West Coast Trip Summary

Well the trip out west finally came to a close on Saturday. With it all said and done it wound up with us riding a little over three hundred and fifty miles in eight days, which I was real pleased with. We were going to do a longer ride on Thursday but mechanical problems with my buddy Terry’s bike prevented us from going very far away fearing more mech problems. Most of trip, other than over the mountains was spent either in designated bike lanes or bike path. Yes bike paths. The area around Mountain View, Los Altos and Palo Alto is virtually loaded with bike paths, so much in fact, that we rode thirty miles one day without leaving the same bike path in one direction.

By far one of the best rides we did was to ride the 58 miles from Los Altos to Santa Cruz via the Santa Cruz Mountains. This is a unbelievably beautiful ride that starts flat, then hits a rails for trails for 15 miles and then climbs hard up the Old Santa Cruz Highway that winds its way through the old growth redwoods to the summit of near 2000 feet. Most of the cruise down was winding, picturesque and very fast. We did that ride in four and half hours with a few breaks for water and rest. On conclusion, we hoisted pints at Seabright Brewing and 99 Bottles in Santa Cruz before resting over night, then taking the bus (with our bikes) back to San Jose.

Another nice ride was taking the Caltrain (that has a bike car) from Mountain View to San Francisco, then riding around the Embarcadero, Fisherman’s Wharf, the Presidio and then up and over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. From there we rode bike lanes to Tiburon and then on to Larkspur to Marin Brewing Company. We took on fuel (beer and food) at Marin Brewing Company and then took the water ferry back to San Francisco. Back on the Caltrain and then down to Mountain View station. That ride was forty eight miles.

There are so many other great stories that I’ll not bore you with. I had a great time, but it is always good to get back home, sort of. Sunny and warm last week and rain today? Oh and I must mention, I did not ride in a automobile for eight days. We either rode our bikes or took them with us on public transportation.

Best beers consumed on this trip were:
Moylan's Hopsicle
Russian River's Pliny The Elder
Speak Easy's Double Daddy