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A Different Saturday Bike Ride
Jun. 11th, 2023 01:35 pmThe past week at work was stressful (I volunteered to clean up a must-close-now investigation report for an investigator who was out on vacation, which involved multiple rounds of high-stress revisions, plus other stress factors). So I decided that I needed a break from routine on Saturday and decided, rather than doing my usual bike ride to Walnut Creek and back, I'd bike in San Francisco instead.
My usual SF "long bike ride" starts at the Ferry Building (convenient for grabbing breakfast first), then goes along the Embarcadero, past Fisherman's Wharf, along the Marina, along Crissy Field, up to the Golden Gate Bridge, across the bridge, then turn around and the same back.
The bike ride is roughly the same mileage as my Walnut Creek ride, but while my usual ride is almost all on recreation trails, about a quarter of the SF route is on city streets (though mostly with bike lanes). Both are mostly level, but the bit going up from Crissy Field to the bridge abutment is steep enough that when I couldn't convince my bike to go into its lowest gear, I got off and walked partway.
But what made this ride challenging were the following. BART was doing maintenance on the leg between Orinda and Rockridge (the tunnel section) so they were running a bus bridge. This meant carrying my bike down a long flight of stairs, wrestling it into the bus bike rack, then at the other end ignoring usual etiquette and taking the bike up the escalator. Because, you see, they've finally integrated the station elevators into the fare gate system, so instead of tagging in a regular gate, then exiting without tagging and going to the elevator, now the elevator has its own fare gate to tag in/out. But the bus bridge skips the tag in/out, so if I'd used the elevator, I'd have messed up the record of my fare.
Anyway, continue on from Rockridge to Embarcadero (where it was very nice to have the elevator system rationalized). At which point I discover that they're staging the SF Juneteenth parade at that end of Market St. Fortunately the parade was only just starting to stage, so the extra crowds weren't too bad.
Picked up a pastry for breakfast at the Farmer's Market then headed off along the Embarcadero. I think most bicyclists would prefer to avoid going straight through the Fishermans Wharf tourist district, but I considered it part of the fun. Took a jog uphill at the Ghirardelli site to avoid the steep ramp from Aquatic Cover to Fort Mason then a nice slope down through Fort Mason from the SE corner.
There's a really lovely wide rec path with bicycle lanes along Marina Blvd, at which point I discovered that that's where they were staging for the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. (I really should research what's going on when I'm planning these rides -- but it was much more impulse than plan.) The actual triathlon was today, not yesterday, which is a good thing because I would have been completely blocked from my planned route. But I didn't know any of that when I headed off on Saturday.
After cruising through Crissy Field, there's a steep bit going up toward the bridge and my bike decided that, although it was perfectly happy going into the lowest gear at any other time, it just wasn't going to oblige when I had a genuine hill, so I ended up walking the steepest part. Across the bridge and back, dodging tourists on rental bikes, then a brief pause at the southern end again to rest and sightsee. Did the usual "be kind to tourists" thing and took group photos for people.
Going back was pretty much the same in reverse, except I took the sharp grade down to Aquatic Cove since it was down this time. Stopped at Fisherman's Wharf to have some crab for lunch, then back along to the Ferry Building where I did a bit of shopping, though most of the produce stands were packing up by then.
As I was crossing the plaza heading back to BART, I spotted a small group of morris dancers who turned out to be Berkeley Morris (several friends used to be in the group). They were planning to dance in about half an hour, so I settled down and waited to watch the show.
BART meant another bus bridge with bicycle fu, and what with one thing and another I got home around 5pm which is WAY longer than my usual Saturday ride. But it was a fun change-up.
My usual SF "long bike ride" starts at the Ferry Building (convenient for grabbing breakfast first), then goes along the Embarcadero, past Fisherman's Wharf, along the Marina, along Crissy Field, up to the Golden Gate Bridge, across the bridge, then turn around and the same back.
The bike ride is roughly the same mileage as my Walnut Creek ride, but while my usual ride is almost all on recreation trails, about a quarter of the SF route is on city streets (though mostly with bike lanes). Both are mostly level, but the bit going up from Crissy Field to the bridge abutment is steep enough that when I couldn't convince my bike to go into its lowest gear, I got off and walked partway.
But what made this ride challenging were the following. BART was doing maintenance on the leg between Orinda and Rockridge (the tunnel section) so they were running a bus bridge. This meant carrying my bike down a long flight of stairs, wrestling it into the bus bike rack, then at the other end ignoring usual etiquette and taking the bike up the escalator. Because, you see, they've finally integrated the station elevators into the fare gate system, so instead of tagging in a regular gate, then exiting without tagging and going to the elevator, now the elevator has its own fare gate to tag in/out. But the bus bridge skips the tag in/out, so if I'd used the elevator, I'd have messed up the record of my fare.
Anyway, continue on from Rockridge to Embarcadero (where it was very nice to have the elevator system rationalized). At which point I discover that they're staging the SF Juneteenth parade at that end of Market St. Fortunately the parade was only just starting to stage, so the extra crowds weren't too bad.
Picked up a pastry for breakfast at the Farmer's Market then headed off along the Embarcadero. I think most bicyclists would prefer to avoid going straight through the Fishermans Wharf tourist district, but I considered it part of the fun. Took a jog uphill at the Ghirardelli site to avoid the steep ramp from Aquatic Cover to Fort Mason then a nice slope down through Fort Mason from the SE corner.
There's a really lovely wide rec path with bicycle lanes along Marina Blvd, at which point I discovered that that's where they were staging for the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. (I really should research what's going on when I'm planning these rides -- but it was much more impulse than plan.) The actual triathlon was today, not yesterday, which is a good thing because I would have been completely blocked from my planned route. But I didn't know any of that when I headed off on Saturday.
After cruising through Crissy Field, there's a steep bit going up toward the bridge and my bike decided that, although it was perfectly happy going into the lowest gear at any other time, it just wasn't going to oblige when I had a genuine hill, so I ended up walking the steepest part. Across the bridge and back, dodging tourists on rental bikes, then a brief pause at the southern end again to rest and sightsee. Did the usual "be kind to tourists" thing and took group photos for people.
Going back was pretty much the same in reverse, except I took the sharp grade down to Aquatic Cove since it was down this time. Stopped at Fisherman's Wharf to have some crab for lunch, then back along to the Ferry Building where I did a bit of shopping, though most of the produce stands were packing up by then.
As I was crossing the plaza heading back to BART, I spotted a small group of morris dancers who turned out to be Berkeley Morris (several friends used to be in the group). They were planning to dance in about half an hour, so I settled down and waited to watch the show.
BART meant another bus bridge with bicycle fu, and what with one thing and another I got home around 5pm which is WAY longer than my usual Saturday ride. But it was a fun change-up.
