Daily Mileage: 73.13
Daily Climb: 7064'
Total Mileage: 817.4
Total Climb: 95425'
So 12 days and 800+ miles later we are in San Francisco. The last day was definitely no cake walk however. I had some trouble sleeping the night before, partly because of the cramped conditions (Charlie stole my sleeping bag) and partly because of nervous anticipation. Right when we got on the road my hamstring started acting up. I was legitimately worried Todd was going to have to pull me the last leg, but after an hour or so of riding the pain had eased. Perhaps it was just the adrenaline of being so close to home.
Here we are about to embark on our grand finale.
Once through the quaint Bodega Bay the road bends out alongside the town's namesake.
Then turns immediately inland through Valley Ford.
As you can imagine, the temperature is much higher when you're not along the water. It wasn't too bad at this point in the day, but later on we were definitely missing the cool ocean breeze. Over two mid size hills was the town of Tomales, where we stopped for a break. Todd remarked on how he liked the old western style towns much better than the newer developments.
Outside of down the road descends back to a creek/river.
Before opening up into Tomales Bay.
The road along the bay is an endless series of rolling hills. I was really hating life at points in this section of the ride. We passed by the Hog Island Oyster Co., which is supposed to be good.
I've only been to the Tomales Bay Oyster farm, but may try to make it back here at some point this summer.
We stopped for lunch in Point Reyes Station. There wasn't a whole lot going on, though we did hear some locals complaining about all the oyster tourists. I guess technically we may have fallen into that category. Just a ways down the road lay Samuel P. Taylor State Park. After a short climb and descent we found ourselves on a bike trail.
It was at time spotty, but the shade was a welcome respite from the now intense sun. For the second time that day we passed a curious bike sign.
Notice some clever tourer/graffito has added panniers, bottles, and what seems to be a horn. On what we thought was the last hill that remained between us and home Todd experienced our first chain derailing. When we stopped in Fairfax for milkshakes he was still bearing signs of the ordeal.
I must not have been watching close enough to see how he go the chain back on using his face.
The next section of the ride was quite nice. Quiet Marin streets with bike lanes. It looked like there's even a numbered bike highway system around the area. We somewhat regrettably followed the map rather than the book through Corte Madera, which had us go over an unexpected hill. Though at the top we got our first glimpse of our goal.
After a quick pit stop in Sausalito we found ourselves at the foot of the Golden Gate.
Decent view of Baker Beach on the way over, despite the gale force winds.
And finally, feet on solid ground in San Francisco.
I had planned for us to ride down along Crissy Field, but there was no access from the North. We ended up meandering through the Presidio.
Until at least, we found ourselves at The Finish!
A small crowd of friends and family awaited us with noisemakers and confetti poppers.
Sara had planned a little get together for us at Nick Crispy Tacos, just down the street from our house.
We had plenty of stories to share over beer and mexican.
My guess is Todd is explaining how Terrifying descending out of Fort Ross was.
Our Dad and stepmom Mary showed up towards the tail end.
Todd and I were ear to ear all night. There really is no place like home.
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