Fill up your water bottle, strap on that helmet, and roll up your right pant leg. May is National Bike Month. More than 100,000 Bay Area riders are expected to participate in Bike to Work Day on May 12, including Timbuk2 CEO Mike Wallenfels, who bikes 38 miles roundtrip on his regular commute. “I ride along the bay through Marin County, where I have views of Mt. Tamalpais and the shore of Sausalito. You can’t beat crossing the Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise,” he says. Energizer stations set up around the city make the Bike to Work Day commute even easier with free beverages and snacks. After work, pedal to DNA Lounge for a party and fashion show complete with raffles, DJs, and valet bicycle parking. 

IN THE CITY

Contrary to popular opinion, urbanites can indeed stargaze. In SF, your best bet is to head west, where the sky is darkest. Inside of Golden Gate Park, Stow Lake is curtained by tall trees that block out most city lights. The shadows cast by surrounding trees in grassy Speedway Meadow do the same. At the coast, Lands End offers a full view of the western sky, right down to the dark, watery horizon, where, if you arrive just after sunset, you’ll see Orion the hunter.

For this week's Scenes of the City we visited Alemany Farm on the southern slope of Bernal Heights and several other gardens in SF and checked out spring planting, cleaning and maintaining. Also check out details of the Alemany Farm Earth Day Celebration here (scheduled for April 23). Enjoy.

Pineapple Sage grows readily in the cool SF climate and smells like, you guessed it, a pungent pineapple.

When Kachusha Munkanta was 9-years-old, the cycling pro tour came through his hometown of Philadelphia. Inspired by the energy of the tour and the bright team colors, Munkanta and his brother peddled to the nearest bike shop to buy their favorite fluorescent team hat. 

Today, more than 20 years later, Munkanta—-who is affectionately known as Chuey-—sits in front of his Mission District workshop wearing a wool cycling hat of his own creation. As the owner of Chuey Brand, a locally made and internationally known small-scale cycling clothing company, this grown up Philly kid is moving San Francisco bike fashion to the front of the pack. “I happened to start at the right time,” says Munkanta, as he spins a small bike lock in his hand. “There’s this whole urban bike movement that’s happening.”