Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge

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What better way to spend a Saturday than hopping on a bicycle and peddling your way about town?

Jeremy and I packed up left-over homemade pizza and lemon cake and embarked on what turned out to be an almost 30 mile bike ride from the heart of San Francisco's downtown.

First off, I have to say the entire San Francisco Bay Area is more with-it than I imagined when we moved here. With a population upwards of 800,000 people it is remarkable how many are accustomed to sharing lanes with cyclists and the friendly way they encourage you on.

Anyways, back to the excursion: We exited public transport at the Embarcadero and headed north in the bike lane. Something about all the boats drew us for our first stop, somewhere near Pier 39. It turns out that pier 39 has a large number of visiting Zalophus californianus a.k.a. California Sea Lions! They were barking up a storm, frolicking in the water and generally putting on an entertaining show without any influence from the crowd watching nearby. Leaving the boisterous pinnipeds with smiles on our faces, we continued and were rewarded by the clear day. A lovely view of Alcatraz Island and the notorious Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Our lunch was enjoyed on a beach just beneath the bridge where we had an uninterrupted view of the upcoming Marin Headlands as well as heaps of toddlers and dogs playing on the sandy shores. People watching was great...well who am I kidding, we were really only watching all the pups running about!

CROSSING THE BRIDGE

While pedestrians and cyclists are allowed on the right-hand side (if a car was going north) of the bridge, only cyclists are allowed on the left-hand side, something we painstakingly learned as it took us much longer than expected. But every cloud has a silver lining, right? That meant we had even more time to soak in the sights of the city amidst the fog and the gleaming water below...which was also filled with several frisky sea lions!

Eventually we got to the other side and put our legs to the test: Climbing up Conzelmen Road. While the views are incredible the entire way up the pain of your burning thighs and dry throat were not all that pleasant 😊 Maybe once this Florida girl gets used to hills she will really start to enjoy going up? Does that really happen?!?

Up, up and farther up we peddled until reaching a spot where the road became "one-way"...downhill and FAST. Jeremy took off without much hesitation but I on the other hand could not fathom how a person on wheels would want to pummel down this incredibly steep road, winding along a thin railway and over looking sheer cliffs?? So I walked a bit and am not ashamed for that. Eventually, though, I did muster up some courage and set off to feel the wind on my face; it was exhilarating! We continued meandering through the roads until Point Bonita where the turn-around was, and started the loop back to the city. The culmination of our Marin ride was another downhill flying experience through a tunnel! Great way to be spit back out into the city traffic and final crossing of the bridge (this time in the cyclists’ only lane)!

While we had returned to the city our ride was not yet over. Jeremy had wanted to meet up with a buddy downtown, so we navigated our way across busy intersections, quaint houses, luscious parks and several monstrous hills until we finally arrived. Jeremy stayed for a beer but I opted out and headed home before my legs decided they were going to quit doing what I asked. (Later on we learned about the San Francisco Wiggle, which allows cyclists to cross the city and avoid the biggest hills!)

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