Vacation Bikers

At tri club practice the other night, Coach Tequila mentioned that the path along Lake Tahoe is one of the worst for serious bikers. Apparently there are a lot of tourists looking around who don't know the rules of the road, and they pretty much set up perfect traps for accidents.

"Look, honey, the lake!"

"Oh sweetheart, it's gorgeous. Let's set up the camera to take a picture of us right here [at this blind corner that a Postal Service jersey'ed dude who shaves his legs will be coming up on at 24 mph in approximately 2 minutes, which is the precise moment we say "Cheese!" and only a split second before he performs an endo into our tripod - wrecking himself, his $7000 bike, and our $8000 Nikon]."

I can see how Tahoe would be a bad place for serious bikers to ride regularly. A close second for Most Dangerous Biking Location in the USA has to be the bike path along the entrance to The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

A couple weeks ago Mr. Blueberry Pancakes and I went out to the bay area for a long weekend to celebrate our anniversary. (One YEAR!! Can you believe it?!?) That Saturday morning after a big breakfast we thought it would be nice to burn off some calories. Tricky really wanted to take me over the Golden Gate into Sausalito and go for a ferry ride back. Well, lo and behold, in San Francisco you can rent bikes to ride around town and across the bridge and they give you a ferry ticket for the return! What a *perfect* way to spend the anniversary of our first date, which had also been a bike ride!

So off we went to find a bike rental place, and within an hour we had bikes, helmets, maps and return ferry tickets. It was a beautiful day. Sunshine, perfect temperature, birds all around... the bike trail went along the water up to the bridge. The bridge itself was a couple miles away and very fogged in, but that just added to the San Francisco-ness of it all. We were on bikes and we were having the greatest time! Ghirardelli Square, the piers, marinas, side markets - what an experience!

After about an hour we abruptly went from the sun into the fog as we came to the stretch of trail approaching the bridge. There were hordes of bikers here. There were some crazy zig-zags and blind corners on the trail, with a lot of people stopped in bad places. There was also a lot of yelling, in all different languages. Most of the riders on the path were tourists (like us) who had never been there, but there were also a few highly agitated racing-jersey-biker types - and it was those racing biker types doing most of the yelling. No disrespect to them, as I have been on their side of the bridge (so to speak) but yelling and bullying their way through the crowds was certainly NOT helping the problem. This was not the Tour de France, it was the Golden Gate bike trail, one of the most touristy spots in the USA. A few clueless riders on cruiser bikes are to be expected and racer types should be prepared to avoid them. Luckily Tricky and I were able to navigate the madness pretty quickly and get through the masses and on our way over the bridge.

After the Five Minute Frenzy, we were on the bridge and everything melted away. Everything except for the fog, that is - I could barely see Tricky through it despite being right behind him! We did stop at a bridge tower base for this super cool foggy photo, and someone was nice enough to take a picture of the two of us along the way as well. At the end of the bridge the fog gave way to a gorgeous view of the boats in the bay on the Sausalito side. We wound down a road lined with wildflowers under the most beautiful of blue skies. Riding into Sausalito was a dream I hope to relive (in my memory and in physical presence) throughout my life.

So despite the insanity trying to get on the bridge, that vacation bike ride was without a doubt one of the best things I've ever done in my life. If you ever get the opportunity to ride your bike across the Golden Gate, TAKE IT. In fact, plan a trip to San Francisco for the sole purpose of doing this ride. Give yourself 5 or 6 hours, more if you want to enjoy time walking around shopping and touristing in Sausalito. There are a number of bike companies that offer the bike + ferry package, and you can go at your own pace. The ride itself took less than 3 hours, and we went around San Francisco, too, before getting on the bridge.

Just be very careful when you, the Vacation Biker, are getting on the bridge, and have respect for all the riders around you!

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Note: Tricky and I used Blazing Saddles to outfit ourselves for our San Francisco biking adventure. They were great! www.blazingsaddles.com