A "Little Story" about the Tour De Bay Area". Venturing Crew #999 just finished their first bike tour ever. Three venturers and three adults experienced the ride of a life time! Starting from San Jose we rode a short 20 miles to Fremont Bart station to San Francisco. Once on the Embarcadero we did the tourist route and explored the greatness that is the pier. Riding to the Giants stadium, then had some calm chowder at the pier and even played foose-ball at the old penny arcades. The weather couldn't be more perfect for a ride up to the Golden Gate and into Marin. The ride up to Hawk Camp proved to be difficult to some of the riders because of their skinny tires and for one advisor particular when we found out that his tire was rubbing on the inside of his rim for the whole ride up to Marin. (We were wondering why he was the slowest rider in the group.) The first day ended with us finding Hawk Camp in the dark after a handful of wrong turns. We finished with only two broken racks, two broken panniers, a exploded tire and one a very tired advisor. Great first day!
The second day we woke up to something very unexpected a clear bright day in San Francisco! We first rode down to one of the classiest streets in San Francisco, Haight Street! One of the Advisors had an old friend that lived in The Lion House near Haight Street and was willing to feed us breakfast! He was able to led us out of San Francisco into Pacifica were we instead of taking Devil's Slide, we took the infamous Planet of the Apes road. For those not familiar with the route it used to be the original road from Pacifica to Half Moon Bay. Imagine a nice paved road where over grown plants creep from all sides then all of a sudden the road break away from you and all your left with is cliffs over looking Half Moon Bay. After a long day in the saddle we finish with Straw Hat Pizza and ranch dressing. The best combination of healthy food. Finishing off a hard day in the saddle with some soccer and gymnastics on the beach. The third day we got into a groove when we rode our way down to Santa Cruz. Had a quick stop at Met with another advisor down in Davenport and had a nice paceline all the way down the the Boardwalk. We had great time hanging out at the Boardwalk playing some ultimate Frisbee and jumping into the water. Unfortunately we lost two advisors and one venturer when they had to end their trip early due to personal reason. Where we started with six we had to finish with three. The last few of us that remanded we stayed in New Brighton State Beach. That night the last two venturers learned the art of catching sand crabs! The last day we rode our way back from Santa Cruz to San Jose. Heading over the hill we were greeted with a decent down in dirt into Los Gatos. We finished up the short but interesting ride with some mexican food and Jarritos. The three riders finished the loop around the Bay Area. It's an amazing feeling to experience the same route with my students that I did just two years prior. My first time riding down the coast, my dream was to share this experience to my future students. Now after two years of teaching I get my wish. Granted that there were plenty of hardship along the way, flat tires, sore butts, broken racks, exploded panniers, the result of this trip was more than I could have expected. Seeing the growth that I had with my students was all I needed to make this trip memorable. Showing them that their world is a lot more bigger you're willing to bike just a little farther. Pictures proved it happened: Day 1- San Jose to Hawk Camp, Marin http://www.flickr.com/photos/mannyacosta/sets/72157626612228536/ Day 2 - Hawk Camp, Marin to Half Moon Bay ( Via Planet of the Apes Road) http://www.flickr.com/photos/mannyacosta/sets/72157626612344624/ Day 3 - Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz http://www.flickr.com/photos/mannyacosta/sets/72157626617024936/ Day 4 - Santa Cruz to San Jose http://www.flickr.com/photos/mannyacosta/sets/72157626617830456/ - Manny "Let's saddle up!" Acosta -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
