It was five years ago this month that California closed off one of the lanes of the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge to allow bike and pedestrian access.  

The pilot project has now ended and Caltrans is recommending that the bike lane be closed for most of the week. But cyclists are digging in their heels to retain their 24/7 ride across the Bay Area.

On a cool, clear day like Saturday, the ride across the bridge was inviting enough, even if it wasn’t for the message they were trying to send. 

More than 100 cyclists made the trek from the Richmond BART station, across the span to Marin County. Nathalee Lomeli from Berkeley was a first-time bridge rider.

“It was beautiful.  It’s a beautiful day,” she said. “It was nice to see everybody come together in the community to support keeping this lane open and it was just a good time. Like, if it’s gone, I wouldn’t be able to experience it, know what I mean?”

But critics of the bike lane have long complained about how empty it appears while cars stack up during the weekday morning commute. Last year, a UC Berkeley study revealed how much—or little—usage was actually occurring.

“And so, right now, there are 21 bikers in the morning commute that are crossing across a three-hour time window.  And yet, there’s 18,000 cars during that three-hour window,” said John Grubb with the Bay Area Council, a business advocacy group supporting more traffic flow across the bridge.

“You know, I’m not sure what numbers they were expecting,” said Warren Wells, policy director for the Marin Bicycle Coalition.  “There was never any clear success or failure metric for this pilot. They never said, if we have this many people a day, we’ll keep it…if we have fewer than that we’ll remove it.”

So, the cycling community on both sides of the Bay turned out on Saturday to react to a proposal—endorsed by Caltrans, Marin County and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission—to move the barriers back Monday through Thursday, closing off access to bikes and once again providing a maintenance and breakdown lane.  

Wells said they can’t allow cars to use the lane because opening it to vehicle traffic would invite more drivers, which is a violation of state environmental laws. But he thinks that is the ultimate goal and doesn’t believe this current proposal is the end of it.

“It’s being framed as yet another compromise,” said Wells. “‘Oh, the compromise is that drivers get this four days a week and bikers, the half of you that are riding it on weekends, you guys get your lane.’ So, I expect a few years down the road, there’ll be some other compromise where the compromise we get is cut in half by another compromise. It doesn’t take Nostradamus to predict that.”

And even those who use it only on weekends aren’t thrilled about seeing it cut off during the week.

“I don’t see why they’re closing it, just to make a shoulder lane that’s not going to make traffic any better,” said rider Amanda Carson. “It’s just closing off access to the North Bay.  It’s really the only way you can get here from the East Bay.”

“To me, this bridge is all about the connection,” said cyclist Mary Norton. “And even if it’s ten cyclists a day going over, to have that access for reducing the number of cars–rather than just sit and be a break-down lane–is so important.”

It’s fair to point out that creating the bike lane did not remove a lane of traffic on the bridge.  

The lane had been shut down since the early 1970s when it was closed to make room for an emergency water pipeline to Marin County during a severe drought. It was never re-opened to traffic after that, instead used as a maintenance lane.  

The final decision for the new plan rests with the State’s Bay Conservation and Development Commission and those floating the proposal say they hope to see a decision sometime in December.

Who needs college football when there’s a Nerf hoop?

While a solid chunk of college athletic departments chase the almighty football dollar, the wild success at the University of Denver can be traced to… games of H-O-R-S-E in a fourth-floor office hallway at the Ritchie Center?

DU’s hockey, lacrosse and men’s soccer coaches share an L-shaped office space — and a Nerf basket that serves as the great equalizer if any egos grow too large for the workplace.

“I can’t dunk,” soccer coach Jamie Franks told me prior to DU’s 2-1 loss to Kansas City in the Summit League championship match Saturday at University of Denver Soccer Stadium.

“But it does get pretty competitive up there. Ask the lacrosse guys. They think they always win.”

See, the Denver athletics department isn’t perfect.

On the fourth floor of the Ritchie Center, it only seems that way. Check out this lineup of winning among three coaches who share a hallway: Franks, whose soccer Pios reached No. 1 in the country in September; Matt Brown, whose lacrosse Pios reached No. 1 in the country in the spring; David Carle, whose hockey Pios are the reigning NCAA champs and hold the No. 1 ranking now.

There’s no football at DU. But is there a more successful hallway in all of Division I sports?

“It’s pretty fun,” said Franks, whose soccer club won the Summit League regular-season title and should be a shoo-in for the NCAA Tournament bracket released Monday. “We’ll get a game of ‘Around the Horn’ when all the coaches are around. It’s just a different community here.”

And talk about a leap of faith (and fantastic evaluation) from the DU administrators who hired three 20-somethings and allowed them to grow their programs into national names.

When DU hired Carle he was 28, the youngest head coach in Division I men’s hockey. When DU hired Franks he was 28, the youngest head coach in Division I men’s soccer. Brown was 26 when he joined Bill Tierney’s staff as a lacrosse assistant. Their programs are all grown up.

“I think it’s crazy at this time in college athletics when everything is more revenue-based, we’re trying to protect the kids and keep it pure and focus on holistic development,” Franks said.

Between the hockey, lacrosse and soccer programs, secrets are few and far between.

The three coaching staffs from different sports share all kinds of information to help out their office mates. Got a question on travel? Shout it down the hall. Sports psychology? Knock a couple doors down. Parent education? Your office neighbor’s probably been through it.

They even share new techniques on breathing, which regulates athletes after intense workouts.

“When I have a bad game or think I have a bad game, breathing, it helps you remember it’s not that bad,” said Ian Smith, a soccer defender and Highlands Ranch graduate. “It keeps you level-headed and allows you to reflect more clearly.”

DU hockey won its record 10th national championship in April. DU lacrosse is coming off a trip to the Final Four. DU soccer has the belief it can make a run at its first national title.

“I think most people at this school, if you’re not finding success, it’s a disappointment. It’s kind of expected,” said Ben Smith, a soccer midfielder who graduated from Arapahoe High.

The three neighboring programs share a philosophy: If the guys down the hall are hanging banners, why not mine their strategies?

“We all share all of our practices. For us, we can learn from each other. All these coaches have been successful in their respective sports. How do we bring their best practices into ours?” Franks said. “And the head coaches are so close because of who we are as people. We all believe in the same thing, the best way to guide our student-athletes in the right direction.”

Saturday’s loss to Kansas City had the Pios heated. In a 1-1 game after a lengthy video review, DU’s Ian Smith was hit with a red card, leaving the Pioneers down a man for the final 17 minutes of the game.

“To be honest, it was a shock. When you watch (the replay) again it’s still a shock,” Franks said after.

Kansas City (12-4-3) took advantage when Elie Kisoka drilled the game-winning goal off a corner kick with 13 seconds left, awarding the Roos the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 

“The red card, you can watch it 100 times over, and I just don’t see the intent that’s involved,” Franks said.

At No. 3 in the Ratings Percentage Index, Denver (12-3-4) should be in fine shape for an at-large bid when the NCAA Tournament field is unveiled at 11 a.m. Monday. Then it’s up to the soccer Pios to join their office mates as national champs. Hockey has 10, lacrosse one.

“This (senior) class came in and said, ‘I’m here to win a national championship,’” Franks said. “We’ve had success in the past. But I don’t know if we’ve ever had a real belief we could win a national championship. We have that.”

After a much-needed bye week that included multiple personnel changes and abrupt losses, the Seattle Seahawks are beginning the most crucial stretch of the 2024 season in Week 11.

Their first test will be against the San Francisco 49ers — the second of two matchups this season with their division rivals. Seattle (4-5, 0-2 NFC West) will try to get their first in-division victory when they head to Levi’s Stadium to face the Niners (5-4, 1-2 NFC West).

The Seahawks need to get back on track with all their recent changes, which included waiving linebacker Tyrel Dodson — the team leader in defensive snaps — and losing starting center Connor Williams to retirement midseason. Mike Macdonald’s team is entering a crucial point in its evolution, and the team’s demeanor on Sunday will be telling.

Seattle and San Francisco kick off at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday. Here are five storylines to watch in Seattle’s Week 11 road game versus the Niners.

Even Macdonald appeared somewhat surprised while delivering the news on Friday that Williams decided to retire after the team’s bye week. Williams, who signed with the Seahawks late in training camp after coming off a serious knee injury, hung up his cleats for personal reasons, per Macdonald — not because of a lingering knee issue.

But now an already struggling Seahawks offensive line has two new starters heading into Week 11: second-year center Olu Oluwatimi and right tackle Abraham Lucas. Oluwatimi has just one career start (Week 7 of last season), while Lucas was the team’s full-time starter as a rookie in 2022. He played in just six games last season and worked back from offseason knee surgery for the first 10 weeks of the season.

The changes could benefit what was one of the worst offensive lines in the league halfway through this season. But that big of a shake-up could require a few weeks for the unit to find a groove. Their protection of Geno Smith and run-blocking effectiveness will greatly impact this game.

The offensive line changes are far from the only personnel differences for the Seahawks in this game. Ernest Jones IV will wear the green dot on defense for the first time, and rookie fourth-round pick Tyrice Knight will start at weakside linebacker next to Jones. Both have just two starts for Seattle this season despite the team being nine games into the season.

Both of the Seahawks’ free-agent linebacker additions are gone. Jerome Baker was traded for Jones, and Tyrel Dodson was waived after the bye. The latter is now beginning his tenure with the Miami Dolphins as a backup and special teams contributor. It was an $11 million failed experiment that didn’t even last one season.

The coaching staff and players have heaped praise on Knight and Jones. The expectation is the new tandem will be an improvement on what Seattle has had most of the season. That can only be proven by a good performance against the team’s most bitter rivals.

In Week 6 versus the Niners, the Seahawks posted a season-high 90.3 percent pressure rate getting after Purdy, but they failed to register a single sack. As a result, Purdy completed 18 of 28 passes for 255 yards and three touchdowns in Seattle’s 36-24 loss.

The Seahawks’ pass rush has been effective this season, but their pressure-to-sack ratio is by far the unit’s worst metric. Seattle entered their bye week 27th in the league in that area (12.07 percent) and tied for third in total pressures (174) — highlighting the margin between how frequently the team is affecting the quarterback but not creating negative plays.

San Francisco was put in just 12 third-down situations in as many drives in the first matchup between these teams. Taking Purdy to the ground has to be an emphasis to get the Niners behind the sticks.

The Niners piled up 228 rushing yards versus the Seahawks with their second- and third-string running backs in Week 6. Now, the return of All-Pro Christian McCaffrey makes San Francisco’s offense even more difficult to defend.

It’s hard to compare the first matchup to now with all the changes on Seattle’s defense. As defensive coordinator Aden Durde said on Thursday, “This is a different defense than the one we played with when we played them last time.” Still, that creates more variables that will be meshing for the first time. The run defense has to be improved.

San Francisco is fourth in the league in rush yards per game (149.7) and Seattle is seventh-worst in rush yards allowed (139.4). Limiting that attack would be a positive moving into the rest of the season for the Seahawks.

Seattle averaged 25.7 points per game with Metcalf on the field from Weeks 1–7 and then scored a combined 30 points in the two games he was sidelined. Those point totals don’t operate in a vacuum, but there’s no doubt the offense was limited without its top vertical threat.

Even with a bye and missing two of the Seahawks’ games, Metcalf is 17th in the NFL with 568 receiving yards — currently tied with fellow Seattle receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who has played all nine games. Metcalf’s 16.2 yards per reception also ranks ninth among receivers with at least 20 catches this season.

The Seahawks have shown the offense is more limited when they don’t have Metcalf to stretch the field. Even though Smith-Njigba had a career game in Week 9, Metcalf has been that for Seattle for six seasons now, and he was on pace for a career-best season before his injury.

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