One Ride, Seven Presidents: NOPA VELO's Park and Bridge Tour This Sunday

Image: Rick Helf , www.helf.com

The President William McKinley Monument in Panhandle Park

Another Slain Ohio President, James A. Garfield, in Golden Gate Park

President Theodore Roosevelt might never have visited NOPA if the original plan to place a monument to his predecessor, William McKinley, at the intersection of Van Ness Avenue and Market Street had held. Instead, Teddy R stopped by the site of the future monument at the eastern end of the Panhandle in May of 1903, ceremoniously shoveled sod, and eulogized McKinley.

San Franciscans kicked in $30,000 for the memorial of their beloved President, and local sculptor Robert Aitken won the commission for the statue. As authors Chris Pollock and Erica Katz note in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park: A Thousand and Seventeen Acres of Stories notes, "The McKinley Monument features an inset marble bas-relief plaque of McKinley set into a 15- foot-high pedestal on a stepped granite podium 45 feet in diameter."

This upcoming Sunday NOPA VELO riders will stop by the McKinley Monument, the site of the only visit to the neighborhood by a sitting U.S. President. Then it's on through the Panhandle and into Golden Gate Park with a second stop at the President James A. Garfield Memorial along John F. Kennedy Drive. (That's four past presidents, if you're not counting). Of the three monuments erected to U.S. Presidents in Golden Gate Park, all three hailed from Ohio. As former NOPNA President Tys Sniffen, also an Ohioan, once asked, "What's up with that?"

In short order, NOPA VELO spinners will leave the park and head for the Presidio where they will encounter remembrances to Presidents Washington, Harrison, and Lincoln before crossing the Golden Gate Bridge in groups. After taking in the view from Marin, riders will retrace their tracks to return to the neighborhood with enough Presidential Lore to last a good long time.

NOPA VELO Dead Presidents' Park & Bridge Ride

Sunday, April 25

Meet: 9 am for breakfast/drinks at Mojo Bicycle Cafe, 639 Divisadero

Start: 10 am sharp

(If you're running late, join the group at McKinley's Monument; even later, catch them at Garfield's)

End: about 12:30 pm, lunch at Herbivore Restaurant, 531 Divisadero

Mild to moderate climbs in the Presidio

All level riders welcome; kids on own bike OK if with guardian

Heavy rain cancels (but sun predicted!)

More info: Lenore @415-300-6744, lmcjunker@gmail.com

Join the NOPA VELO Google Group here

NOPA VELO's Ride with the Presidents, April 25

Image: Rick Helf, www.helf.com

Teddy R returns to NOPA, and you won't want to miss it. On May 13, 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt first visited the neighborhood for a stop at the east end of Panhandle Park. There the country's youngest president tossed some sod at the site of the future monument to his slain predecessor, William McKinley. Teddy recalled the grief he and the American people felt when McKinley died of bullet wounds fired by an anarchist at the Pan American Exhibition in Buffalo, New York in September of 1901.

"It is not too much to say that no man since Lincoln was as widely and universally beloved in this country as was President McKinley."

That's quite a tribute for the nation's leader who helped

launch the country into full-blown imperialism with the Spanish-

American War of 1898 and the Philippine Insurrection that followed.

For its fourth monthly ride, NOPA VELO spinners will first

fuel-up with breakfast at Mojo Bicycle Cafe and then kick-off for

a tour of presidential memorials in Golden Gate Park and the

Presidio before crossing Golden Gate Bridge. Here's your chance

if you've yet to cross on your bike. Riders will take in the views from

the Marin side and then leisurely bike back for a lunch stop at

Herbivore Restaurant on Divisadero.

Join us for a nod to seven Presidents and a great ride.

Neighbors and friends of all skill levels are welcome. Kids too

on their own bikes if with a guardian. Mild to moderate climbs

in the Presidio. Presidential attire encouraged.

9:00 am Breakfast or coffee at Mojo Bicycle Cafe

639 Divisadero, between Hayes & Grove

10:00 am Ride begins

Noon Lunch at Herbivore Restaurant

531 Divisadero, between Hayes & Fell

For more information: Lenore @ 415-300-6744;

lmcjunker@gmail.com

To get all the NOPA VELO news, join our Google group

Heavy rain cancels.