BAC Seattle to San Francisco

July 23 – Bodega Bay to Berkeley

The Julie/Bob team left Bodega Bay a little before 8:00 in overcast skies. Holding to form, Julie attacked the ups and I attacked the downs. Because there were lots of ups and downs, we leapfrogged all morning.

Today’s route was very familiar to me so I didn’t need my cue sheet. It also meant that I felt comfortable making minor route variations. One of those was to the Bovine Bakery in Point Rayes Station where I had a scone and the best coffee on the trip.

We got back on route taking Platform Bridge Road over to Samuel B. Taylor Park and its bicycle route. We rode the entire path including the last unpaved portion. We met Rich at the end where it meets Sir Francis Drake.

When we got to Fairfax, the Indy gruppo who were trying to figure out how to navigate the bicycle route through the little towns on the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. I volunteered to lead them. We breezed through Fairfax, San Anselmo, Ross, Kentfield, Larkspur and Corta Madera. Here we bypassed the Corta Madera hill and took the traditional GPC route, eliminating traffic.

After coasting down the hill, we got onto the Sausalito bicycle path and rode on to Mike’s Bikes where we stopped for fuel and a nature break. Rich caught us here and we all rode together through Sausalito, up Alexander Drive and over the east side of the Golden Gate Bridge. I am sure that the cyclists who read this blog are familiar with the bicycle rules on the bridge. The west side which is reserved for bicycles on the weekend is closed on the week days. This means that we have to ride on the east side mingling with all of the walkers who are looking at the vistas and not paying attention to anything else. In addition, the people who are riding rental bikes do not have appropriate skills to ride in crowded conditions and are all over the sidewalk. This is a very chaotic and unsafe condition. I found myself yelling to warn people that I was passing. I even had to nudge some pedestrians when they wouldn’t move. Heed this warning: DO NOT RIDE YOUR BICYCLE ACROSS THE BRIDGE ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

We made it without any problems and dropped down to Crissy Fields riding to the bicycle path on the Marina. I left the group here while they went sight-seeing and I hightailed it to BART. I got home around 4:00.

Someone asked me a few weeks ago about my next tour. I told them that I was flying to Seattle and riding my bike home. I did.

Here is a link to today's route.

I showered and got into clean clothes. Then Ann and I drove back to the city to join the group for Happy Hour and our last dinner. We ate at Buca di Beppo, a family-style Italian Italian restaurant. Afterwards, I picked up my luggage, loaded it into the car and drove home to complete a successful tour.

Here are some final statistics taken from my GPS:

16 riding days; 1013 miles; 54, 347 feet altitude gain; 75:41:24 time on the saddle (ouch!).