enjoying the California winter

It feels like summer here in San Francisco, so the calitexican and I have been playing hooky lately, enjoying the sunshine while we can.

Come back next week for more updates from my trip to Brazil, some of my sunny SF adventures with Cycle SF, the Bike Snob and (drumroll, please!) my new film, The Spinster.

Enjoy the weekend!

reflecting on bicycles

a cross post from wheelright, celebrating the rare occurrence of puddles in san francisco this winter.

november becomes december

Not much difference in the seasons here between fall and winter here in Cali.

If you're in SF, hope this terrible wind doesn't knock you over. :-)

Vogue Around The Globe - Baby It's Cold (no it ain't!)

Since I'm still spending most of the days in my pajamas at my home office, and shots of my cat curled up in front of the fireplace would be out of context for this blog, here I go with Other People's Pics from other parts of the world, starting with...

Meligrosa in our homegrown fog right in front of our Golden Gates!


a.pic.a.day rolls in houndstooth tights on icy NYC pavement. You go girl!


Bart Omeu documents invierno en Barça! (That's where I'll be end of January 2011!)


Oh yeah, and while the Northern Hemisphere gets cozy, the Southern Hemisphere is taking it off.

Candy Cranks cranks up the heat in fishnets in Sydney.


Quiltro Elemento brings us the dog days of summer in Santiago de Chile.


Lexitos shows us that it's getting hotter and hotter - though this doesn't look like The Hague to me...

Winter Wonderland

from Dream Dottie


from Mikael Collville-Andersen of Copenhagen Cycle Chic, the original


from Amsterdamize

Vogue Around The Globe - Wintering!

nieve by Soya le Gato in Lyon, France (Salut!)


Chill in the Air by knittinglemonade, whereabouts undisclosed


juleskills all in purple in NYC!


Layers by poetas in Portland, OR. (Hi Dave!!!)


Geri, day 1, with Andy´s Raleigh, by Borntoolate 1960 in the UK!


Primary Colors by Simply Bike in the Midwest! (oh the fishnets, girrrrl!)


up and away, from 'Xander in Toronto


La dona de vermell by Bart Omeu in Barcelona (ay dios mio - 5 - 0!!!)

she wears short shorts

I almost took these painted on short shorts for spandex when this sexy lady pulled up to the curb where the Panhandle meets the Park on this sunny Sunday afternoon. What an overall radical look with the red shorts, brown leather boots and glam glasses!

And away she goes!

winter in SF

After visiting Cycle Chic's recent post about subzero temps in Copenhagen, and hearing the news of blizzards back east, I am guiltlessly enjoying near 90 degree Fahrenheit temps in SF. It's like summer in the middle of January. And what better way to enjoy the heat wave, but to ride to the Park to relax in your bikini with your sweetie. I took this shot two days ago near Hippie Hill.

All I can say to the rest of you is that we are very sorry (sort of).

VV Profile: Thomas Liebe

This one's enough to make Meligrosa's heart go pitter patter - a barista...


who also cycles in the snow!


Thomas is an industrial designer from Thun, Switzerland, who is also one of the world's top baristas (I believe he told me he was rated 17th best barista in the world). He won a design award in Switzerland for a laser he invented, but he's also known for designing a machine that he claims brews the best espresso you've ever tasted, especially when he's behind the bar!

Here's what Thomas told me about where to find the best coffee in SF:
My last day in SF I visited a Blue Bottle coffee shop. I enjoyed a real delicious fresh brewed long coffee. The blend was The Three Africans.

Maybe next time Thomas visits us, Lilia, Meli and I can take him on a Tour de Café de SF. Any suggestions for our itinerary?

photos submitted by the subject

shades of grey

I felt like I was watching an old Italian black and white film when this stylish cyclist pulled to stop in front of me at Market and Van Ness, her grey pumps scratching the surface of the curb. Sometimes winter weather makes you dress in dark and neutral tones, even in sunny California.

winter wonder

At first I was taken with this gorgeous orange bicycle, and then noticed this woman has a wonderful winter look, with puffy parka, jean skirt, brown tights, and scarf. However you weather the winter on your vélo, get out and do it in style!

Black Saturday

The girls and I went to brunch last weekend as we sometimes like to do. Sitting by the window next to Dolores Park, I was constantly checking for VV material. (I think my friends understand.) This lady, in black, black, black, with boots, a short skirt, leather jacket, hair tie around her red hair, was the best-dressed cyclist I saw. Her edgy urban look balanced nicely with her cruiser-with-wicker-basket bike.

Santa's Little Helper

I had a shift at my gallery yesterday, and KT agreed to swing by for a long-overdue Velo Vogue meeting. The gallery is on Valencia, one of the streets most heavily trafficked with cyclists in the City. So, we were beating ourselves up over and over as attractive cyclists whizzed by too fast for us to snap their pictures. You have to let some of them go, we agreed. And then we saw this one:
I was especially taken with her earmuffs, and the way her boots matched them and her hat. Her classic road bike also matches her ensemble, stark white, so chic. I jumped up and chased her down just barely capturing her image as she sped through the next intersection. (A customer at the gallery become concerned that I might react the same when when he left the gallery until I showed him her picture.)

Copenhagen Cycle Chic

We were inspired by the Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog as soon as we learned of it. I used to bike to work in pumps and a little skirt to my office job in San Francisco as early 1996. My point was that you don't need to wear special clothes to ride a bike. Our friends in Copenhagen emphasize that you can even look incredibly hot. Then, KT became their foreign correspondent:


and we started to realize that our admiration could expand to the highest form of flattery: imitation. And so we begin!