Quite the adventure and I'm glad someone found your keys ! great pictures and write-up
On Wednesday, August 30, 2017 at 8:41:58 PM UTC-5, christian poppell wrote: > > Originally titled this as "Adventures in Single Speeding" but I'm not > really sure if single speed counts as I have at least three speeds. They're > just not super accessible while underway. Until I think of another term > I'll call it single speeding. Also, the account is very San Francisco > specific but I've tried to describe it the best that I could. > > I was off the bike for about a week while visiting family in Florida. I > did get in a short ride that amounted to 8 miles and about 100' elevation > crossing two bridges. When I got back to California I decided to ride the > Quickbeam to the top of Mt Tam via railroad grade, then take Coast View > down to Muir Beach for a late lunch. From there I could take the headlands > dirt or the paved road depending on how I was feeling. > > I got a late start Saturday morning. Ate a bigish breakfast and wrote a > few post cards. Swung through the post office on my way to bart and got > stamps to mail my cards. The BART ride was uneventful and I arrived at > Embarcadero station relatively quickly. I took my normal route through the > city along Embarcadero, branching off at North Point then over the hill to > Fort Mason. I Stopped at the Safeway in the Marina to get some snacks: > bananas, bars, cookie, and some cornbread. When I was leaving a woman with > a slight accent asked me if the way she locked her bicycle looked good to > me. I showed her the Sheldon way of locking (through the rear wheel between > the rear triangle) and we began talking. Her name was Marta and she is from > Barcelona visiting for a week. We talked about politics and other world > events for about two hours. Eventually we parted ways and I headed out > along Crissy field up to the bike path where there were swarms of tourists > on rental bicycles. I saw only one quick altercation where a road cyclist > was chirping at the tourists to get the F out of the way. > > After a slow bridge crossing I dipped down in to Sausalito. I had to > gently tell a tourist not to use their phone while riding. It was really > dangerous moving through Sausalito. Lots of inattentive inexperienced > riders with heavy cross winds in the road. I was glad to get out of there. > > Fighting a slight headwind, I eventually made it to Mill Valley and on to > Old Railroad Grade. I really wasn’t feeling too great on the ride up. I'm > not sure if it was the week off the bike or lack of food. I felt pretty > gassed. I stopped along the side less than halfway up and ate. After that I > felt a little better, but the whole ride up to West Point inn I had to push > myself. After the inn I was passed by a guy who was either riding an e-MTB > or he was the strongest rider I had ever seen. I’m fairly certain it was > the former but I didn’t see him again to ask. Eventually I got into a > rhythm near the top. I spoke to a guy with a nice Steve Rex road bike with > an older Campagnolo ergo group. Said he had it since the late 90's and > enjoyed it very much. It looked like a great bike. > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VY48BSN4XaQ/WadnXArb1SI/AAAAAAAAA4E/e7StqAJRId4K-IjjwMrEvaoeDultNtk0QCL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_3636.JPG> > > *Quickbeam at the top of Mt T**amalpais* > > Before heading downhill I switched into my freewheel and pumped up my rear > tire a bit to avoid pinch flats. I was cruising down and boosting off some > of the little berms on railroad grade. The last one I hit a little sideways > and almost lost it on the landing. Fun stuff. > > Coasted past West Point Inn and down to Pantoll campground. At the > intersection I met a guy named Gary who has ridden in the area for a while. > He was physics professor that was living in China. His son is also in > physics and did his PhD in fluid dynamics. We talked for about an hour or > so about the Bay Area and riding. > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y_5NAV-W3vY/WadnXAShRII/AAAAAAAAA4E/Huhj_T267qks9r3klElRy-uGkyQTG7ipgCL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_3638.JPG> > > *taken from the picnic table, SUPER FUN!* > > I made it to the Coast View Trail in a heavy fog and light rain. Coast > View is one of my favorite rides in the area. It's not so steep that you're > constantly braking hard and the trail is a good mix of easy and > semi-technical riding, especially on a road bike with larger tires. I > pushed myself to go a little faster than normal on the trail as I felt that > there weren’t any others using the trail at the later hour (around 6:30pm). > Turns out I was right and I hadn’t seen anyone coming the opposite > direction since I left the top of Mt. Tam. I rattled my teeth out on the > bumpy sections and bunny hopped the water gates. I had a lot of fun and > even said it out loud a few times that the trail was awesome! > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gBXCANZovCU/WadnXKFFo-I/AAAAAAAAA4E/t1pYOq3YSSUlMZOPutGTRHdOerYlLLmygCL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_3640.JPG> > > *Gate at the base of the trail* > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gGVsG-5FB50/WadnXDApV3I/AAAAAAAAA4E/vZhc0RQGJ9opDwetGY6b6gRf5IA1qtocwCL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_3644.JPG> > > *Doe, right hand side. Little ears sticking up.* > > > > After the gate at the base I came upon a few deer that were grazing at the > edges, we exchanged blank stares and I fiddled with my phone to grab a > picture. Once I hit Highway 1 I started thinking about the Pelican Inn and > began singing a song about bangers and mash (English name for sausage and > mashed potatoes). I made my way down the winding decent to the intersection > where Highway 1 and Muir Beach meet. At the Inn I found a wedding and a > sign saying “Closed for private event”. No bangers and no mash for me. I > was pretty bummed sitting in the Muir Beach parking lot eating half of a > piece of cornbread and cookie. Washed all that down with a little bit of > coffee and water. I hopped back on the bike and began the ride up Highway 1 > to the Miwok Trail. > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vjd8QxL3m4k/WadnXKCGHeI/AAAAAAAAA4E/_4THm9sHsjMNFv9YSu_nP5av93fVeTySACL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_3648.JPG> > > *sad Quickbeam at Muir Beach* > > > > In my hunger altered state, I decided I would take the Miwok trail back > through because I thought it would take me into Rodeo Valley but I was > mistaken and only remembered that once I was almost to Tennessee Valley. > The trail was freshly graded which removed all of the deep ruts caused by > the spring rains. It also made the trail a little sandy which wasn’t too > bad. I don’t think I’ve ever gone that fast down that section of trail > before. In general I don’t usually don’t go too fast but it was late in the > evening and there was nobody out in the dark, cold, damp fog. While riding > downhill I had a tailwind and could only hear the sound of the tires and > freewheel clicking, no chain slap, no rattles, no wind in the ears, just > hauling ass downhill and having a great time. > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-opHy3qOpkkI/WadnXPnta8I/AAAAAAAAA4E/ip3wVnnmSAcFTzzroOoujaVNW5YQYHsVQCL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_3649.JPG> > > *Freshly graded Coastal Trail dropping down to Tennessee Valley.* > > > > A bit of an uneventful ride out of Tennessee valley back to Sausalito. I > decided to grab something to eat because it was about 8:45 at night and I > was super hungry. When I stopped at the pizzeria I realized my keys were no > longer clipped to my bag. No wonder it was so quiet while I was riding > downhill. I sat in silence at the restaurant, thinking about how I could > get my keys back. Using the photos I had taken on the ride, I figured out > that the keys were somewhere on the Coast View Trail after the picnic bench > but before the road. I had hope of finding them because I have my name and > number on a brass tag if someone were to find them they could call. > > > > Leaving the restaurant I switched into lowest gear and crept along in the > dark down under the Golden Gate Bridge to Ft Baker to avoid the double hill > and late night wind on Alexander Rd. I battled the climb out of Ft Baker > up to the bridge. It was a pretty and uneventful ride across the bridge and > into the Presidio, back to Embarcadero station then BART to home. > > > > The next morning I woke up early to go look for my keys. While driving I > noticed I had a message from someone who had found them! I met them later > in the day and gave them some money for lunch. Super grateful that they > didn’t end up in the bushes where they couldn’t be seen! > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cbZzXHPmS_I/WadnXN3avcI/AAAAAAAAA4E/RmW3AHTYRAcnb-YYKgMwt9sv8yGjqJzCQCL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_3646.JPG> > > *Bike as outfitted for the ride.* > > > Christian > > Berkeley, CA > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
