Out By The Coliseum:

We wanted to take a different return route. Since a lot of people mentioned the Coliseum as an East Oakland landmark, we aimed to ride by there. As we were trying to cross the 8-lane street, a young guy stopped us. We talked to him for a while about the differences between West and East Oakland. He told us something important that no one else so far has mentioned: “You know, in East Oakland, there are Latinos, Asians, Middle Eastern people—all these communities. And the people own their own businesses! In West Oakland, the blacks don’t have their own businesses. That’s not good.”

After you cross International Blvd., 73^rd Ave changes to Hegenberger. It was a nightmare. Even though there was a bike lane, we felt like we were riding on the freeway. Cars were rushing by at over 50 mph on the 8-lane street. For the first time since we started the project we felt vulnerable on our bikes.