Day 1 - San Francisco to Marina - 122 Miles

The day is here!  Friday the 13th and the start of our San Francisco to Los Angeles Bike Tour!  We ended up having 8 cyclist and 1 SAG support (a last minute, very pleasant surprise since we were planning to ride with backpacks)!  We also had our own personal guide, Royston from Oakland, to give us the best route out of the city and onto the Great Highway.  An avid cyclist himself, he hopped on his bike and rode with us from the Great Highway to Devil's Slide.  He was definitely a blessing and just a cool guy.

We made a couple of wrong turns, got lost, frustrated, encountered unmarked bike path entrances, got rained on, fogged, were cold in the month of August, and exhausted.  All of this happened over 122 miles, about 5,200 feet of climbing and 12 hours on the way to Marina!  Just reading what I just wrote seems insane, but we did it!

We were hungry by the time we made it to the hotel, but also needed to do laundry.  Since there wasn't one on site, Eric walked a few blocks to the laundry and saw the sign that said the last wash is at 8:00pm and they close at 9:00pm. Well it was either a few minutes before or after 8:00pm and he needed to get change next door because the one inside wasn't working.  By the time he gets back, they are closed for the night. So that means we have not just dirty clothes, but 122 miles worth of dirty clothes!  Not good.  We were handwashing our cycling clothes at 9:00pm hoping they'd be dry before we left at 6:00am in the morning.  They were not dry.  We ended up blow drying our stuff in the morning and I was thankful I packed an extra pair of shorts or I would have had issues.  LOL!

This was the most miles I'd ever riden in one day and I was glad to see it come to an end!  The view was beautiful, but those hills tried to punk me into believing they ruled the road.  I didn't fall for it!  Now let's see what Day 2 holds in store for me!

Enjoy the journey!


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