6/13/08 San Francisco, CA

We had a rare late wake up, 8 am. After a delish crew-chief breakfast (1/2 bagel, bowel of off-brand cereal, 1/2 banana, 1 cup of colored drink), we spent the day ina classroom discussing policies and procedures, good ol' P&P. A lot of time was spent on alcohol use. If you're under you can't drink and ifyou are over it can't affect the trip, violators will be sent home.
Went to Fisherman's Wharf for a greasy lunch at In-N-Out burger, a local hot spot. Our 60 guys packed the place, pushin over cpacity and hoping the firemarshall wouldn't stop by. The burger and fires were soooo good. When we finished eating, Drayton, David, Balls (Ryan Cole), and myself went the wrong way to Giradelli Square and ended up at Pier 39. Again, Alcatraz was booked until Sunday. We got to see sea lions (I think?) sunning and napping on the docks.
We regrouped at 2:00pm at USF and were given the rest of the evening off. Before going out though, I needed to take a deep look inside myself and made a crucial step in life: I shaved my legs. I spent about an hour standign inside a trash can buzzing and shaving off clumps below my knee. I did it not for speed or aesthetics, but if I take a nasty spill on the bike, it is easier to treat a wound without the surrounding jungle. It was weird, my pants felt cold and sticky. I already miss my hair.
Later, a bunch of us caught the Giants-A's game at AT+T Park. It was a cold night, but the park was right on the water and had a great view. Half of us left at the seventh inning stretch because we were tired but ended up getting lost trying to run after buses! We wound up catch the correct muni bus to find the other half of our group alrady on board! We are dumb.

6/12/08 San Francisco, CA

Loooonng day. 6 am wake up for a practice pack and skills assessment. I had all this fear about a tough judging, but it was a piece of cake. Picked up a bottle on the bike on the first try, did some pacelining and changed my tire. Alot of my relief was lifted instantly. What was harder was getting 60 college guys organized for a picture! It took us almost an hour to PRACTICE for a picture at USF before going across the Golden Gate Bridge for our official team photo at Ft. Baker. We were freezing in our jerseys but the view was spectacular. In one horizon Alcatraz, the GGB, Sausalito, and the coast of North San Fran were crammed. My PKP brother from Virginia Tech Ryan Cole and I used the opportunity to take photos with a sweet VT flag.
We ate lunch at USF after the photos and headed to the Janet Pomeroy Center, which is a very nice facility that provides programs for people with disabilities. On our tour we got see classrooms for art, music, theatre, cooking, a basketball court, a weight room, and a 90 degree therapeutic pool. 90% of the JPC attendees do not have to pay a dime to use the Center. Suprisingly, one of the original units there was a playground that had been built years ago by Push America! Following the tour, we all played basketball against the undefeated JPC Wildcats. Maybe instead of biking we should be shooting hoops because they whooped us 46-6! The best part was a half-time dance party.
I was fortunate enough to meet some really great people at the Janet Pomeroy Center. Andy was the first to greet us. He was fine until he recieved a traumatic head injury a few years ago. He would jog around the Center and tell us the same story every five minutes. Word for word. "You got on short pants, doin' it right, doin' it up right. Thanks for comin'. You ever been to Stern Grove, San Francisco? Real foggy. My parents raised seven there, six guys and my sister. I've been off booze and cigarettes for two years now. My uncle died of booze and my father lost a lung from cigarettes." (It seemed his only vice now was a handful of Snickers bars). "Lord, when you gonna send me a pretty girl? I've been lookin'. Well, come back y'hear?" Every time.
Waiting for food, a woman named Susan entertained us. She lead us in a variety of lectures, warnings, prayers, and called on Shef to make a speech on the spot. He had no idea what to say and it was pretty funny. She also coordinated rousing versions of "take me out to the ballgame," "Oh, Say Can You See," and "America the Beautiful." In return, we sang her the rose.
One man named Don, was a blast to talk to. From his wheelchair, we discussed the NBA playoffs and joked with Pace about him being robustly sized. Don told us he had lived in San Francisco his entire life, but had been to Texas to visit his uncle. He was a real easygoing guy posed for pictures. Overall, for our first friendship visit, it was a success!

6/11/08 San Francisco, CA

Big day for me. I joined with some other JOH guys at the US Airways baggage claim and caught a van with them to the University of San Francisco. I met David Brown, Drayton Perkins, and Peter (all South) and two crew members Steven Goldmen and Brian from Chantilly. We checked in at USF; we received t-shirts, jerseys, shorts, a RoadID dogtag, and signed approximately 1 million thank you cards. No two signatures of mine were alike and disintegrated to V squiggle D loop. Very nice.
After assembling our bikes (no harm yet), Drayton, David and I made our way around to find a Kinkos and food. We found some tasty onion rings at the People's Cafe on Haight St. and I was able to visit Haight-Ashbury, which was really neat, although I will assume its seen livelier days. It was lined with cafes, tatoo parlors, and botiques. The weather was warm and I was glad to see a new part of SF.
Back at USF we had a few meetings on advocacy, safety, rules and finished with a team ritual. Dinner was Dominoes sponsored by a local Pi Alpha (people who have done JOH or GUF or Build America before).

6/10/08 San Francisco, CA

Ewwww. I had a 7:00am flight out of Dulles International which meant a wake up of 4:00am. After checking my baggage and trusting my sweet ride (bicycle) to baggage workers, my parents saw me off through security. My 5 hr 45 minute flight went smoothly. I hadn't flown Virgin America before but it was swanky. There are t.v.'s in the headrests in front of you with movies, cable t.v., video games, and food. I played old school DOOM and watched CNN/MSNBC to stay awake. I wanted to sleep but every time I nodded off, my contacts dried up and I didn't want to b blind for my arrival in a new city. My neighbor with the window seat didn't offer me alcohol like the last flight I went on solo. We arrived at 9:45 am, pacific time.
I was very anxious all day. I was worried about the upcoming orientation and the skills assessment we would be put through. I didn't want to look bad in front of everyone or fail and get sent home, so those possibilities drove me nuts.
I waited an hour for my Ramada Limited shuttle to pick me up in front of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) after I had retrieved my bike. Something funny had happened at the baggage carousel actually. I had written fragile all over the cardboard box that held my bike, which I think attracts damage then it protects. As it came toward me on the machine, a young boy (about 3 years old) in front of me noticed my box, and began to pound his fists on it yelling, "Bam Bam Bam!" It was only funny after I found my bike intact.
Check in at my hotel wasn't until 3:oopm but I was able to get a room when I arrived at 11:00am. I took a breather and then returned to SFO to catch the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)-basically a metro-to North San Francisco. I got off at the Civic Center on Market Street and was immediately shocked by how many homeless people I saw. I felt bad because I hadn't been exposed to that, not as I had in D.C. or NYC. I walked up Powell St. through Downtown, Chinatown, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill districts (no Castro st. today!). I saw the "crookedest street in the world" at Lombardo St. It was really curvy, but pretty and covered in flowers. The views were spectacular from atop San Francisco's steep streets, which were a pain to hike. SF isn't very tall, there aren't hardly any skyscrapers, but it is short and wide, densely packed into brown hills. Every building is an earthy tone, I saw a lot of stucco. I made it to Fisherman's Wharf and ate some delish crab at Fish Alley. I followed the Embracedero to Pier 39. I was kind of displeased as I found it to be really overly touristy place. There was nothing really San Francisco-y about it because all the restaurants and shops it had were chains or franchises that I had seen back east, nothing unique. It was cool to see Alcatraz from a distance although the tours had filled up in advance and I was not able to go.
I headed back south through North Beach and Telegraph Hill. I liked seeing Coit Tower and strolling Washington Square and Maritime Plaza. I continued through the Financial District to finish at Market street and catch the BART back to South San Fran.