panhandle panache

Sleeping beauty.


Punk parenthood.


Classy cruising.

wiggle me this!

Here's an ode to one of the best strips of runway in SF:

Cyclists criss-cross streets
Cars and busses stop for us
Wiggle is the way

VV Profile: Laura Husdpeth of Portland!

Occupation: Design and sales for the online sock company, Sock Dreams
Hometown: Portland
Portland neighborhood: Inner Southeast
Helmet or no helmet: Helmet, though I slack a lot in the summer…
Type of bike: It's an SE frame, fixed gear.
Describe what you like best about your bike: I love how quick and light my bike is, and also that I bought her as my college graduation present to myself.
Describe your cycling experience in Portland: Really great overall, minus a few nicks and bruises here and there:). I feel lucky to live in a place where I can quickly and safely get anywhere I need to go by bike.
Favorite time or place to ride: There’s nothing quite like riding in the middle of the night over the bridges here in Portland, when no one’s on the road and everything is so still and peaceful.
Favorite color: Is it weird to say brown? I love love love brown with light blue.
Artist most commonly played on iPod at the moment: There's been a lot of Wire, Gun Club, and Charles Mingus in the last few days.
Describe your personal style: I pretty much wear shorts and ballet flats every day, and a vest or cardigan. Pretty basic, always black, brown, or gray. I wear newsboy caps a lot, too--actually, one of my coworkers says I dress like a newsboy.
Vélo Vogue tip of the day: When it comes to riding, I've noticed that I'm happiest with less accessories, less gears, less mapped-out directions if I'm just joy riding, and so on. Simplify.

Valencia and Duboce

It's a strange location for a biker bar (Zeitgeist). But when I think of this intersection, I think of the bar. From the outside, it's an auto-dominate edge to our little almost-bike-heaven of Valencia Street, the mucky patch that you must cross before getting to main street, I mean, Market Street.

My photos came out a little blurry, but this lovely lady was well-coordinated. Her shirt matched her bike. Her jacket matched her shoes. And throw in a splash of fun with the floral "skirt" over her pants. The floral print is what first caught my eye.

BikeCity USA: (sigh) Portland

This post has moved.

Happy Bike-to-Work Day!

I asked a random guy to shoot this photo of me at the Caltrain station on my way home from work last year. I'm sporting a blue blouse and brown suit pants (the matching jacket is in my pannier). I've changed my shoes to cleats, and my trouser socks work perfectly to keep my pant legs out of my chain and wheels. The fact that my helmet matches my blouse is a luck accident.

My commute is quite long. When I ride less than 10 miles, I'm perfectly comfortable wearing near-regular clothes. When I ride 30+ miles to work, I admit to wearing spandex.

I've been hearing a lot of new plays on "Bike-to-Work Day" this year. I've heard "Work to Bike" and "Bike instead of Work", and I can relate to that. Since I've never heard the event so paired with an anti-work message, I'm wondering how much the sad state of the economy increases interest in biking both because biking is a more efficient way of travel than just about anything else (thus saving people money they don't have) and because it brings joy to our lives when we might have trouble remembering other reasons to feel happy.

Whether you bike to work, work to bike, or bike instead of work, I wish you a beautiful day on your bike.

Young couple a Velib'

I saw this young couple navigating the intersection at La Bastille. She looks great, but I was particularly impressed with her shoes.


You'll see -- I have a couple other photos of magnificently-colored footwear worn in Paris last summer. As you know, last year's fashion in Paris is next year's fashion in the states. I'm just saying....

Parisien Children a velo

While in Paris last summer, I took these photos of people riding with their children.

This woman merits VV on her own.


These kids are a bit on the sporty side, but I loved seeing the whole family ride together. I think they're American expats. What do you think?

brown shimmer

A very glamorous woman is bringing back the two vintage eras with this look: the 80s with those brown sparkly legwarmers over jeans and the 60s with that brown tapestry three-quarter length coat. I hope her cycle-style will inspire a thing or two in her pal!

More Caltrain Vogue

When I asked her if I could take her picture, she said "I look so dorky." Nothing could be less true! I loved her brown boots, blue skirt and pea coat. Maybe the outfit was incomplete, but I couldn't tell how. The vintage ladies frame didn't hurt either.

the push off

I suppose I feel like dedicating posts this week!

Every time I see a chic cyclist pushing off into flight, I think of Mikael, our pal across the pond, who inspired Vélo Vogue to take off into flight by documenting fashion on two wheels here in SF. So, once again, this post is dedicated to Zakkaliciousness, the mac-daddy of Cycle Chic.

And let me add that the more I'm out on my bicycle, the more I see cyclo-fashionistas making bold statements. I want to think that, just as Copenhagen Cycle Chic inspired us, we too are inspiring others!

Tourist Vogue

When people come to visit SF, I encourage them to visit the beach, the bridge and the Ferry Building. A rental bike is perfect for a spin in Golden Gate Park like these ladies have figured out. This visitor looks so chic in while peasant skirt with brown hoodie and leggings.

more pandhandle vogue... 2

Switching your handle bars on a regular bike for children's clown-style bars has become a style. People enjoy sitting upright when that's hard to come by here, and it looks cool and eccentric. This woman was pleasantly color-coordinated above her custom-cool-ized bike.

shorts overalls etc.

This woman looked great in her shorts overalls and bright red bicycle.

(Yeah, we also like her friend's t-shirt.)

Sunday Streets / Family Streets

Sunday Streets provides the opportunity for families to enjoy the street unharmed by dangerous vehicles. Here a dapper man in hat totes his child:

A woman enjoys a leisurely ride with her dog:


A little family, mom in fashionable flowy skirt and matching brown tights and cardigan, ride along the waterfront:

and a woman pulls her tired buddy back home again...

More Sunday Streets photos to come

Revolution!

Another beautiful day in the Mission, and beautiful women with Che Guevara shoulder bags are too fast for my camera.

I was also impressed with her all-in-black skirt, sunglasses, and cowboy boots look. We are each our own kind of revolutionary.

(GDH) Guess who?

My co-blogger GDH on another of my blogs snapped this photo of me on date night. I wore my burning-man red furry coat (that influenced my nephew Forest once to ask if I am a chicken), vintage dress, knee-high trouser socks, black flat boots and my nearly-retirable red helmet. I rode my funkiest bike, a rental I bought used 11 years ago.