HI, Alaine. I'm from a suburb of San Diego.  Most of us in Urban California cities are nervous about the roads and traveling on them, and that goes for the "experts" as well.  I've lived in SD nearly all my life, and I certainly sympathize with the SF cyclists' situation.  Our problems here are: DISTANCE, if you're in a suburb, lots of hills everywhere (great for fitness, but they do provide a challenge), problematic routing (How do I get to Escondido by bike from El Cajon without traveling a freeway, for example? Never mind that it's 40 miles one way, if I'm biking to work) and drivers who seem to regard bicyclists as targets.
On a positive note, there are lots of cyclists in urban areas here, but they don't seem to travel between them much. I'd be happy to answer the questions, but I've only been to SF twice, and my immediate memories are steep hills and narrow streets, and CROWDS.
Good luck!
Steve Bradley


On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 9:50 AM, Alaine Anhalt <aanhalt@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello everyone!
I just launched a new cycling forum for SF bike riders as part of a graphic design thesis. The website is still under construction but the forum is up and running. It's purpose it to create a resource for cyclists who have qualms about riding around the city because they think it's too hard or too dangerous. It's my hope that by offering solutions, people will choose to ride their bikes more!

I would love for anyone with a moment to check it out and add some content. These types of forums are only as valuable as their level of activity. Already in the past two days I have a ton of posts from new riders with questions about riding, but my problem is that I have less people with expert knowledge who can provide answers. I have noticed that this thinktank has a fantastic collective wealth of knowledge and it's my hope that if only a few people share some insight on the forum it will be a much more valuable resource to the cyclists of SF.

You don't have to be from SF to know the answers to most of these questions. Your help means a lot to the cycling community!

In addition, I have a soft design of an app and a series of events, all hypothetical pending the proper funding. In the meantime I'm hoping the forum is a useful resource :)

http://biketheresf.com/forums/

http://biketheresf.com/register/

Hope everyone has a great day!

--
Cheers,
Alaine

_______________________________________________
Thethinktank mailing list
Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org
To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org




--
 Steven C. (Steve) Bradley
CA Dept of Real Estate, Lic. #00869762
619-442-8833 XT 119 Office
619-442-8039 FAX
See my websites:
Real Estate and Finance
http://realestateandfinancialwisdom.blogspot.com

Relationship with God:
http://truevoiceofthefather.blogspot.com/


"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."
--Margaret Thatcher
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." - Samuel
Johnson