more of a wild west quality before it got a police escort though.

     

There must have been at least a dozen Agents of Change on ride. I think they were mostly Canadians riding from Victoria, British Columbia to Baja, Mexico. Basically that's a tour down the west coast. Their goal is to build awareness of micro-credit as part of the solution to our problems. I don't know if they scheduled their time in San Francisco to coincide with critical mass, but I would have if I was their planner.

  

     

  

One of the critical mass traditions is to make lots of noise going through the tunnels. Noise is magnified by bouncing off the tile walls, and it adds up to a great crescendo. Sandra wanted to record it, but she had to borrow the batteries from my monkeylectric.com blinker to do so. I can't remember another opportunity I had to photograph someone using my batteries to record sound.

    

When we got to Dolores Park there was a big march getting underway their. I asked somebody what it was all about. "We are marching for transgender and transexual rights" was the answer. It was part of the pride week festivities.

  

Several critical masses ago this guy and I corked a big street while the ride went by. Every time the cars started beeping he told them "five more minutes." That particular time the mass was quite huge, so he said that a lot. For some reason, every time I see him I think "five more minutes." He probably told me his name, but as far as I'm concerned it's Five More Minutes.

     

"If you were biking there you'd be happy by now." and "bikes not bombs" were on the same bike. The rider didn't want an identifiable picture taken, but was okay with detail shots of messages.

  

We ran into that march again. I'm not sure what happened, but I ended up in the march, as did a lot of other bicyclists. I asked one of the cops guarding the march if there were many unplanned march merges in the city. He thought about it for a few seconds and said "Nope. this is the first one I know about. A historic occasion."

     

The gay rights march was even more of a party than critical mass. It had this "oh my" quality that made not smiling more effort than it was worth. One person in a dress was carrying a sign that said "don't think just because I have a p***s I'm a guy."

     

About the time I finished sharing my one minute speech with one marcher this feather blew in. That person found the feather much more interesting than anything I had said. So it goes.