I took this picture of my trusty bike just before we set off for Santa Rosa at 8:30 a.m. of Day 9. Note that the tires are still the yellow ones I bought for the ride. This was their last day on the road. If you read my blog for that day, you know that I had a flat just outside of Ukiah and then almost immediately went to Dave's Bike Shop to get two new tires. Too bad I didn't get any pictures of the crew at the shop, because they were a good bunch of guys. By the way guys, even though I did get that one flat after just 35 miles or so after I left your shop, I made it the rest of the way to Tijuana with zero flats. So the tires were a good choice after all! Two thumbs up!
If you remember, the story of the day was the cold start. Here's another look at the morning conditions. This almost looks like a painting, not a picture.
If you remember, I arrived in Willits ahead of Jody, who was too cold to ride, and Joe, who stayed behind to give Jody some company. I spotted this little restaurant and decided it was a good place to wait for the other two. As soon as we pulled out of here, two hours after we started our ride 22 miles up the road, Joe got yet another flat. He was able to find a bike shop, however, so he got two new tires and tubes.
We spent the night in Santa Rosa at Richard and Olga's place. For some reason, Olga didn't really like me, from the moment we met. I think it's because I couldn't muster a smile when she greeted us. I guess that had something to do with the fact that I was probably a little tired from the 105-mile(!) ride from Laytonville. And my 10-minute shower bothered her, too, since that led to the soup getting cold. Next time, I guess I'll limit my shower time to 5 minutes. Geez. Screw the hot water on the aching muscles. What was I thinking? Olga ignored me all night and didn't even look me in the eye when she shook my hand to say "Goodbye" in the morning. I guess I won't be spending any more nights at Olga's place. Oh, darn! (8:45 a.m.)
I took this photo at the Petaluma Starbucks where we met my cousin Rivka. (Why didn't I get a picture of the two of us?) 50 points to the first person who correctly guesses who "Ryder" is.
Ten minutes after we crossed into Marin County, Joe's (new!) tires were at it again. Jody took the opportunity to chow down on one of his favorite ride snacks, salted peanuts (2 bags for a buck). Note to Jody: It's not 3:15 p.m. It's not your time to eat!
Here we are at 2:45 p.m., getting closer and closer to Sausalito and the Golden Gate Bridge. If you take a close look at the photo, you'll see that Jody is actually taking a sip from his water bottle. Go figure.
This isn't the greatest picture in the world, but it's still worth including here because it shows the first glimpse I got of San Francisco! At that moment, I thought to myself, "I can't believe I've just ridden my bike from Vancouver all the way to San Francisco! Wow!"
Here I am at 3:30 p.m., riding across the Golden Gate Bridge! Crossing the Golden Gate was without a doubt one of my favorite parts of the ride.
After a pit stop at the Russian Bakery on Geary, we made our way over to the Great Highway. It's now 4:30 p.m. and we still have about 70 miles to go to our destination, Santa Cruz. Why am I smiling? I guess I must be nuts!
At least the weather was nice, as was the view!
No comments:
Post a Comment