Bike ride

Word for the wise: Make sure your map has contour lines on it before you start out...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3010423

is what I did yesterday... it's the first time I've ever had my ears pop due to change in altitude when out on a bike ride (tick one of the 'elevation' options in the menu to the left). When I first crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, I looked up at some of the hills and decided I probably wouldn't go there, but I was seduced by the thought of seeing the redwoods - the tallest trees in the world - having decided to fly to Seattle instead of seeing more redwoods on the West Coast.

On the bright side, at least I got myself a proper map. The so-called map supplied by the cycle hire company is their brochure folded up - a cartoon elevation 'this map is not to scale' thingy with most of the roads missing. To be fair, what you are 'supposed' to do is climb up to the bridge, cross it, take a right round the coast then get the ferry back. But they really should put a disclaimer on their 'map' saying that if you want to go to Muir Woods / Muir Beach it involves significant amounts of climbing and requires a proper map to avoid getting hopelessly lost.

Rant over! I did say that I'd mention a bike shop in Sausalito in my blog for kindly oiling my chain. I'd had to get the bike rental place to tweak the brakes, put the right amount of air in the tyres etc - and had been so wrapped up with things I could spot while stationary I'd forgotten to check the drive system. Bah. However, there are several bike shops there and I'm not sure which one it was... sorry.

Mechanical and mapping niggles aside, it was a really really good day. Biking the bridge itself was... well... misty and on the way out it seemed that everyone in San Francisco had decided to do it on the same day. It was a bit like trying to navigate the towpath in Oxford on the day of a regatta. I still managed to get some decent photos through the mist, though it had turned to fog on my way back. The crosswinds were spectacular. All of this extreme weather is basically bridge-specific, though there were some strong winds as I wound my way up the valley on the way back from Muir Beach.

I wish I'd had a bit more time to spend in Muir Woods. The thing that really struck me, funnily enough, was the smell. It wasn't quite pine, but it was everywhere and really nice. I could have spent an hour there walking one of the trails they have marked out, but I didn't want to be left in a position where I was having to flay myself later on in the day to get the bike back in time. Instead, I took a detour round to Muir Beach - went up to one of the vantage points they'd used to defend the bay area int he gold rush days. Their cannons only had a two mile range, so they'd basically triangulated some positions so they could cover the whole shipping lane. Again, I wasn't able to spend that much time down on the beach itself, but the day was rwally about the journey rather than the destination.

I have to admit that the 2.5 hour ride back fromt he beach was tough. The two miles of climbing at the start saw to that, though compared to the Tour it was nothing - a mere 220 m in the space of 3.2 km, for an average gradient of 6.8%. And the descents were too long, steep, twisty and turny for me to feel confident in building up much speed - though I was passed by several cyclists on proper bikes - though none of them was overtaking cars like Cancellara was the other day when he punctured on a Pyrenean descent. I was also able to put into practice the 'look over your shoulder as you hear a car approaching' school of thought, which says that drivers leave you more room when you glance (or pretend to glance) at them. It seemed to work - the only time I felt that a driver came too close was when I was back in town and people were reticent to cross the centre line of the road even when there was nothing coming the other way.

All in all, a fantastic day and I'm not feeling too sore as I hang around in the lounge waiting for my washing to go through its paces before I get packed.