Other times, you think it'll be cake, but no matter which gear you're in, the 'apparent lack of incline' kills you. Sometimes, it ends up looking worse than it its. You can't judge how much going up an incline is going to hurt. Cycling is SF is really fun but there are really bizarre things that happen. We drove back down the western side of the Prisidio and into GGP. Tara almost collided with one such person, not on our fault, but the tourist just wasnt paying attention! Needless to say, the ride back was scary and we were both relieved to have survived it. Tourists that dont speak english, tourists that are trying to get their WHOLE FREAKING FAMILY into the photo, so they bend back, and step into the cycling area, where people are riding in both directions. Tourists on shitty rental bikes, clearly with no experience as they frantically pedal to get over the center of the bridge. So, we're headed back over the bridge, and now, its 245, 300. I think as long as there are dedicated lanes for bikes, street cycling isn't so dangerous nor scary as some of the roads i have to drive up or down for a distance of ONE block to arrive at a bike lane that doesn't connect to its path. We stopped twice for a breather, the bike path between GGB and Sausalito is mostly cement, but the lane isn't very wide compared to city lanes with barrows (bike arrows).Īnd we're riding right next to cars. The ride back up to the bridge was pretty solid. After breakfast we hit up the local ice cream shop and walked along the rocks facing the Bay. You know what comes after you coast downhill right? Well, you dont exactly coast UPHILL. I got a little red from eating breakfast on a patio at a beach-side diner. The sun was a scorcher down there, even though it was still pretty chilly. Sausalito is less than a mile north of the bridge, so we hopped back on our bikes and drove 450 feet downhill into the bustling Saturday morning. We estimted we had only gone about 6 miles, and both of us had enough energy to keep going. The end of the bridge landed us in Marin, where we stopped for some water and conversation. The bridge is one mile long, with little viewing areas for people to pause and sightsee. So we rode our bikes over, going at a moderate to slow pace. There were too many people walking and too many cyclists flying past us, if we walked the bikes, we would be causing more of a traffic jam. Once we got to the pathway, it appeared completely ridiculous to try and walk our bikes. Not thrilled with that, we figured we could just walk our bikes over, so we wouldn't collide with pedestrians. When we got to the bridge, we found out the dedicated cycling lane hadīeen closed for 3 months, so we had to ride over on the pedestrian side of the bridge. The eastern lane is separated by a rail for pedestrians going in both directions. There are 6 or 7 lanes for cars in the middle of the bridge. The west-most lane is physically separated by a rail, and is for cyclists travelling in both directions. The Golden Gate Bridge is has divided lanes for cars, cyclists and pedestrians. We took bike route 65 up Arguello Ave into the Prisidio (a huge park in the northwest corner of SF). I met up with her at 10am at the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park (3 blocks from my apartment).
(Quick Reminder - Click on any picture for a slideshow!)Last weekend my friend Tara and I made a date to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge, something neither of us has done before.