A good first day, cool morning, warm afternoon with mostly a tailwind to help our under-conditioned bodies make this 62 mile ride.
We left our hotel (and the German and Italian tour groups that swarmed like bees and the faulty elevator) around 8:15. We had a good down day and visit to San Francisco but now it’s time to head back home.
We could have taken the ferry to Vallejo (Len’s secret wish, well not so secret) but to me, missing a chance to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and through Sausalito was well worth the 46 miles it took to get to Vallejo.
Len starts a fight with a local Hispanic gang that were just trying to fish. He may be a problem on this trip. No one was hurt and Len actually got his picture taken (not a mugshot).
A big portion of the ride today followed I-80 or I-580 to Fairfield. The rec-paths were usually nice but the sound of traffic became soul sucking.
About noon we stopped for a little snack and rest on a quiet and scenic trail through the Point Pinole Regional Shoreline along San Pablo Bay, a northern extension of the San Francisco Bay. We would soon be leaving the flatlands of the greater bay area.
In Vallejo around 3pm (the ferry would have had us here by 10am Len reminded me) I needed a beer and to get off the fricking bike for a bit. The Taqueria liquor license required I by food (or did it really?) so I sampled a wonderful chicken taco with my even more wonderful beer. Len slept or went into a coma, hard to say which one, while I drank. I think he might have been tired.
The little break in Vallejo gave us fresher legs and the will to live for our last 17 miles and some of the hardest climbs of the day into Fairfield. We showered, moaned, walked to a great dinner while moaning, and then headed back to crash for the night. Not a bad first day.
You are making me want to tour again.
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