First Cruise!!

[sk8erpunk]

First Cruise on the Whizzer!!

Here are some pics to go with this post (these were taken with my iPhone) (see the attached below).

Okay, seems like it has been forever between buying my bike and going for my first cruise (other than testing her out at Mike's when I bought it). Finally got her out today and drove about 16 miles (trust me, I wanted to do more, but I was so excited to get her going I thought that maybe I had left the front door open, so I came back home to check ... LOL). anyway, I drove up and down the Great Highway at Ocean Beach (technically, the lower great highway) and through a good part of Golden Gate Park here in SF (this is where I live, out where the park and the ocean meet). Dayum, it's a great freakin' day today!! I had no problem and the traffic was fairly heavy for out here (it is a holiday and it is nice out here, so ... all the "tourists" to my neighborhood come out to use the beach). Ocean Beach was a mad house. The parking lots were full and a mess and I just cruised on through and pulled up to the ocean walkway and parked. Easy to get out too. Only issue I had was some jerk who passed me when I was going 25 in a 25 zone. I mean ... some people just don't want to be around certain vehicles and I understand that (I have an old Chevy Van and people are the same way with that), but still ... I was going the speed limit. It was more dangerous for him to pass me (against a double yellow line, I might add) than to follow me going the speed limit. But I digress ...

Anyway, the whizzer rides like a dream and everywhere I went people were happy to see her. I even got thumbs up from the spandex crowd. At the beach and the little coffee shop I went to, everyone had to know about my bike, and people even took pics.

Note to you Whizzer dealers: I know you can't afford the real estate, but there are no Whizzer dealers in SF or Berkeley. I'm just saying ... there's a market. Everyone wanted to know how much it cost and the reactions ranged from "that cheap?" to "that much?"

 

[s_beaudry]

Nice ride you got there...

How does she handle the hills in the SF area?

 

[sk8erpunk]

thanks, s_beaudry. I am out at the beach/sunset area of SF (which is not like the classic downtown area everyone knows from movies and TV). the hills I have to deal with are mostly long sloaping hills. the area I live in was built on top of sand dunes (including GG Park), if that gives you any idea (about 150 years or so ago, give or take 100 years -- parts of this was still sand dunes up until the 30's). I found it was a bit harder if I hit a sloaping hill cold and that happened only once, when I turned on to one from another street (I had to stop at the stop sign and to make sure there was no other traffic). there is a small hill at the entrance to GG Park (from Ocean Beach) that I had absolutely no trouble navigating. It is almost the steepest hill in the park (there is one other, but I would have no reason to go on it). Really, I was surprised at how well she handled. the crappy roads (potholes and uneven pavement) were more of a problem than the hills.

Now, that does not mean I am going to go downtown and get on Nob Hill or any of the other insane hills we have here. I am not going anywhere near that traffic. No way. I do think I will take her down to the edge of downtown, to the mission and the haight and the lower haight. I can drive through the park on weekdays (very quiet then) and there are some good side streets once you get out of the park. the trick is to avoid Market St (for those of you familiar with SF) or the other major roads. I have witnessed bikes being hit by cars in this city and it aint pretty.