Everyday for 7 Weeks–Day 37–Fort Bragg to San Francisco

We had originally thought we would ride down CA1 to San Francisco. We were having so much fun with Liz and Tony we left later than we needed to, so we went for a ride with Liz instead. I think it all worked out for the best.

Tony showing us one of his toys

 

Fits my wife nicely, but she didn’t ride it.

Tasty breakfast:

After making us a tasty breakfast, Liz took us to some of her favorite spots nearby to look at the ocean.

 

She is so spoiled to have such great views minutes from her house.

The fog started to move in, so we set off into the hills and left the coast. The road was newly repaved and was very enjoyable to ride.

 

Posing for a pic with Liz:

We stopped for a quick snack in Boonville before we had to part ways. We rode east on 128 while Liz went back west. 128 was a great rode as it climbed up and around the canyons. Several miles before 128 and 101 connect, a motorcyclist going the other way waved at us rather strangely. It looked like he was giving us the “turn around signal” it didn’t make any sense. 15 miles later, we understood as traffic stopped. There we sat on a small county two-lane road with cars as far as we could see. I flagged down some of the cars coming at us. They said there was a tree blocking the road and it would be several more hours to remove it. I was tempted to try and ride around it like I did in PA last year, but instead turned around.

There aren’t many roads in that part of CA because of all the canyons. We ended up making a 50 mile detour that took about 2.5 hours with all the traffic. The road was enjoyable to ride, but we had dinner plans in San Francisco to get to. Our short 168 mile ride turned into 223 miles after the detour.

We eventually made it to 101 and flew along with the traffic until we reached the city. We rode across the Golden Gate Bridge which was fun. I’ve been across it several time, but never on a bike. I recommend going on a motorcycle (or walking). The toll was $6 and then we were in San Francisco. Tony’s warning over breakfast to not burn out my clutch on the hills was lingering in the back of my brain as we approached Embarcadero.

The street kept getting steeper and steeper. This was the SF I remember! Rather than race up the hill, I slowly putted up in first gear (no clutch). The plan was to ride slowly up, so the traffic in front was out of the way by the time I hit the stop sign, so I could stop on the flat part. It worked well until the last two stops. They were very steep and I needed both feet down to hold the bike while my right hand worked the throttle and the front brake. At one point, the front slipped a bit because there wasn’t enough weight on it. I had to put a foot on the rear brake as well. A clever balancing act. I couldn’t have done it on any other bike I own except for maybe the Super9 (Ural excluded).

We arrived at our friend’s house in time for dinner and set out to enjoy San Francisco at night.

Thanks again Liz and Tony! We had a great time with you both.

 

Day 37 Full Flickr Album

 

Today’s Route:

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