John Aylward Photography

Today’s Highlights:

Our 92-mile ride today was the longest of this tour and included over 5100 feet of climbing.  However, it was a very enjoyable ride and the hours went by fast.  I guess we are getting well conditioned for this.

We left San Francisco at 8:00 this morning with low clouds shrouding the Golden Gate Bridge, but not obscuring our view of the shoreline, parks and neighborhoods.  It was cool, but an early climb around the northwest corner of the city warmed me right up.  We reached Ocean Beach after several miles and enjoyed another morning ride along the seashore.

The first half of the ride included a few big climbs, but nothing like we had in Oregon.  One was significant and offered nice views into the eastern valley behind us on the climb and then into another valley on the west side during the descent.  The ride down was great!  It was a steep, wide, winding highway, so we were able to keep some good speed all the way down.

We also rode several miles on a bike path that traversed reservoirs along the way.  It was not a flat rail trail, but instead was very winding and rolling through the woods, and just delightful.

The last 50 miles were mostly along the shore with no major hills, and we had a nice tailwind.  I enjoyed the scenery and the relatively easy ride.  The most interesting thing to me were several farms that seemed to extend to the edge of the bluffs above the ocean.  Generally the soil is very sandy this close to the ocean, but here it is quite fertile. We rode passed many strawberry farms, yum.

Chris and I reached the Santa Cruz town line a little after 3:00 pm, and the route wandered to a shoreline drive with very nice houses and a spectacular shoreline with colorful cliffs.  Surfing is obviously popular here, as we saw many practicing in the cold water.  We made a stop at a small lighthouse/museum, and then cruised slowly down the beach boulevard that had all the usual tourist attractions, plus a full amusement park.  We finally arrived at the hotel around 4pm.

Another Great Day
This really is a beautiful trip. And the weather has cooperated nicely. If only we had time to actually take a swim in this beautiful ocean. But it was a long ride today. In fact, it was my longest ride ever. Go me! I felt pretty good. I felt sluggish the last two rides, but I got my “Built 4 Speed” back on my bike and I felt fast again. Or maybe it was the rest day. Either way, I did shake the buzzards. Ever since our climb into Garberville there have been vultures circling overhead as I crest each hill. They were just waiting for me to keel over before I reach the top. But today there were only hawks overhead – lots of them. Much more auspicious.

We left our hearts, I mean some riders in San Francisco: Rick, and John & Barb – our two week riders – and Derek, Rick & Denise, and Alan & Cindy – our one week riders. I will miss you guys. You are way fun and I truly hope I get to ride with y’all again some time. We had three new rides join us for the last leg of the trip: Tim, Jim, and Leticia. We rode with Tim for a good stretch today – a very nice bloke from Manchester. Jim will be our new roommate for a most of the remaining nights (but not tonight). New friends and new adventures. Woohoo!!

Chris

West Coast Bike Day 15

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 9/16/2012, 7:59:2

Duration: 07:52:04

Ascent/Descent: 5184 ft 5294 ft

Distance: 92.57 M

Today’s Highlights:

This morning Chris and I met with Carl who rode cross country with me in 2002, and we caught up on each others biking adventures.  Later in the morning my sister and brother, June and Richard, arrived and we spent the day touring San Francisco.  Carl had recommended one of the bay sightseeing cruises, so that is what we started with.  We had a perfect sunny day for it, the scenery was fabulous and we learned a lot.  We saw many dolphins and one seal, in addition to great views of the impressive Golden Gate Bridge, the hills of Sausalito and neighboring towns, Alcatraz, Angel Island, many sailboat, and of course the skyline and hills of San Francisco.  Thanks Carl for the great suggestion!

Later we drove around the city and through the park for just a glimpse of other things the city offers.  Everywhere we went had interesting architecture and landscapes.  We had a fantastic dinner at Capannina that exceeded our expectations.

It was a special treat to see my sister and brother again since we live on opposite coasts.  We had a wonderful day.

West Coast Bike Day 14

Today’s Highlights:

Every day of this adventure we have experienced new sites, and today we transported ourselves into an entirely different world.  After spending twelve days along nearly uninhabited beaches, silent mystical forest, farms that stretch to the horizon, and tiny towns with no more than a general store, a restaurant and a gift shop, we reached San Francisco.  What a change!  In the time it took us to crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, I think more cars and trucks passed by us than in the previous two weeks combined.  This is a very busy place!

The morning started with a ride down the main drag in Petaluma, which looked like a very nice town to explore.  However, once again we were simply on the move.  We got off the main route and back into farmland.  There were a couple big hill climbs in the morning along with smaller rolling terrain.  We enjoyed more views of farms with golden fields dotted with oak trees and small herds of cattle and occasionally a horse or two.  The clouds hung low, rolling over the tops of the hills.  After 20 miles or so, the clouds began to lift and eventually we had nice blue skies again.

The last half of today’s route took us through suburban streets in Mill Valley with lots of stop and go.  A bike path led us into Sausalito where we stopped at Mike’s Bikeshop to pick up a few essentials.  Then we stopped at the Renovo Bike showroom, which unfortunately was closed.  We left our nose prints on the window after gazing at their fine handcrafted wooden bikes.  On we went through the nice town of Sausalito.  Many of our riders stopped there for lunch.  Chris and I pressed on, but did stop to take pictures.

Finally, we reach the Golden Gate Bridge.  It is an amazing site, as is the San Francisco skyline on the other side of the bay.  While the scenery and engineering marvel were interesting, the noise and crowd were not exactly my favorite.  Once off the bridge, it was an easy travel into the city.  We reached the hotel in late afternoon.

This evening we had dinner at Lori’s Cafe, a 1950’s style dinner.  Then we visited the Ghirardelli chocolate shop, bought some good stuff to fuel our bodies for the next ride, and had a delicious dessert.

Tomorrow is a “rest” day.  I’m sure we will be out exploring many of the sites.

West Coast Bike Day 13

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 9/14/2012, 9:04:5

Duration: 05:52:58

Ascent/Descent: 2921 ft 2852 ft

Distance: 51.03 M

Today’s Highlights:

We had spectacular weather today – sunny blue skies with wispy clouds, comfortable morning temperatures and a warm finish in the afternoon.  Our route took us through wine country for about 30 miles, passing one vineyard after another.  Some vines were bursting with purple grapes and others were newly planted.  The roads were rural and quite, allowing us to meander along in small groups enjoying the scenery.

For the next 20 miles or so, we traveled more quite country roads, but in wooded rolling hills and through very small towns.  The town center of Occidental was inviting, with small shops and cafes.  A stop at a bakery would have been a good idea, but we rolled through it and continued our ride.

Around the town of Valley Ford, the vistas opened up, with large farmed spreading across rolling hills.  The golden hills reaching to the blue sky was a pretty sight.

We reached Petaluma around 2:00 after 70 miles of riding.  It was another great day.

America the Beautiful
Great variety today. I never imagined how large the vineyards are. They stretched on forever like Midwestern corn fields. Unfortunately we start our ride early and the wine tastings don’t start until 11am. By then we’d already moved into cow country.

All of these small towns are very cute. I have noticed that the smaller the town the more art galleries and craft stores it has. I guess if they had something else to market then it wouldn’t be a small town. We’ll hit the big city tomorrow. San Fran, here we come.

I love the “oldest and youngest riders” pics. You’ll notice that Herb is always ahead of me.

Chris

West Coast Bike Day 12

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 9/13/2012, 8:00:3

Duration: 05:46:37

Ascent/Descent: 2430 ft 2623 ft

Distance: 70.59 M