"Geek Bike Ride?" the clerk at the bike rental shop asked. "Are you guys all from the same company?" "We aren't even from the same country!" we answered.

"I'm from Russia."

"We're from Germany." 

"I'm from Belgium."

"I'm from Palo Alto."

"I'm from Japan." 

"We're from Brazil."

"We're from Brazil."

"I'm from Sweden."

"Coooool" was all she could say.

She was right. The Geek Bike Ride was cooool. We had 39 bike riders and one skater show up Saturday for a great route from San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, across the Golden Gate bridge, to Saulsalito, and back to the city by ferry.

Duke Bike jerseys, sponsored by OTN, were given out. To make sure Java developers got them, each person had to answer a Java question to get a jersey. The questions were really hard, like "Who is the Father of Java?" "What's the biggest Java conference in San Francisco?" The best was when the question was "Name one of Duke's Choice Award winner from this year," and Régina ten Bruggencate answered answered "Me!" 

It was foggy throughout the day, with the sun poking out occasionally. The fog was thickest on the bridge, more that one rider commented that we were "in the cloud." It was a great day to meet new friends, and have a chat with old friends.

We all had fun, though some of us may more a little more slowly during JavaOne. Ride on! 

Photos by permission by Arun Gupta and Yoshio Terada. Thanks, guys!