Yesterday the car free event Sunday Streets was held in Mission. A section of 24th St and Valencia St were closed to traffic so that people can come to the street to play. Since I live nearby, I just rolled down the hill on my bike to check it out and then have lunch and go for a movie.

Even before I hit 24 St, I got a flat tire. I thought there goes my day. I am just going to walk the bike uphill, scrap my plan and stay home for the rest of the day. But then I vaguely recall there is a bike maintenance booth of some sort in this event. So I pressed on. Sure enough, the good folks of Sports Basement were there to help. They fixed my tire and I was good to go again.

The 24th St was filled with people! There were kids everywhere. Some are on tricycles, some are on scooters, some are in strollers pushed by their parents. There was Aztec dance performance, people riding bike with the boom box. Really there were activities everywhere. Previously Sunday Streets put a lot of emphasis as a biking exercise event. But in Mission you really don't get to do a lot of biking because of the density of people. The traffic was going at a pace only slightly faster than walking. So I shifted to the lowest gear. Bike strolling it is. And it is really a nice way to see the city in a way that I can seldom do.

I filled myself up with a burritos lunch in a local restaurant. I was so full that I literally cannot move, let alone to ride a bike. So I spent some extra time in the restaurant reading paper, and then walked around in the neighborhood streets. Finally I ended up in a park where there were soccer matches going on. I stopped to watch the Latino teams play. It was already too late for the movie and I no longer in rush to go home. Lately my life is so full of work and activities that I seldom have a downtime like this.

The sun was warm in the park. I think it was a good Sunday afternoon.

2009.06.08 [San Francisco] - comments