7000 feet of quad-and-booty-burning glory
August 2, 2008
On Saturday the cycling sirens sang yet again. And this time the call had a “climb epic heights” ring to it. And, since we all know how siren calls go, I had to oblige.
The ride was a from-somewhere-between-Burlingame and Woodside, up Old La Honda, through Pescadero, out to Half Moon Bay, and up and over back down to Canada road-loop. For written directions of what we did go here. And, if you’re more visually oriented, you can see a very rough gmap of it here instead. Suffice to say, the ride was truly one of great glory. Having never climbed anything like that before, I was super proud of myself. Looking back and seeing countless hills in the far distance, and then knowing that you’ve climbed them, makes for a pretty awesome moment. Plus, it’s just such a gorgeous ride. Zillions of redwood trees, isolated little towns, wildflowers, the ocean — it’s just fantastic.
Step one: find purportedly delicious coffee place (Philz - in the Mission)
Step two: buy and taste test said purported deliciousness
(note to other caffeine/coffee junkies: ’tis quite delicious. They add their sugar and homemade cream for you…and it’s heavenly. And, since it’s not like you added the sugar and cream yourself, it totally doesn’t count as bad for you!)
Step Three: Stock up on emergency fuel (this ride I went with the jelly beans… errr… I mean extreme sports beans!)
Step Four: Size up the competition. I’m obviously victorious on three counts: shoe style, sock choice, and for actually having a tan… at all
Step Five: Ride!
Step Six: Climb epic hills
Step Seven: Relish in hill-climbing glory (perhaps prematurely, but go on! relish!)
(that’s Eric — he rides for UCLA Triathlon)
Step Eight: Whenever possible, fulfill and/or rekindle childhood memories and fantasies. (I used to go to Camp Loma Mar when I was a kid. Back then, Loma Mar seemed like a million miles away, hidden away in magical redwood forests. Now, I can bike there!)
Step Nine: Climb (and descend!! oh yes descend!!) about a frak-load more
Step Ten: Find deliciousness and never ever let go of it
Step Eleven: Get slackers up
Step Twelve: Appreciate nature (and by “appreciate” I mean kiss flowers)
Step Thirteen: Bike a LOT more… over a LOT more hills. And then, enjoy the view
Step Fourteen: Take more pictures with childhood landmarks. This will help you show off to friends and relatives later on. (Every Christmas, my dad would take us to Santa’s Tree Farm in Half Moon Bay to cut down our own tree. After, we’d usually stop by the Flying Fish for lunch.)
Step Fifteen: Finish!! And, though not recommended, optionally: try and look like a badass while dripping in sweat and clothed in bright spandex.
Step Sixteen: Get together with great homies and eat lots and lots of hamachi sashimi!
San Francisco to Tiburon
July 27, 2008
Cycling is a bit like crack. Even though I rode to work three times last week (which means I bike-commuted about 135ish miles), watched lots of awesome (and less than awesome) films at the Bike Film Festival over Friday and Saturday, and even friggin joined the San Francisco Bike Coalition, by late Saturday night I had an undeniable itch. And that itch was for a ride.
I emailed all the SF2G people and asked if anyone had good directions for biking up to Tiburon and Mt. Tam. Now, I emailed these people Saturday night at 1AM. The first response? 1:45AM!! And then more followed bright and early Sunday morning. These people are AWESOME!
So this was the plan:
So with directions from a pal at work scribbled down on an envelope I was off! Now, I didn’t realize at the time that these directions were scribbled down virtually illegibly, but that’s alright! I’ve learned another lesson: ink + envelope + lots of sweat in jersey pocket thingie = words start looking a lot like other words… before they just look like inkblots.
Anyway! Here are some pictures and highlights from the day:
- First I got (almost) all my gear together
- Then off I went down busy Market, down to Embarcadero, and along to the bridge. The weather was, in my opinion, perfect for biking.
- Finally I made my way to the bridge where the wind was INSANE!
-And, since I refused to stop to take a picture of myself (because then it wouldn’t actually be a picture of me biking on the bridge), I had to take a few to make sure one would work!
-After surviving the epic wind, I made my way to the other side of the bridge. And, I’ve got to tell you, the biking is a lot more peaceful over there. First off, there are a zillion bikers out and about Sunday mornings. And, once I realized that following the other bikers resulted in a lot more not-getting-lost success than trying to figure it all out on my own, everything got better for me!
-Below you’ll see a picture of the first solid uphill section. It was gradual and gorgeous. Good times!
-Note to future bikers: If your directions tell you to turn right onto Camino they mean Camino alto!! Don’t do what I did and bike up a zillion other hills… convinced that if they meant Camino alto they would have said so!
-Eventually Savannah called so I took that as an opportunity for a chocolate chip cookie break!
- Finally when I was almost totally convinced I was anywhere but where I needed to be, I came upon the Tiburon sign!
- From the Tiburon sign on you get the best biking. Gradual uphills and downhills, gorgeous views, and sunny weather!
- And you stumble upon old people love! Which I am the biggest sucker for EVER!
- Now I’ll be honest, I got lost a few times. And by a few I mean many. But! It meant some great additional views!
- And some great extra faces by yours truly.
- After getting out of Tiburon it was a smooth shot home, thanks in large part to the Tiburon bike path. These Tiburites have the life, man. It’s a super gorgeous isolated area that’s ridiculously close to the happenings of the city. It can’t be beat!
Overall the ride, if completed without error, would have been about 55(ish) miles. With all my errors it ended up being more like 65. But, that means I got in 200 miles this week! So rock on to me!
And for all the pictures from today (and let’s not forget the additional commentary!) go here