Not too long ago, we got back from a trip to Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen. These are the souvenirs that I brought back:
more to come, of course!
I’ve been riding my commuter bike with the Panaracer Ribmo kevlar-beaded 700×28 tires (amazon link) for quite some time now, and I think they’re great.
Ok, the acronym’s kinda dumb. Until earlier this week, I could boast that I’d never had a flat on a Ribmo while riding. However, I did blow 3 tubes trying to get the tires onto the rim for the first time. The bead is TIGHT, and it was an intensely frustrating experience to mount that tire. My hands were crazy sore, and I probably broke a tire lever.
BUT – in 3 years and 1 month of riding, I never had a flat. I only had to take the tire off once, and that’s only because my rim broke. The tire was much easier to take off and put back on after it had been on a wheel for a while. I rode the tires until the threads were hanging out of the tread and the sidewall and it was only then that something punctured the tire. It was probably a large staple – I recall hearing a metallic clicking sound. After a few blocks, I looked down and saw that the tire was looking sorta flat.
Even when new, with their pointy triangular profile, the tires felt kind of slow. I usually rode loaded – not with much, but maybe 10-15 pounds of pannier. The tire lasted through my daily urban commute in Oakland, California, some recreational rides, and quite a few 30-80 mile tours with maybe 35-50 pounds of gear on the rack. The tire profile went from a triangular shape to that of a traditional tire when it finally expired.
I put an old Vittoria Randdoneur Pro (amazon link) that I had sitting around on the wheel for the time being. I’ll keep that on until I get a new Ribmo in the mail.
Looking thready.
I still think it’s interesting to measure bike tire wear with a scale.
Original weight: 370g. Final weight: 318g. 52 grams (14%) of the tire are scattered somewhere around the Bay Area. Neat!
To sum it up:
* this tire lasts a REALLY long time. I’d estimate that I put on about 4000-5000 miles in 3 years. Many of those miles were loaded. The Ribmo I have on the front, I suspect, will last a lot longer. We’ll see, as I put it on a a year and a half after the rear tire.
* awesomely puncture resistant
* reasonable price – I think I paid about $30 for it
* a bit heavy
* they feel slow
* REALLY HARD to get on the first time. but easier after that.
With some time to spare before the wedding, we drove our rental car up to Port Costa to walk around for a little while and have some lunch. It was a treat. We looked out across the Carquinez strait and then meandered through the tiny town.
We were greeted by chickens driving a pickup truck, some sweet old cars, and this old theater sign:
We first walked into the Burlington Hotel cafe to and got a plate of bacon (Thanks Rob!) and some coffee. The cafe, like the exterior of the hotel is bright and inviting.
The bacon was predictably delicious:
But it was also a treat to walk around the hotel. Port Costa was a former port for wheat-shipping and the hotel was built in 1883, soon after the Port Costa was founded.
The lobby:
Antiques sign, across the stairwell:
We even got to peek into a few of the rooms.
The entrance to the Bertha room:
Caffeinated and baconated, we checked out Wendy Addison’s Theater of Dreams studio:
and then elected to grab lunch at Crockett rather than eat at the Warehouse Cafe. Another time.
We ended up at the Valona Deli and I took this photo in the bathroom:
It was Bay to Breakers 2013, but we went across the bay, dressed normally, to get coffee and bread at The Mill.
Above: loaves of bread on wire racks.
The cappuccino made with four barrel coffee in a nuova point cup was enjoyable. rosetta of the day: heart
nice interior with natural light
their toast was great. cinnamon and sugar and butter on a sourdough country loaf. thick, chewy, robust crust.
mmm, delicious bread. dancing food prep dude was into the music.
another gorgeous saturday in Oakland:
I stopped by Oaklandish to drop off some Antietam Designs earrings. They were working on getting their Manifesto collab bike display up in the window. Then I visited Sweet Bar at 24th and Broadway; I’d been meaning to stop by for quite some time now. I picked up the Strawberry Rhubarb Polenta upside-down cake. Delicious.
Before visiting friends and family all the way down in San Jose, we stopped by Beauty’s Bagel Shop for some sustenance for us and our hosts. I’d already had my morning shot of espresso, which was either the Burundi from Pacific Bay or some very old Starbucks Blonde Roast (aka backup coffee), but I couldn’t turn down a good one of Flying Goat.
I got a egg and cheese bagel sandwich on an everything bagel as well as a few more bagels with cream cheese for the road. The sandwich was predictably yummy. The bagels are a little flatter and smaller than a good New York style bagel, but have plenty of chew.
I stood out on Telegraph Avenue at about 7:45am to see the first runners come through. People were still setting up their unofficial water station and a few sort of hungover guys were starting to erect their giant wooden sign for their friend whose name and nickname I can no longer remember. It started with an “E” though.
2012 winner Chris Mocko was way out in front at this point:
Runners Shinji Nakadai, Osamu Tada, and Rob Nachtwey were clustered maybe 30 seconds to a minute behind at this point. It turns out that these three would become the top 3 overall finishers. These three started closing in on Mocko by mile 10 and eventually pulled ahead at mile 14. Chris Mocko pulled off with an injury. Shinji Nakadai has a few ultras under his belt and apparently thought that he had run the race too conservatively. Shinji Nakadai ended up finishing with a time of 2:37:29, followed by Rob Nachtwey at 2:40:14 and Osamu Tada at 2:42:56. Chris Mocko still ended up finishing 7th overall, with a time of 2:56:13.
This is the top female finisher, Devon Yanko. Also an ultramarathoner, she set a new women’s course record (by 10 minutes!) with a finishing time of 2:47:24.
Here’s Penelope MacPhail, in the braids, who finished 4th overall for females with a time of 3:16:17.
The woman in bib #939 was Caitlin Smith, who finished 2nd among females with a time of 2:56:14.
This is Monica Zhuang, who chose to run the relay this year with team Runners Unchained.
I loved the coordination that this guy, Adam Kittler had in his outfit.
Hawaiian shirt guy! Dennis Lefbom. 
