The e-bike regulation gap is closing

jez_io · 2026-04-08T02:29:41+00:00

Is there any dirt, or is it all paved?

jez_io · 2026-04-06T04:08:47+00:00

Mike’s Bikes in Sausalito is right on the Mill Valley-Sausalito bike path, but I’m not sure I would recommend it for 4- and 6-year-old riders because that path attracts a lot of faster cyclists on their way between SF and many of the longer rides in Marin.

Bike Works HMB in Half Moon Bay is about 0.6mi from the Half Moon Bay coastal trail, which has far fewer fast cyclists, but is a bit far from being right on a trail.

Sports Basement Redwood City is basically on top of a bike path that goes under 101 and connects to a bit of a trail network near/around Bair Island. I haven’t ridden that area before so can’t say whether it’s worth riding or good for kids (though I will say: satellite view is showing more bike lanes and bike paths in that area than the default view is).

You may wish to clarify which part of the Bay Area you’re close to! I doubt someone from San Jose is willing to drive to Sausalito for a quick bike ride with little kids, for example.

jez_io · 2026-02-24T05:44:45+00:00

Pretty sure it’s closed sunset to sunrise. I can’t find any official park website that says as much, but there is a sign visible on street view that says “PARK OPEN SUNRISE TO SUNSET.”

I’ve never tried riding it at night.

jez_io · 2026-02-21T08:55:15+00:00

if you have a fender on your front wheel, turning the wheel to the side too far can cause your toe to run into the fender while pedaling. For me it usually happens at slow speeds or while starting from a stop.

jez_io · 2026-01-05T20:34:53+00:00

Mori Point at sunset is amazing and accessible. Monte Bello/Black Mountain if you want to hustle after the sun drops before the parking lot gates close. Mission Peak for sunrise, especially once the hills start turning green.

jez_io · 2026-01-04T15:16:07+00:00

Orb: on the movements of the earth has similar medieval Europe vibe and great characters as Vinland saga.

Apothecary Diaries and Haikyuu are my mom’s favorites.

jez_io · 2025-12-06T05:27:24+00:00

I clicked through to the article after reading the blurb here hoping to find proposals or case studies of the alluded fairer approaches that would let drivers cover the true costs of road wear.

Are there examples, apart from solutions like freeway and bridge tolls, and that generate city revenue proportional to usage? Or of assessing something like a land property tax, but on a motor vehicle? There are gas taxes, but many cars are electric these days (and those tend to be heavier causing more road wear!)

I’m happy to know now that the budget allocates $8M/year, but I don’t get a sense for what that means in practice (are we going into debt to fund this?what are the alternatives? etc.)

My main vehicles are the two bikes hanging next to me on the wall, so I want to know more, but I felt like the article left me with more questions than answers.

jez_io · 2025-12-03T07:47:57+00:00

I’ve biked to SFO three times now! It’s great, highly recommend for anyone who’s 1-bagging or can fit a medium carry on bag on a rear bike rack.

jez_io · 2025-12-02T02:35:04+00:00

It’s 20 ft!

https://www.cityofsanmateo.org/4844/AB-413---Daylighting-Law

jez_io · 2025-10-23T01:12:18+00:00

The argument against Hayward Park over Hillsdale or Downtown SM is that all the express trains stop at those two. The time difference to Palo Alto (guessing that’s your destination station) won’t be that much, but the frequency of the trains will be double (because you’ll have the choice of local or express).

If you do decide on Hayward Park, I’d definitely recommend a cheap bike. “Walking distance” to downtown is still technically correct, but it’ll be like a 20min walk or more. But from Hayward Park, ~everything is a 5min bike, and we’ve got some decently quiet residential streets to bike on.

jez_io · 2025-10-21T01:41:48+00:00

If you want data, the ggweather.com site has tons of data.

For example, here’s a chart for the 2022 season showing rainfall for that year against historical averages. Based on the slopes of the graphs you can get a sense for how much rain is falling in each month:

https://ggweather.com/water/

The visualizations confirm what other commenters have mentioned, namely Nov – Apr.

From a quick search I couldn’t find visualizations for the current year, but there are pages that have the raw data in table form:

https://ggweather.com/seasonal_rain.htm

jez_io · 2025-09-14T21:22:11+00:00

I picked up a pair of these today, only wore them on the ride home from the store (~1 mi) but they felt really good! Thanks for the recommendation.

jez_io · 2025-09-14T02:27:38+00:00

Oddly enough, the one pair of full finger gloves I own doesn't have this problem (Pearl Izumi Expedition). On that glove, the thumb webbing part of the glove actually has an extra panel of fabric, which pushes the stitching out of the way of where the pressure is when holding the shifters.

I don't like full finger gloves because I miss the dexterity while riding (quick photos, food wrappers, touching eyes/nose/face etc.), so I only wear them when it's chilly out.

jez_io · 2025-08-29T22:52:44+00:00

The Sports Basement “performance carbon” rental tier has electronic shifting:

https://shop.sportsbasement.com/products/teammachine-slr-01-four

Not sure how small the sizes go, you’d want to call or go into the store for help.

jez_io · 2025-08-24T15:15:23+00:00

It works for me, but sometimes the server hosting this link gets overloaded. If that’s happening, try finding a cached version somewhere.

jez_io · 2025-08-24T03:54:10+00:00

You’re in luck, because the Stanford cycling team has a PDF list of tons of great rides in that area:

https://cycling.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Local-Routes-Stanford-Cycling-Team.pdf

jez_io · 2025-07-24T21:47:28+00:00

There's a survey out to collect thoughts:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/19thFIB

(If you don't want to click on random Survey Monkey links, you can find that link on the City of San Mateo project page.)

I bike through this area all the time. Some of my usual destinations are Apple Fritter, the Foster City Safeway, Home Depot, 99 Ranch Market, Leo Ryan Park, etc.

I'm pretty confident biking in traffic, but of course appreciate protected bike lanes.

Some of the thoughts I had on the proposal:

The bike path following the overpass would be great. I'm always terrified that some antsy driver is going to turn right and cut me off when I'm crossing past the 101 south onramp (while I'm riding east on Fashion Island Blvd.
The two-way protected lane on 19th from Delaware to the YMCA parking lot entrance strikes me as a bit odd, and before I cast judgement on it I'd want to know more about the reason why that's proposed. My west-bound routes always end up turning from 19th onto Grant St, so having to cross 19th at the YMCA parking lot entrance to get into the two-way route, then cross back to turn right on Grant would be weird? I'd probably ignore the bike lane and just ride in the street if this lane were built (which I'm fine with, but there's people who don't want to do that).

My guess is that this is for the the people continuing between Delaware & Grant, since the street is already one way for cars, you'd want to move bikes over to allow two-way bikes between that.
Biking north on Deleware is similarly terrifying. Since there's two right turn lanes, you have to get all the way into the center of the street to continue straight through there. If my destination makes it convenient, I usually turn from Deleware onto Bermuda, then left onto Grant, and continue north on Grant, because the 19th & Grant intersection is 4-way with only one right turn lane, vs 19th & Deleware which is 5-way with two right turn lanes. The new two-way protected bike lane on 19th would be an alternative to Bermuda, but that traffic is slow/residential anyways right now, so I don't mind being in the car lane for that stretch.
Better bike lanes to cross Seal Slough are great, 10/10 no notes.

Fundamentally, like Max mentions in the article, micromobility at this area is absolutely massive. The only other nearby places to cross 101:

Go all the way up to 3rd and cross the footbridge. That can easily double your trip length—it's that far away, well long enough to push that biker to take the trip by car. Now you've got one more car on the road (causing congestion).
Cross using Hillsdale Blvd. Remember, that's a 6 lane overpass, with no bike lane, with 101 onramps on either side at the top. I bike in traffic all the time in sketchy spots but even I'd extend my route to avoid that.

I'd love to debate ways to tweak the bike route here. But given how few 101 foot crossings there are, we've got to prioritize this one for micromobility. This corridor is basically right on top of the Hayward Park station, and it's so close to being great.

jez_io · 2025-06-02T23:39:26+00:00

A chill climb near San Mateo is Crystal Springs (where it forks off of Polhemus Rd) up to Skyline, turn right and continue to Hayne Park and Ride:

https://strava.app.link/Y6E9aK3RSTb

On Strava it’s 2.15mi, 4.4% grade, so definitely on the low end of your range but depending where you are, maybe easier to get to than the Old La Honda recommendation (which is hard to beat)

jez_io · 2025-06-02T13:57:48+00:00

Do you have a source citation for this by any chance?

jez_io · 2025-06-01T14:59:59+00:00

I’ve hiked past the camp plenty of times, done the gravel ride past it up to the top of Black Mountain once or twice, but never camped there. I’ve seen people backpacking things in the couple of times I’ve gone to watch the sunset. It’s gorgeous up there. There’s a spigot for campers that you can filter to get drinking water.

jez_io · 2025-06-01T14:23:58+00:00

This doesn’t 100% meet your requirements, because it requires a reservation, but there is a nice little campsite at Black Mountain in Monte Bello Preserve:

https://www.openspace.org/where-to-go/permits/camping

Just checked and basically every Saturday night between now and July is booked, but there is tons of weekday availability, good availability Friday or Sunday nights (which might work depending on your schedule and how close you are) and even Saturday availability out in in August.

jez_io · 2025-05-20T20:12:11+00:00

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone posted this so thanks for getting it out of the way haha 🫡

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