June 2022 Ride Recap

The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this Friday June 24, upending 50 years of settled law in a blatant attack on women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, sparking protests all across the country and world. San Francisco had at least three separate protests which converged together, as well as the Trans March, leading to a chaotic evening.

Critical Mass set out around 6:50pm as we were waiting for Deep and his music bike Trikeasaurus. We headed up Market Street, where we quickly ran into barriers at 7th Street for the protests. We continued through Hayes Valley and biked through cars sitting in traffic on Octavia, Oak, and Fell. Caltrans had closed the entrance to the normally loud polluting Central Freeway as thousands walked by in the Trans March. We continued along Market to The Castro, a destination several people wanted to reach in honor of Pride, and then rode down to Dolores Park for the first stop.

After a half hour break we continued onward, south, up a few hills to Slow Sanchez Street, and stopped briefly at 30th Street to figure out a route back north. We continued up another decent hill, unusal for Critical Mass, and stopped in front of the Bernal Heights Library to regroup. After all our accumulated altitude, we bombed 200 ft down into the industrial no-man’s land between 101 and 280 before escaping to the bay. We stopped at Warm Water Cove, a small hidden-gem of a park also known as “Toxic Beach,” then continued north along the bay. Unknown people were setting off quite impressive fireworks at the boatworks near the Chase Center, and we stopped to watch. Finally, we turned west at 16th Street and reached the Mission where I peeled off to head home.

It was fun getting off the regular Critical Mass routes and riding on Slow Sanchez and through Bernal Heights, although the uphill sections are unpopular. Total route was about 15 miles, with 620 feet of up-and-down elevation.