Final Destination - Part II

Bicycling towards Sausalito

After meeting up with Leo at the Village Peddler, I continued on towards San Francisco.  Even though it was only 20 km away, it was taking longer to ride it as I was riding in the City.  I read the directions in the 'Bicycling the Pacific Coast' book carefully, so I wouldn't get lost.
There was one section which involved a big hill.  As I was approaching the hill on a road just next to Highway 101, a local resident showed me a nicer, quieter route, which had a gradual hill.  I had bumped into him earlier in Fairfax!  He rides to work every day along this route, and it was so nice of him to show me the better route in.

A local suggested taking this quiet road

Bike route follows 101 for a bit

Everytime I was confused about the directions, I would look back at the book to make sure I was following the correct route.  Eventually, the bike path lead me to downtown Sausalito  I road through a very busy street along the ocean, I really had to watch the traffic to be safe.  I asked some locals if I was headed to the bridge, which I was.

I am going in the right direction

Downtown Sausalito

View of San Francisco from Sausalito

Pretty soon, there it was, in all it's glory!  And I was going to have a chance to ride across it on my bike.  Normally, I would be riding on the West side of the bridge during the time of day I arrived.  But as it was closed for maintenance, I had to ride on the East side with all the Tourists.  Drats!

Crossing the Golden Gate bridge was the most dangerous part of the trip.  I had to avoid hitting or being hit by all the bicycle and walking tourists!  It was like playing a really hard video game.  But I did good, I hit no one!  I wish that there was an award waiting for me at the end of the crossing, as I felt like I deserved one.

Hah!  Bicycles don't pay ANY tolls to cross the bridge.

Crossing the Golden Gate

On the other side, I turned off onto a path that would somehow take me to the hostel in Fort Mason, that I would be staying at while in San Francisco.

In San Francisco

I rode by the Presido to get to Fort Mason.  The HI hostel is located in a nice quiet spot near the bay, so you are close to the Golden Gate, and Fisherman's Warf.  You can see Alcatraz too.

On to the road to the hostel

It was so nice to make it to San Francisco, even though I had to 'cheat' a little bit during the trip.  But heh, it's my trip and if I'm tired, I do what I have to do.   If I had more time I would have perhaps hanged around towns for a bit longer to gain the needed energy back.  I feel sad that my friend Deanna, wasn't there to enjoy the moment with me.  I know though, that she would be reading my blog/tweets, so she'd be there in spirit!

It was an amazing experience, and although it was dangerous in some parts, it was well worth doing the ride.  I loved being able to ride and sleep in the Redwoods.  Also, I got to ride by some of the most spectacular scenery that I've ever seen.  I never knew what to expect every day as the landscape changed constantly.  I was also amazed at the generosity of the people, from the people who checked on me and Deanna to make sure we were alright when she was feeling under the weather, to the person who returned the $50 to me that I had lost in Brookings! I loved the cycling community that we were with while riding down, I missed that when I stayed in a hotel, or at a campsite where there were no other bicyclists.  They are a great bunch of people to hang out with, just like my fellow hikers are.

Thanks to all those too who are following me on my blog.  My blog posts about this particular adventure started out spotty, but I would like to think that they've improved during the adventure. I will post some stuff that I missed about earlier portions of the trips and some of the beautiful photos that I took on my camera.  I only took a few photos on my tablet compared to what I took on my camera!  I am already sorting through them trying to create a slideshow to show in the future.

Awesome end to the Pacific Coast Adventure!

I will be posting a bit about my time in San Francisco, as I stayed there for just under a week.  I figured that if I made all the effort to get there, I should enjoy it when I finally arrived.

And here's to many more adventures....