Month: February 2009

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Jam

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Occasionally, once every couple of weeks maybe, I’ll drive in to San Francisco for my afternoon shift rather than take the train in. A midday the traffic is usually light and you zip across. And though it’s unnecessary to drive since I live and work close to transit, it’s nice every once in a while not to do the short hike down to the station at 16th and Mission at 9:30 or 10 at night. That’s another story.

This afternoon the bridge approaches were clear as usual at 1 p.m. But the electronic sign at the bottom of the long incline after the toll plazas said there was an accident two or three miles ahead. Just ahead, the traffic was slowing, and it took a good 25 minutes to get up to the accident site on the west side of the tunnel that opens onto the suspension span that carries traffic into the city. Since traffic was just about stopped, I took out the camera and did some distracted driving.

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Lincoln’s Way

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Lincoln Highway: Austin, Nevada. August 1, 2007.

So, looking for a little something to say about our sixteenth president on his 200th birthday, I’ve come up a little short. For tonight, just this: You run into him everywhere. I remembered earlier this evening that the summer before last, when Kate and I drove across the country, we encountered Lincoln Highway markers on U.S. 50 in the middle of Nevada (above). That was news to me, because our Lincoln Highway in the south suburbs of Chicago was U.S. 30. The next day, we came upon more markers east of Salt Lake City, in a hamlet just off Interstate 80 (below). It turns out both places were on the route of the original Lincoln Highway route. (Check out Lincoln Highway, a simple but excellent site on the route and its history.) lincoln080207.jpg

Lincoln Highway: Wanship, Utah. August 2, 2007.

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On the Homefront

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Just noodling around, looking for historical pictures of California for a possible project, I came across the Library of Congress stream on Flickr. Soon, I came across a series of slick, posed images of women at work during World War II in Los Angeles-area aircraft plants. I’m captivated by how much is going on here: high (for its time) technology, the serious industrial setting, the artful setup and shot, the costume, the war-on-the-homefront theme, the intensity of the worker as she does her job (not to mention the conceit that the man in the shot is instructing the little lady on what to do).

The caption: “Women are trained to do precise and vital engine installation detail in Douglas Aircraft Company plants, Long Beach, Calif.” It was shot in October 1942 for the Office of War Information, our domestic propaganda agency, and credited to Alfred T. Palmer, the agency’s chief photographer. Click for larger image.

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Svein Tuft Watch

We’ve been a little adrift here. No peloton to ride in. No urge to get on the bike. Just guilty, guilty feelings about not being out there. But that’s changed now that Svein Tuft is in California. We hereby dedicate ourselves to following him — his progress, from afar — for at least a day or two during the Tour of California. To prepare, here are some very important Svein Tuft links. If you happen across this and want to contribute, send a note!

Canadian Rider Makes an Unorthodox Climb Toward Cycling’s Pinnacle: The New York Times article that started it all (“it” being Tuftmania).

Svein Tuft: the Wikipedia article

Svein Tuft: bio and race results from his former team, British Columbia-based Symmetrics Cycling.

Svein Tuft: racer page from his current team, Garmin-Chipotle

Svein Tuft Gets Pez’d (Pez Cycling News, August 19, 2008: focuses on Tuft’s race at the Olympic road time trial).

Svein Tuft’s journey to worlds silver: (October 13, 2008: a long Cycling News feature).

Interview: Svein Tuft (The Daily Peloton interview, December 19, 2008: includes Tuft’s racing plans for 2009, including Paris-Roubaix).

Svein interview after winning Canadian individual time trial, July 4, 2008.

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Into the Wild, Onto the Road

Riding and racing for the pure joy of it: Canadian Rider Makes an Unorthodox Climb Toward Cycling’s Pinnacle.

It’s The New York Times on Svein Tuft, a 31-year-old riding in the Tour of California and who could make his debut in the Tour de France later this year. I suppose that if the Times is getting around to it, similar tales have appeared many other places, too. In any case — wonderful story:

“Those who have heard the tale of Svein Tuft have wondered, could it possibly be true?

“How he dropped out of school in the 10th grade, lured by the freedom of the outdoors. How he evolved into a barrel-chested woodsman with Paul Bunyan biceps. How he ventured, at 18, from his home in Canada into the wilderness on a $40 thrift-shop bike hooked to a homemade trailer.

“They have learned of the way he traveled sparingly, towing only his camping gear, a sack of potatoes and his 80-pound dog, Bear. The way he drank from streams and ate beside an open fire. Or hopped trains across Canada, resting as the land flickered by.”
Posted on

Into the Wild, Onto the Road

Riding and racing for the pure joy of it: Canadian Rider Makes an Unorthodox Climb Toward Cycling’s Pinnacle.

It’s The New York Times on Svein Tuft, a 31-year-old riding in the Tour of California and who could make his debut in the Tour de France later this year. I suppose that if the Times is getting around to it, similar tales have appeared many other places, too. In any case — wonderful story:

“Those who have heard the tale of Svein Tuft have wondered, could it possibly be true?

“How
he dropped out of school in the 10th grade, lured by the freedom of the
outdoors. How he evolved into a barrel-chested woodsman with Paul
Bunyan biceps. How he ventured, at 18, from his home in Canada into the
wilderness on a $40 thrift-shop bike hooked to a homemade trailer.

“They
have learned of the way he traveled sparingly, towing only his camping
gear, a sack of potatoes and his 80-pound dog, Bear. The way he drank
from streams and ate beside an open fire. Or hopped trains across
Canada, resting as the land flickered by.”