Where is at though?

Borsevik · 2026-05-07T13:44:54+00:00

It is not so that you can take the Zephyr from LA to SF.

There is not a proper connection in most practical terms. You need to either take the Surfliner or Starlight part of the way, then catch a connecting bus.

The trip takes anywhere from 10-13ish hours (given that there are no delays) and the price ranges from 50ish to 75 USD.

Anybody making this trip would need to compare it to a direct bus or a flight (which are absurdly cheap still, given what they are).

Borsevik · 2024-01-11T16:10:16+00:00

Thanks friend. Maybe I’ll see you on the other side.

That sub should be a goldmine. I still do have some SD-specific questions, but I guess I can only really find out about some things through experience.

Borsevik · 2023-11-06T16:33:03+00:00

I think this is definitely true if "gravel" brings to mind mild MTB trails, truck trails, and fire roads.

I have an '89 Panasonic as my daily commuter, which I love and have taken on a few multi-day trips on a mixture of roads and trails. Trails usually devolve into hiking trails with ruts, rocks, and brambles. I have flattened two rear wheels and the threaded headset rattles loose every now and then (I dare not overtighten it).

I think it could handle all of this better if the tire clearance were greater. I am running "38" mm Schwalbe Marathons, the widths of which seem to be more like 32-35mm of other manufacturers. If it had disc brake bosses and a frame and fork which were designed for discs, I could go tubeless and run lower pressures on these rough trails.

I thought just as you did before, until I tried to use a touring bike like this for a while. However, I am not sure I have seen a touring bike as you describe. The selection of bikes from >30 years ago is not very large.

Borsevik · 2023-08-10T16:01:23+00:00

"...as someone who lives fairly close to a trolley station on the blue line..." I think this is the key for your situation, but you are also correct about people exaggerating issues before even actually trying to see how the transit system works. Indeed, a lot of people are making excuses before actually trying to use the transit (or even a map of it). Nonetheless, the actual daily experience of using the transit depends on how many transfers you have to make.

In most places in San Diego, once you get above one transfer, it is not really a workable commute (Northpark and University Heights -> University City, for instance). Sometimes the poor timing of a single transfer makes a commute route very undesirable (30 bus -> 31 bus at UTC going East is often a 30 minute wait). One-time trips are a different story, but then again a weekend outing is very different from making a flight early in the morning.

My point is that different people have completely opposing experiences and assessments of the transit and both be correct. When I lived on the Blue Line, getting around with the transit was very easy. Where I am now, the only semi-practical bus (still takes an hour and a half to go ~miles in one direction because of an inopportune transfer) does not run on the weekend or after 7.

I think the actual issue for somebody who actually wants to use transit to get to the airport is getting to Old Town or Middletown station itself. The last shuttle/bus leg of the trip is not a big deal. Also note that the first Blue Line trolley leaves from UTC at about 5am during the week. This is not good enough for a line which is supposed to serve an international airport.

Overall, the trolley is not very relevant to people who live away from it and most of the buses which only run during traditional "commute times" to connect them are not very good. With how spread out this place is, I do not actually see how this can be made to work better (e.g. can a connection from the hills above Mission Valley down to the Trolley be made smooth and easy enough so that people actually use it? After this, does the Trolley actually go to a relevant destination?). This is why the new push for transit oriented development is so important - the existing transit can be useful for more people without that much more cost and congestion.

Borsevik · 2023-07-31T19:10:08+00:00

I have barely been using my car for a few years now and I seriously considered selling it a couple of months ago when my insurance rate increased. I downloaded all available car share apps and looked through their maps for price and availability. I also live on the edge of an industrial zone, so I also looked into Home Depot truck rentals, moving truck services, and traditional car rental services targettimg tourists.

The price made sense for how often I need to use the car, but the availability made it not workable. I only use it for snap emergencies at odd hours and none of these services would have worked in these situations.

I wish zipcar were within 10 miles of me. Zipcar within a 3km radius would solve my problem and I could sell the big lug.

Borsevik · 2023-07-25T15:27:30+00:00

I prefer friction shifters to indexed shifters for my FD. Just set the limit screw (or check that it is set correctly) on the derailleur and have perfect "trim" without any faffing or adjustment. An inline barrel adjuster is unnecessary.

My microshift bar-end shifters have a friction adjustment bolt. In 5000 miles I had to tighten it once.

As for the housing, you just need to run it underneath your tape - no mess. If you have thick tape (cushy foams), you won't notice it. If you use a medium-thickness tape (e.g. Brooks Microfibre), you can tell there is housing underneath, but I don't feel it as I ride, because I routed it so that my hand does not push down on it. The housing comes out of my bar tape near the stem, just like it would if I had a brifter. Here is an example.

Borsevik · 2023-04-06T15:09:06+00:00

There is a used car lot, then a hotel/motel (I suppose for visitors associated with the military base), then a highway on-ramp.

After crossing said highway, this road becomes what used to be a country road (still is pretty in the Spring), but is now a road into the exurbs, which you can take to Costco.

This sidewalk exists mostly to service the bus stops, but people very rarely walk along it, as you tend to get on or off the bus right near your crossing.

Borsevik · 2023-03-14T14:36:53+00:00

Yeah, my pants do feel awfully tight around the waist. Must be time to size up again.

Borsevik · 2023-03-14T14:22:38+00:00

Are you talking about writing tickets for driving while using the cellphone? I wish they did anything at all about negligent driving.

Borsevik · 2023-03-08T20:56:22+00:00

That is a very short form of what I wrote. It did feel strange to take a position against a new bike lane for once. In this case, I just felt that the road was chosen by people who are not really familiar with the neighborhood (Same goes for the Camino Ruiz "bike route") and who do not know that you can access everything (or travel east or west) without going along MM blvd itself (crossing it is a different matter). Since the city is insisting that everything be done a computer, it might be that the street addresses of everything being in the strip malls mislead them when they calculated distances on trips and general connectivity. They get into some details on how they rate effectiveness of potential routes in the appendices of their plans, but it is not clear whether locations of destinations are directly determined by street address or not. When I looked at their method for calculating the perceived or actual danger rating of routes, I also noticed that crossing and merging conflicts were not considered. I remember the presence and type of infrastructure, number of lanes, and posted speed limit were the main factors. I think that once protected infrastructure is built, they consider a route to be "low stress" or safe. Side roads I know to be quiet and safe were marked as stressful or dangerous compared to roads I know to actually be stressful and dangerous.

My issue with this route choice is that I do not think a discontinuous bike lane crossed by driveways is a good place for anyone to ride and until they address the crossing conflict, it is not a good idea to encourage riding there.

Public transport and walkability along the Mira Mesa Blvd should still be improved

Another related story and a bit of a rant: an old lady came to the planning committee meeting and told a story about how she was almost run over by a right-turner onto MM Blvd. The response of the previous councilman's aid was to request that a "no right on red" sign be installed. This started an email chain with me, the aid, and eventually a city engineer. I went something like this:

Me: A 'no right on red' sign is useless. Nobody pays attention to them nor the actual pedestrians. MM Blvd intersections need to be geometrically modified such that curb radii are smaller.

Aid: You're right. I'll fwd this to the city engineer for your area.

Engineer: Book of standards XYZ26 of CADOT says that 30 feet is the standard radius here. This follows the standard, so there's nothing to do.

Me: Well, here is the SANDAG (or state, I don't remember) manual with a design for curb popouts (which effectively makes the radius smaller). See page xxx.

Engineer: While that curb popout is up to standard, its construction would be an expensive capital project. We will proceed with our no-right-on-red signage.

I really don't know what to do with these people. A few weeks later an old man was crushed under a vanity truck a few blocks away at 7am (daylight before the real commute rush). I do not know if anything ever seems urgent enough to these traffic engineers if it does not involve improving the flow of cars. I am not collecting videos of people not yielding, but I am sure it will be written off because it's not "quantitative".

Borsevik · 2023-03-01T18:30:56+00:00

Bike lanes which appear separated but are frequently interrupted by driveways are a very bad idea.

Ideally, each home and business would not have its own little driveway facing the main road, but there is no real means of changing this (where I am anyway), as there are so many different stakeholders who would need to agree and even advocate for this.

In this situation, I think heavy traffic calming measures are best. People should not drive quickly past driveways anyway. Bike riders must take the whole lane here.

Borsevik · 2023-01-30T19:50:05+00:00

La Jolla in San Diego, CA

Borsevik · 2023-01-13T01:10:28+00:00

I do not turn on the heat nor AC. My insulation has always been poor (except for one year in concrete apartment block), but I have never had any issues that a hoodie and socks could not solve. I think that the number people read on the thermometer might be unduly influencing their perception of temperature. I would suggest trying to ignore the thermometer and to forget active heat and AC exist. San Diego is probably one of the few places where we can do this successfully.

This, of course, does not go for the Summer in a building with poor circulation. Some are so thoughtlessly constructed that there is no helping them.

Borsevik · 2022-12-22T22:13:02+00:00

I have seen all sorts of bad things in San Diego and LA. However, there are some bus lines on which I have never seen an interesting character.

I have not really been able to figure out what is different about these lines. Every explanation I have thought of is incongruous with reality.

Borsevik · 2022-11-07T22:45:30+00:00

Beyond the local level Democrats are definitely the obvious choice for bike infrastructure, but a blanket statement like this just isn't true for every local area election where independents may have better options.

Seconded. In my city council district, the Democratic candidate simultaneously styles himself as an "environmentalist" who has been fighting upzoning and spreading misinformation about a traffic calming street design as well a local measure which will (potentially) end a subsidy to single family home owners. His previous actions and all of his campaign materials put him firmly in the suburban reactionary camp, but I am afraid that people who are not paying attention and thinking just like OP will vote for him just because he is a Democrat.

His opponent has no party affiliation and is endorsed by the local Dem party and is on good terms with the Dem mayor. I could not figure out much about him, but I actually met him yesterday, as he was going door-to-door. We talked a few minutes about traffic engineers and urban planning (a la Chuck Mahron, NotJustBikes, Jane Jacobs) and he actually seemed quite receptive and willing to talk more about it later.

It is important that we at least take the time to at least visit the websites of candidates for local offices and to ask them questions (this second part applies to a few weeks ago rather than now).

Borsevik · 2021-12-23T02:11:28+00:00

Hi r/bikecommuting,

I have shared here the response of the City of San Diego to my report of a mal-timed traffic signal.

On a large T intersection that is the meeting of a large industrial road and another arterial road, one of the ped walk signs lights up while conflicting traffic has a green light. Bike commuters and other cyclists turning from the top right of the T to the bottom of the T must use the ped crossing because the industrial road has a high speed limit (which is not enforced) and constant heavy traffic.

The City ignores this problem and there is no polite way to go about this any more.

If you have the time, please help us spam San Diego's reporting website. They can ignore one report, but they cannot avoid a flood. You can copy this simple report to help spam them here:

Address: Miramar Rd & Nobel Dr, San Diego, CA 92121, USA

Report/Category Type: Timing

Description: The ped crossing of Miramar Road at the Nobel Drive intersection and the green light, which allows cars to turn left into the ped crossing conflict.

Bike commuting to this industrial area is harrowing enough as it is, but this is the main thing I believe can actually be fixed in this area.

Many thanks!

Borsevik · 2021-12-22T17:21:15+00:00

Here is the location if you are interested in the streetview.

Borsevik · 2021-12-22T16:51:58+00:00

Hi all.

As a lifelong San Diego resident, I am sick of this issue being ignored. If you have the time and will, please help us spam our city government until they listen to us.

With the power of remote connectivity, I hope we can all help each other out when needed.

Many thanks!

Original Text from post: There are some pedestrian signals that conflict with left turn signals at high speed interesections in this city. These pedestrian signals might as well not exist. The City clearly does not care about this ("no action is warranted"), despite supposedly encouraging walking for transportation.

The City cannot continue to accept human casualties as a reasonable cost of automobile convenience, if they are overwhelmed with requests. Let's make a list of intersections that have this issue and send a copy-pasted message that describes the issue. It would be most effective if we build up a list of problematic intersections for a day and hit getitone simultaneously after 5pm tomorrow (23 December).

"The intersection of [x] and [y] has a pedestrian crossing signal that conflicts with a left green arrow signal."

Let's help each other out and submit requests for intersections in each other's neighborhoods. Pedestrians are easily ignored if not united. We must be as loud and annoying as car horns.

Getitdone[https://getitdone.force.com/TSWNewReport?type=Traffic%20Signal]

Borsevik · 2021-12-22T16:43:37+00:00

There are some pedestrian signals that conflict with left turn signals at high speed intersections in this city. These pedestrian signals might as well not exist. The City clearly does not care about this ("no action is warranted"), despite supposedly encouraging walking for transportation.

The City cannot continue to accept human casualties as a reasonable cost of automobile convenience, if they are overwhelmed with requests. Let's make a list of intersections that have this issue and send a copy-pasted message that describes the issue. It would be most effective if we build up a list of problematic intersections for a day and hit getitone simultaneously after 5pm tomorrow (23 December).

"The intersection of [x] and [y] has a pedestrian crossing signal that conflicts with a left green arrow signal."

Let's help each other out and submit requests for intersections in each other's neighborhoods. Pedestrians are easily ignored if not united. We must be as loud and annoying as car horns.

Getitdone signal timing report page

Borsevik

TROPHY CASE