Much would be missing. As pointed out in a previous article, the hardest day of bike messengering is more strenuous than the toughest day on the MAC team but because the average day on the MAC team is harder than the average day for messenger work, overall the MAC job is harder than messenger work. And it is the requirement of climbing every hill in the City that makes MAC work harder than messenger work.
In addition to the physical demands of hill climbing, there are navigational challenges. A well planned navigation can minimize the number of ascents. Or such a plan will allow a MAC rider to climb a hill from the gradual side and then save the steepest side for the descent. But when we do have to make those steep climbs, how do we do it? Hill climbs require a variety of tactics and depends on the physical length and steepness as well as wind direction and speed.
There are many sources about hill riding in print and online and a few are listed at the bottom of this article 6. For the steepest hills I suggest getting in your lowest gear as you begin the ascent.
Keep your arms fairly straight but not rigid. Flex your feet with the balls of your feet on the pedals. Keep your back straight but you might want to look down. This is so you can see any obstacles on the pavement. While San Francisco is home to far more than seven hills, the seven most famous hills in the city are:.
So we know that San Francisco is very hilly, but why? The answer lies back in geological time, in an epoch long past. Thousands of years ago, tectonic plates crashed into one another in the region now known as the Bay Area. In the future, the plates, faults, and forces underlying North America and San Francisco will likely have been sculpted into new shapes by geological forces.
San Francisco has some neighborhoods and areas that are flat. As a maritime city, San Francisco has expansive sea-level frontage. San Francisco covers a lot of terrain, and that terrain varies in altitude.
The city boasts locations at sea level and as high up as feet or so at Mount Davidson. How can we say what elevation the city is when points in the city have such a wide range of elevations? With sophisticated tools, we can take an average. Computer scientists with topographical maps and complex mathematics have calculated the mean elevation of San Francisco, which is about 92 feet above sea level. Romolo Street has one section with a The Russian Hill neighborhood has plenty of steep hills and also happens to have some excellent city views.
Those looking for a good hike should head to Mt. Tamalpais State Park , a short drive north from the city. There, a This trail is a challenging hike, so newbies or those not prepared for some serious hiking might want to consider a less difficult path at the park.
Are you looking to drive to a peak? The mountains and valleys that define this region of California create little microclimates, many of which generate specific local conditions that have led to interesting ecological niches. The mountains and valleys affect rain, cloud, and fog patterns which in turn affect local flora, fauna, and even people. One hundred and seventy years ago, the three-masted ship carrying merchant seaman Richard Henry Dana sailed past this spot.
Had you been here then, you would have seen San Francisco before it was "San Francisco" -- its hills and valleys and creeks unmasked. In "Two Years Before the Mast," Dana described "the remote and almost unknown coast of California" that winter of Noting the "vast solitude of the Bay of San Francisco," he wrote," the anchorage was between a small island, called Yerba Buena, and a gravel beach in a little cove of the same name.
Beyond, to the westward of the landing place, were dreary sand-hills, with little grass to be seen, and few trees, and beyond them higher hills, steep and barren, their sides gullied by the rains. Besides the ocean and the bay, the hills are San Francisco's most prominent geographical feature. The same forces that caused the and earthquakes -- the San Andreas and Hayward faults -- have shaped the hills, the valleys and the bay itself.
San Francisco's elevation -- 61 feet -- is posted on roadway signs at the city limits, but how they came up with that figure, God only knows.
The hills actually range in elevation from to feet. While most of the city is built on sand, many of its hills stand on Franciscan or serpentine bedrock. The largest of them -- Mount Davidson, Mount Sutro and Twin Peaks located in the center of the city -- were once collectively known as the San Miguel Hills because they were part of the Spanish land grant of the same name.
In my quest to walk every street and alley in San Francisco, I have found the city's hills to be irresistible and irrecusable. They are what make San Francisco San Francisco.
Each of them offers a different perspective of the history, culture, geography and architecture of the city. Kirkeberg, who teaches courses called "Geography of San Francisco" and "San Francisco on Foot," points out that a majority of the city's neighborhoods are topographically established by its hills and valleys.
It's not surprising, then, that dozens of our neighborhoods are named after the hills that define them. And as people bought that land," she says, "they named it. Kirkeberg, who has been teaching geography here since , says one of the things he loves about the city is that "it's small and seeable. When you're on foot, the hills can get your cardiovascular system pumping. But sometimes the apex of a hill is difficult to find beneath all the asphalt, concrete and stucco.
Sadly, some of the original hills are gone. Others have been excavated down to a nub -- like Irish Hill near Potrero Point and Rincon Hill, which has become the landing pad for the west end of the Bay Bridge. Several hilltops have been surrounded by residential development and no longer offer views -- at least not for pedestrians -- places like Forest Hill, Red Rock Hill and Gold Mine Hill in Diamond Heights, and Mount Olympus. Now there's nothing but a bunch of stones marking the spot and garages all around staring at you.
Old-timers lament that they can't see the hills like they once could, and it's true. Some views are surrounded by forests that obscure the hilltop and choke the view. Many -- like Nob Hill, Russian Hill and Pacific Heights -- are surrounded by housing development and high-rise buildings, which reduce the dramatic views to four-way intersections and street canyons. Fortunately, more than a dozen hills are protected as parks.
They once all offered degree views of the city.
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