bicycle

http://wildequity.org/species/18

Start off the year going back to nature with the Wild Equity Institute this Saturday at the Golden Gate National Parks Endangered Species Big Year Bike Ride & Kick-off Celebration. The day begins with a morning bike ride that will explore some of the endangered flora and fauna in the city, including Presidio Manzanita and and the Southern Sea Otter. Co-sponsored by the SF Bicycle Coalition, the ride departs at 9:30am from Bazaar Cafe (21st Ave.

If you own a bike and are looking for a way to give back this holiday season, come out on Saturday for the Supermarket Street Sweep. In its fourth year, the event sends riders to designated grocery stores to purchase food items that will be donated to the San Francisco Food Bank. Participants can choose between a quick course or a cargo version, where the rider who brings in the most pounds of food wins. There will be plenty of prizes for participants from sponsors, including Bay Area specific messenger bags from Crumpler, handmade hats from Chuey, and a Soma Rush frameset. Last year's participants brought in over 5000lbs of food, all on bike! The event begins at the Bow & Arrow on Embarcadero this Saturday at noon.

http://sfbike.org

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition's annual Winterfest will be held on December 6 at SOMArts Gallery from 6:30 - 10pm. This year's party will include beer from bike-loving New Belgium, DJs Laron and ShOOey, an art auction, a silent & auction (including bikes, gift certificates, and a 90-minute bike ride and lunch with city supe David Chu), a craft show, and food vendors from across the city. And if that's not enough, the SFBC will also auction off a handcrafted bicycle quilt. Entry is a suggested $15 minium donation for SFBC members but if you aren't a member and would like to join, $40 at the door will cover your admission and a one-year SFBC membership. And yes, admission includes beer.

SFBB

If you didn't know San Francisco has its own bicycle ballet, consider yourself informed. They'll be performing this Friday, November 20, at Dogpatch Saloon (8pm, $8) with special guests every hour and catering by What's In My Mouth. The most interesting thing about this whole event is that, aside from event listings and the bike ballet's, er, eclectic website, the group doesn't seem to exist on the Internet—no photos, videos, nothing. And the catering company is unGooglable.

As part of his "research" for a weekly NYTimes column about Bay Area enforcement of traffic laws against cyclists, Scott James (aka Kemble Scott, author of the 2007 novel SoMa) decided to put a camera at the intersection where Duboce meets Steiner and Sanchez to capture the behavior of cars and cyclists and posted his video to the New York Times Bay Area Blog.

Bikes, beer, and music come together one more time before the gloomy weather arrives, this time in Fairfax at Biketoberfest Marina 2009. Biketoberfest features live music, a vintage bike show with approximately 40 old school, American-made bikes, group rides, over 10 beers from 15 northern California brewers, and soda tasting for the kids. Beer tastings are $20 in advance, $25 at the event, and that includes a commemorative tasting glass.

Photo via SF Bicycle Coalition

After the success of their screening of Rad and May's bike-in Disposable Film Festival, SFBC is sponsoring another bike-in movie tomorrow night in the parking lot of the Good Hotel at 7th and Mission (8pm). This month's film is Klunkerz, which tells the story of the birth of mountain biking in Marin and how it spread around the world. Mountain bike legend Gary Fisher will be there for a quick Q&A session after the film. And what's a film screening without concessions?

Brendt Barbur's Bicycle Film Festival has grown from a modest NYC film screening into a multi-city, international festival. It returns to San Francisco's Victoria Theater again this year, Tuesday, July 14 through Saturday, July 18. Check out the full schedule here. Festival passes are available for $30 and provide access to all screenings, or you can choose to buy individual programs.

J. Hemerly

With the temperature forecast to warm up this week, two great bike events are going on that combine film, entertainment and bicycles. And if you don't already know how much fun bikes can be, you will after this week.