Transportation Archives, page 3

Cars, scooters, boats, motorcycles, trains, bicycles, and more

Ford Custom 500

1966 Ford Custom 500
An immaculate 1966 Ford Custom 500

New bike

From the get-go I was pretty sure I wanted a PUBLIC Bike (in British racing green, with matching fenders, front and rear racks, and a brown leather saddle). But after a test ride I was less sure. The angled handlebars felt wobbly, and I spent the whole time in the highest gear. Intellectually and aesthetically it resonated, but in practice, I had doubts.

PUBLIC Bike D8 in British Racing Green
The PUBLIC D8

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On not wearing a bicycle helmet

It never even occurred to me that I could ride a bike without a helmet. Until I read this: To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets (in the course of shopping for a helmet).

Yes, there are studies that show that if you fall off a bicycle at a certain speed and hit your head, a helmet can reduce your risk of serious head injury. But such falls off bikes are rare — exceedingly so in mature urban cycling systems. On the other hand, many researchers say, if you force or pressure people to wear helmets, you discourage them from riding bicycles. That means more obesity, heart disease and diabetes. And — Catch-22 — a result is fewer ordinary cyclists on the road, which makes it harder to develop a safe bicycling network.

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Decorative contrails

The Fleet Week Air Show on Saturday gave me reason to take out my 50-200mm lens—which hasn’t seen this much action since our Maasai Mara safari in Kenya. We had some errands to run early in the day, so we decided to work the Blue Angels into our schedule, scooting down to Fort Mason for front row “seats” on one of the piers.

On the way there, we saw an enormous United Airlines 747 circling the bay at low speed and altitude—a surreal sight to say the least. On the walk from our parking spot to Fort Mason, we saw (and heard) the deafening demonstration of an F-22 Raptor flying straight up, intentionally stalling in midair, and then falling over backwards. Incredible. By the time we got to the end of the pier, the fire-engine red Oracle bi-plane was doing insane tricks over the bay. We saw most of that performance, and then took in the entire hour-long Blue Angels show.

Oracle Challenger II bi-plane performing at the SF Fleet Week Airshow 2012

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Close encounters

As my taxi sped away from JFK during one of my trips to New York last April, an improbable sight caught my eye: the illuminated tail of a Space Shuttle poking out of a hangar, still mounted atop the special 747 that had brought it there. I had that giddy reaction of someone who’s just bumped into a celebrity—Space Shuttle Enterprise had been all over the news at the time.

So on my way back to the airport a few days later, I was prepared with my camera on the off chance that it was still there. It was, but I was not as prepared as I’d hoped, and of the 3 shots I was able to get off as the cab raced by, the one below was the best, and I think pretty accurately captured my passing glimpse from that first night.

Space Shuttle Enterprise parked at JFK Airport in NYC
Space Shuttle Enterprise parked at JFK

Suffice it to say I did not hear about Space Shuttle Endeavour’s flyby of San Francisco until after it happened. But lots of other people did. There’s a nice round up of pics at Burrito Justice’s post, Good Night, Sweet Prince.