Northern California - Best Bike stuff in SF

I work for a company that covers art, design, culture and anything else, and we're looking to do a series of a few films on bike culture in PORTLAND, SF, NYC. What we're really looking for are the real big, definitive forces (people and events) in each city. We have some ideas, but could use some of your brainstorming as well. In San Francisco, we want to try to talk to someone from Zo Bags about creation of the messenger bag. Go to SF Bike Coalition. Go to a Critical Mass. Any other cool things we can focus on?

Thanks!

Aren't Chrome bags made out here too? Talk to some bike commuters, actual messengers, roadies (on this forum), go to the Golden Gate Bridge and talk to the tourists that ride across the bridge.

You may also want to talk to the Northern Calif Chapter of the MS foundation and ask about their Waves to Wine ride that tours SF and up the coast on their 2 day, 150 mile charity ride.

Hopefully others can come up with more for you guys!

Possibly an interview with Albert Eisentraut, one of the true icons of American frame building. He's in Oakland, and he may not be building any more (he's been building frames for at least 50 years now), and he has a reputation for being a tad prickly at times, but he is a true legend.

Similarly, you might want to try interviewing Dennis Stone (Stone's Bicyclkes, Alameda) and/or Peter Rich (Velo Sport, Berkeley). These are two shop owners who have been in the biz pretty much forever and can give a lot of historical background to the development of cycling and its popularity in the Bay Area. Peter Rich in particular was a major supporter/sponsor of racing when nobody but nobody ever thought of bikes as something you could race.

Rich sponsored the Tour of California - not the current Amgen version, but a stage race in 1971 or so. It was a great race, by all accounts, and it damn near bankrupted him, as legend has it. He would be a great source for the background on how NorCal has long been a racing hot bed.

Good luck with your project.

I'd visit Mt. Diablo on a nice day. Maybe hang out near the ranger station junction, or summit. I'm amazed how many cyclists are there when the weather is nice. When I rode in the 70s I was thrilled to encounter another bicycle. Now the mountain is often covered in swarms of lycra.

This event occurs every Labor Day: http://www.metromint.com/metromintgiro/

This one is every June: http://www.aidslifecycle.org/

And this one is every February, so you just missed it: http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/