Holidays in the Bay

This year has been a year of doubling down on experiencies that make the bay, the bay. I’ve enjoyed some old and new motorcycle epics like:

Much like motorcycle epics in the Bay, I wanted to double down on some holiday traditions in the area. For many years, I’d travel back east to see and celebrate the holidays with family, never really kicking in and owning what makes holidays in the Bay special. The pandemic kept me in the Bay for two years, but holidays quarantined at home really isn’t celebrating holidays in the Bay, lol. This year I was going to do both: celebrate holidays in the bay AND head back east to see the family.

Doug MotoSanta

I can’t think of a longer-running person in my motorcycling career than Doug. He’s seen me ride three of four bikes and over 140,000 miles of riding. Who is Doug you ask? He’s the manager of Santa Clara Cycle – the self-professed motorcycle tire whores.

This year Santa Clara Cycle celebrates 25 years in business! It’s impressive for a motorcycle business to stay in business as long Santa Clara Cycle has and growing their business to selling gear, consigning bikes, offering parts, and of course, tires. They’ve replaced almost 90 percent of my tires in my entire riding career. Yes – they are that good. If you need rubber in the bay, they are your go-to place.

Plus, I got to see the world’s lowest KLR (even I could flat foot it with a 30 in inseam!) and a kick-ass Ducati Scrambler! Cheers to you Doug and Greg for being a staple in Bay Area moto culture for over 25 years.

BARTable Holiday Fun!

So BART is our public transit system here in the East Bay. Having spent many years on the west side of the bay I’ve long been a fan of CalTrain. As a seasoned Caltrain rider, BART has been a bit of an adjustment, but as I’ve become a BART guy, I’ve come to love their social media team. The Bay can be hard on BART and their outreach teams really do keep up with the heckles of the Bay.

Every year BART releases an “ugly sweater” for the holidays. This year, I took the bite. I needed a piece of hoiday wear that made a statement. When I found out about the Sweater Fest – why not? People came from all over the bay in different years of holiday sweaters from BART which was cool to see. Again, I give the BART credit for the community outreach. Sweatergoers could make a wreath of old paper tickers, buy branded BART merch, write a poem about BART, and sing carols! Fun for the whole family, right?

Where’s Dan, lol!

What I didn’t know is that sweaters are a public transit thing. Agencies from all over the states do different kinds of sweaters.

Atlanta MARTA

New York MTA

CalTrain (Bay Area)

Chicago CTA

Vancouver Translink

Thank you for being a Friend (and reader :))

I didn’t get all of the Golden Girls when they were on air (and I was a young lad)! Unapologetically San Francisco, four drag queens celebrated their 19th season of Golden Girls Live, a reenactment of two episodes of the timeless show. The show takes on the format of the television show back in the late 80s, but singing carols during the commercial breaks. I’ve been a number of years, and this show really has become a holiday favorite of mine.

This year the show took a big step commanding San Francisco’s Curran Theatre, a much bigger venue than years before. The show was mostly a full house. What else was cool this year? The show’s organizers brought out Cindy Fee, the original singer of the show’s “Thank You for Being a Friend!” Everyone in the theater was singing along to that one!