Cycling around the Bay

The weather was kind enough to clear up this afternoon, which meant that I had the perfect opportunity to take my hired bicycle out for a big ride. Having recovered sufficiently from my accident this morning, I felt up to a ride around the bay. From the Green Tortoise, I rode down to the Embarcadero (the road that hugs the northern shoreline of the city-slash-peninsula), and went west along it, until I reached the Golden Gate Bridge. I then rode over the bridge, cruised down to the lovely town of Sausalito, and continued all the way around the bay, to Tiburón, from where I caught a ferry back to SF's Embarcadero.

Stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge on this ride.

The route that I took — the San Francisco to Tiburón route — is the most popular bike route in the Bay Area, and it's also a proper, sealed, dedicated bike track pretty much all the way. In fact, this route would have to be the best-signposted, the best-designed, and the most user-friendly bike track that I've ever ridden on. The way is so ridiculously well-marked, that it actually gets a bit boring at times, simply because there's absolutely zero navigational challenge, or chance of getting lost. That is, it would get boring, if the scenery wasn't so unbelievably spectacular.

All up, this afternoon's ride took me about 2.5 hours in riding time, and then about 20 minutes in getting the ferry back across the bay (by the way, the ferry has bike racks!). The view of the bridge from the Embarcadero (as well as the view while on the bridge itself) was the most spectacular scenery, but the scenery was nothing short of visually orgasmic the whole way through. There's something about the bay, the bridge, and the mountains around here: they have a divine sort of beauty, as though you're looking at the geography of heaven itself.

Me on the Embarcadero.

The only really unfortunate thing was that I forgot my camera. But this wasn't so bad after all, because on my trip the next day, I covered part of today's route, and I took plenty of photos. All the photos in this blog post are actually from the next day's trip. Forgetting my camera also allowed me to appreciate the beauty more fully, and to get the ride done faster and more efficiently. And it meant that I had no excuse for not coming back the next day and riding around here again. Always good to be able to motivate yourself like that, especially when you're as lazy as I am.