We had a good group of 9 people, many of whom were new to this route. We cruised up Foothill, Sand Hill, Whiskey Hill, Canada, and then alongside Hwy 280 on Skyline Blvd. After a one-exit section on Hwy 280 we stopped in at our first reststop; a Chevron station in Millbrae. This is our traditional reststop, being at mile 27, which is halfway to Sausalito.
We then continued north, doing a section of bike trail and then along Skyline Blvd, on the ridge through Daly City, looking down on both sides and seeing San Francisco up ahead. Skyline ends near SF Zoo, where we get on 35th Ave going through the city, jog over to 25th to go through Golden Gate Park, then into the Presidio and Lincoln Blvd to the bridge.
Besides the usual POIs (points of interest) we had a few more that we found.
Going through Sausalito, my plan was to go to the other side, to the Sausalito Bike Shop at the start of the bike trail and , and then stop there at the nearby restaurant. Our group of 9 had become separated going across the bridge, and so I was keeping an eye out for the others as we went. We never did find each other for the rest of the ride. We ended up being a group of 4. It turned out that the other 5 were waiting at the north end of the bridge, and that we had slipped by on the shortcut ramp, and so had gotten in front of them. This other group stopped in at a corner Deli in Sausalito that we also sometimes stop at. I checked this deli as I passed but they were not there at that time.
After a nice leisurely lunch, I suggested that we stop in to check out the Bay Model, as the others had never heard of it before, and we had a bit of time to spare. This is a great place to visit if you ever find yourself in Sausalito. Admission is free, so you can't beat the price. Run by the US Army Corps of Engineers, this is a working hrdraulic model of the entire San Fancisco Bay water system. Check out their website at: http://www.spn.usace.army.mil/bmvc/bmvisit.html
We were in luck at the Bay Model, as they were performing a test, checking out how the addition of two new runways at SF Airport would affect the flow patterns in the bay. The model, all inside a large building, covers 1.5 acres. While standing up near the Golden Gate Bridge, we looked way down to the far end of the building, a hundred yards away, where San Jose would be. Then we realized that we still had a very long way to ride, and so we headed out on the road again.
By this time the wind had picked up and the overcast had come back in. We didn't know if we'd ever see the sun again. Reluctantly, I put on my windbreaker. Back across the bridge, back through Golden Gate Park, back up along the ridge in Daly City we went. Finally, back at the Crevron station halfway home, the sky cleared up again and the wind had switched to more of a tailwind. The rest of the ride was going to be ok.
We arrived back at McKenzie Park at 6:00 pm, 10 hours and 107 miles and 6000 ft of climbing since we left there that morning. I later found out that the other half of our group had gotten back just 45 minutes earlier. Too bad we couldn't have met up along the way. Too bad we had gotten split up in the first place.
I then headed off towards home. This would be good "Ride to Columbia" training for me, as I would get 147 miles for the day, just 5 miles less and slightly more climbing than my upcoming ride to the start of SttS.