Bike Ride Across the Golden Gate

Several of the following posts will be some of my bicycling history.

August 2006 found us in San Francisco for Shaklee's 50th Anniversary International Convention. After spending 4 days at the convention along with 10,000 other people and having a grand time (entertainment for the Saturday evening gala event was Earth, Wind and Fire), we spent another 4 days touring NAPA, the coast down to Santa Cruz, and San Francisco. The highlight for me was riding a bicycle across the Golden Gate Bridge. We left the Fisherman's Wharf area and rode along the bay to the GGB approach trail, crossed the bridge (that is Debbie and me after we made it across) and coasted most of the way to Sausalito. The bridge is relatively flat so is not difficult to ride across.

An interesting feature of the bridge is weekends finds one side reserved for foot traffic and one side for bicycles. We rode into Sausalito where we enjoyed a lunch at a restaurant on the bay, toured the area a bit but did not get to go to the Muir Woods National Monument which is 100 years old in 2008. http://www.nps.gov/muwo/upload/unigrid-muwo.pdf

We returned via ferry which cruised by Alcatraz Island, home of the famous Alcatraz Triathlon each year (Dig, Dash & Dive). The first person to make it to the mainland is the winner if they survive the swim.

I highly recommend the Blazing Saddles Bike Rental operation near Fisherman's Wharf http://www.blazingsaddles.com/. We rented bikes and joined a guided tour with what I felt were reasonable rates and knowledgeable guides. Following that trip, we went to NAPA Valley with friends Bud and Debbie Garrison to spend the night at their time share (that is a whole nuther story). The next day, we all drove the coastal highway to Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz and returned. The Garrisons dropped us off at our motel in San Francisco and we spent the next few days doing walking tours of the city. More to come.