When Things Get Ugly

The Ugly Saturday Afternoon

January 9, 2010 started as a gray Bay Area morning. High clouds greeted me when I drew the bedroom curtains to let light in the bedroom. The gray sky above transformed the yellow building across the street into a lovely shade of baby poop yellow. I sighed a little but deep inside I was filled with excited.

The day before, Erwin and I planned a bike ride from Ocean Beach, hang out in the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) for several hours, and then ride back to the Ocean Beach. Not a bad ride at all. It was going to be an easy six mile roundtrip; just enough to get my cycling legs back. It was my first day of riding in 2010 and I want to get back into my training routine as soon as possible. California AIDS Lifecycle is only five months away.

We left our house around noon, but we could not shake off the gray sky above us. Ocean Beach, San Francisco is only ten miles up the same coast as our neighborhood in Pacifica. Two cities. Same coastline. Most of the time, same weather. When we arrived in our parking destination, the sky got even grayer.

We unloaded the bikes off my Honda CRV, did some pre-ride checks like taking a leak in the bushes to add nutrients to the starving plants of Golden Gate Park and making sure that no visible light colored items were left on the front seats that will attract petty thieves. Having grown in an extremely urban city and falling victim to thievery several times in the past, I'm definitely cautious enough to know that even a relatively safe city like San Francisco has its share of creeps.

The ride from to California Academy of Sciences was easy and relaxed. It’s only three miles for crying out loud. We parked and locked our bikes on the right side of the Academy; 20 feet away from a security guard. Mind you, I had one of my mountain bikes stolen from right outside my old apartment in San Francisco several years ago. Having a security guard standing 20 feet away from our bikes did not offer an ounce of comfort at all. But it was a day set aside to hang out with my hubby and geek out inside a building dedicated to science.

Four hours of gawking at aquariums and various life forms sealed in vitrines, not to mention half an hour spent getting dizzy in the planetarium, we stepped out of CAS, ready to complete our three miles bike ride back to the car.

I was about 20 feet away from where we parked out bikes when the overwhelming feeling of worry and excitement took hold of me. Erwin and I were looking at where we parked our bikes. There was a bike bike, but no bikes.

Ugh…

Erwin’s awesome mountain bike and helmet were gone. The road bike that I carefully put back together after getting creamed last summer was gone too. I bought new wheels for that road bike!

Oh, by the way. Have I told you that last summer, I got hit by a Honda Civic head on while I was riding on Duboce Street in San Francisco? Yeah I totally did. Both my wheels were ruined and my road bike was a mess but I came out of it unscathed. I landed on the hood and windshield of the car. My life flashed before the end of this cliché…

Anyway…

Bummed and livid, I couldn’t speak. Erwin stepped up and complained to the CAS security officer. He was so awesome and just went all alpha dog all over the incident. He got us into the CAS Security Office and there we filed a police report with SFPD.

Half an hour passed, police report all done, the hubby and I stepped out of the California Academy of Science for the last time that day. I was still very angry from what happened to us. I walked away from the building feeling defeated. Erwin quickly approached from my left, held my hand, and walked with me in silence to the bus stop.