Day 8 Fabulous day in a fabulous town

June 14, 2009

Sausalito to San Mateo

Oh what a beautiful day this was!

Blue sky with puffy clouds, warm, lightish breezes, sailboats cavorting on the bay, big wide grins on the faces of tourists from every country on the planet, and San Francisco in all her glory. One of those days that remind you why you live here.

Before I even left my sister's though, we had a couple of tweets from relatives who were enjoying cupcakes that minute. Seems like we were still falling down in that department. Things were to change today, though we didn't know it yet.

View from my sister's road. Sausalito harbor, with Bay Bridge in the distance. Also note how steep it was. Declined to ride up it the day before; laid on the brakes on the way down this morning.

The gorgeous weather helped leaven the pain of leaving Sausalito. Short steep hills that do in recumbent riders, plus narrow lanes with no shoulder and lots of clueless tourists driving or riding rented bikes. But luckily the new me, who is not in a hurry, has no compunction about pulling off into side streets to catch her breath and let the clueless ones roll by.

Bridgeway in Sausalito. Like to live on that hillside? Got a spare few mill?

Once over the hill from Sausalito, I dropped in to Fort Baker, a post-to-park conversion now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It sits on the water just inside the Golden Gate, both the geographical feature and the bridge feature. When I used to ride here a lot from SF 20-30 years ago, it was still owned by the Army and pretty much derelict. I liked poking around among the old buildings, checking out the little details such as brick arches over windows of the old stables. Now it's been restored. One of the things NPS has been doing to keep these urban parks going is partnerships with private or non-profit organizations. There's a discovery museum, institute, and lodge now there, which all helped pay for the restoration. It's another piece of the legacy left by Brian O'Neill, the superintendent of GGNRA, who recently died from surgical complications. His passing is a real loss for the area.

The old parade ground and officers' housing in Fort Baker. Now the Cavallo Point Lodge.

Those concrete lumps on top of the ridge are one of the batteries remaining from when Ft Baker was an active military base. No shots were ever fired in anger.

The Golden Gate Bridge from Ft Baker. I have to climb up to there from here.

After re-admiring the view of the GG bridge and SF from the waterside of Ft Baker, it was a bit of a climb up to the level of the bridge, but no hurry, right? Got up to the bike entrance, which is the west side on weekends and holidays, and there was a traffic jam. Everyone who made it across the bridge had to stop and catch their breath and admire the view of whence they came. Lots of tourists rent bikes in SF. There must be a route to Sausalito or Tiburon which hooks them up to the ferries back to the city because they sure wouldn't want to deal with the hills on a round trip.

See the cyclists start the climb up to the bridge deck.

The bike lane on the west side of the Golden Gate Bridge, looking south towards San Francisco.

Here is the Pacific Ocean out the Golden Gate from the middle of the bridge.

The bike traffic on the bridge was pretty bad. This bike rental business has exploded. I didn't find it so bad for my type of riding, but if you're a hammerhead trying to make time, it's dangerous. For the hammerhead and for the tourists.

To make matters worse, on the SF side of the bridge, where there are narrow curvy trails for cyclists and pedestrians to exit the bridge and get to the surrounding roads and trails, was also the convergence of the run portion of the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon.

Once out of that mess, I stopped for the money shot of the bridge. Lots of tourists there too. I heard 5 different languages in the 5 minutes I was there. I did my good deed of the day by offering to take a photo for a couple with the bridge in the background. She was from Holland, he was from Italy. He also had questions about how to call back home - he kept getting messages he didn't understand. Translation skills used again!

Being at the Golden Gate Bridge was a shared experience.

From there it was down the Crissy Field, another GGNRA post-to-park conversion. When I lived in the city, I'd jog or cycle from the Marina Green along the water out to Fort Point. Crissy Field was still Army at the time and mostly asphalt and chain link fence, with drifting sand from the beach. Now it's a beautiful destination, with a restored grass landing field (although with native bunch grasses, not so good for landing your biplane), restored tidal lagoon, and repurposed buildings (the old commissary is a huge sporting goods store, which left the signs for Produce, Meats, etc., up on the walls).

SF did an art installation at Crissy Field a few months ago. Local artists created a globe with different environmental themes. This is one of them . . .

... and this is another one done by our artist friend Carrie Nardello, called Flower Power, about preserving green spaces.

MBW and I connected at Crissy Field. She'd gotten stuck in traffic near the Marina Green - whaddya know, the Escape from Alcatraz finish line was at the green! She just got off the main street and found a place to park - amongst all the cars of the participants in Escape from Alcatraz.

Our next scheduled visit was with friend Jan. She suggested a place on Chestnut Street in the Marina district. We rode over there. Found the place, then rolled up onto the sidewalk almost right into Jan, who was standing there looking for us. Surprise! Sweet Jan brought us a couple of cupcakes from Kara's, one of the better cupcakeries in the Bay Area.

Our dear friend Jan, who supplied us fabulous cupcakes from Kara's.

After a great lunch and visit with Jan, we were off along the waterfront again to Fort Mason, where MBW and I parted for the rest of the day. MBW tootled around back towards Crissy Field for a hour or so, while I went up and over a hill to Fisherman's Wharf. It's a tourist trap of the first water. When I lived in the city, my brother and I used to go down there from our place in Pacific Heights on a weekend just to rub elbows with real Americans.

More crazy rental bicyclists around the wharf. In fact, I followed two idiots riding the wrong way down a one way street for a couple of blocks until I came to my senses and got on a street going my way.

The new and the old cargo movers at Fisherman's Wharf. The container ship was probably on its way to Oakland, across the bay (see crane photo, day 2). The historic ships are part of the Hyde Street Pier.

Once you get south of the wharf it's the Embarcadero, which thanks to the 1989 earthquake is now a lovely boulevard - no more double-decker freeway to nowhere any more, obstructing the waterfront. There's a nice wide sidewalk (in addition to bike lanes in the roadway) called Herb Caen Way (a beloved Chronicle columnist) with quotes from famous San Franciscans. Goes right along the water and the piers. On this day with the beautiful blue skies it was another stunning vista.

Some great art along the Embarcadero: this is from Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, called Cupid's Span.

At the end of the Embarcadero is AT&T Park, where the SF Giants play their baseball games. Home game today. Made it in time to hear the last 2 outs of the game. There's a port walk along the back of the park where you can look in to see the game. A couple of months ago, during an event called Sunday Streets, I rode up and down the Embarcadero (closed to vehicle traffic for a few hours); the park was open so you could run the bases. Or walk them, as the case may be.

A blurry view of the end of the Giants baseball game through the Port Walk at AT&T Park. You can see the umps if you enlarge.

I flowed with the departing ballpark traffic through what's left of the industrial waterfront of SF, then rode through Hunters Point / Bayview section of town. I wasn't looking forward to this part of my route because it's not a great part of the city. I was debating exactly how to go, but in the end I followed the route as mapped out on the SF Bicycle Coalition map. Turned out to be a great ride. A couple of uphills, but this is San Francisco after all. Typical SF houses, quiet Sunday afternoon.

As I was cresting one hill in Bayview, a boy of about 9 waiting at a bus stop watched me pedal towards him. As I got closer, he asked me, "Where you work at?" The question threw me. I said that right now I was a tourist and I was heading home. He grunted at that. A minute later I realized he asked that question because of the dayglo utility vest I wear for visibility. Looks like any common worker's visibility vest, so seeing it on a cyclist didn't make sense to him. I wished I'd stopped to chat with him a minute more to explain what I was really doing.

The route took me past another SF sports landmark, the home of the 49ers at Candlestick Point. By that point it was time to check in with MBW. I used the speed dial on my phone but who can see the screen in broad daylight with sunglasses on? So I ended up calling work by mistake and talking to my boss. He said he was enjoying the online journal and asked if I was sure I'd be at work on Tuesday. I said yes, nice to talk you, see ya. Then I got through to MBW. She'd had a great time at Crissy Field and was now stuck in Sunday freeway traffic. After a little back and forth it was decided just to meet in San Mateo.

Continuing our theme of obstructed views of professional sporting sites, here's the stadium formerly known as Candlestick Park, where the 49ers play.

At a subsequent pit stop at a coffee shop, a gent waiting on line with me for the restroom asked if my type of bike was stable to ride. Why yes it is. Or I wouldn't be on it.

Up and over the shoulder of San Bruno Mtn - or, more like, the toes. I was cranking along on the route now. Getting tired but really wanting to finish. The route on my old map took me to a side street; when I saw it meant another short steep uphill, I said, no no no not any more of those today I've had it. I just shifted over to the next street down and ended up enjoying downtown Millbrae, where I'd never been before. Another turn showed me a humongous bridge to go up and over the railroad tracks, and I said no no no not any more of those today and I rode along El Camino Real, which is not normally a good place to ride. But late on a quiet Sunday afternoon, no problem.

Cities and towns up and down California used to have these arches at the entrances to their main streets. My favorite is Modesto's, which is "Water Wealth Contentment Health."

Brisbane, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae, Burlingame, and finally San Mateo. My route took me right into Central Park. Took me 10 minutes of riding around to figure out how to get out of the park to the right street. On my way out an elderly couple, not exactly spry, saw me coming down the path. They separated and each carefully stepped up a curb onto the grass to get out of my way. "Yes, I'm a danger to everyone!" I said as I passed.

Finally finally finally I was there. MBW and my brother Patrick and his girlfriend Laurie all welcomed me. Got stuffed to the gills by Pat and Laur, including - wait for it - cupcakes! We had a good visit.

Finally made it to San Mateo to see my brother and his girlfriend. They fed me and MBW, and also gave us cupcakes.

This night we spent at home, 20 minutes away.

Read MBW's blog for her take on today.

Today's ride: 40 miles (64 km)
Total: 240 miles (386 km)

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