Day 470
San Francisco
San Francisco is a natural place for tourers on route 101/1 to stop, rest, repair bikes and bodies, update blogs and socialize with everyone they meet along the way. We did all of the above whilst staying at Robert's one of ‘The Gang’. Flo and Rachel were there and the following day Nicola made it too. It was Rachel’s birthday, so we put flowers in our hair, dressed up (yep I actually carry a dress) and partied the night away. I love these people so I hope they can forgive me for singing my go-to Karaoke number, Lady Lady. Tom and I took total advantage of Robert’s offer to use his workshop and, with lots of his help, serviced the bikes and replaced many worn parts!
Back in 1992, five families wanted to make the roads a safer place for cyclists to be and ensure drivers realised that there were a lot of cyclists out there. So they got together to hold the first public ride and ‘Critical Mass’ was born. There is no set route, no leader, simply a meeting point around 6pm every last Friday of the month. This Friday was the 30th anniversary so big numbers were expected and though I doubt anyone actually counted there must have been well in excess of a 1,000 riders. Every type of bike, from 2 year olds on tiny bikes, racers, bmx, people with dog trailers, hippies, well we are in San Francisco, some carrying sound systems, and of course about 20 cycle tourers fresh off route 101. The sheer force of numbers meant we ‘took’ the road. At junctions random cyclists stood with their bikes ensuring the cars stopped. We rode all over the city, through tunnels, where often we would simply stop for a few moments, sing along with whatever song was playing and then off we would go. It was an awesome experience. The majority of the time we were cycling very slowly but sometimes going downhill we sped up, it was all unplanned but felt so good. Tourists stood gawping, diners left their meals to come out and look. Many, but certainly not all, waved and cheered. Most car drivers just waited patiently for us to pass, but as darkness fell we heard more horns blaring in annoyance. The point made, we gradually peeled away. This event happens in cities all over the world, so same time next month anyone?
Finally after a few days of chores we took a day to see San Francisco. Now as I am sure you know SF is build on and over many hills. To get around they built what is now the last manually operated cable car system in the world. Down to just 3 lines from the original 23 in its heyday in the late 1800s they are now a major tourist attraction and I for one wanted to ride one, not only that, I wanted to stand outside hanging onto a metal bar. When the driver asked for volunteers to stand Tom and I were there before he had finished speaking. It exceeded all my expectations, awesome! We were actually using the cable car to get us to the Golden Gate Park. It didn’t quite but we walked some streets from the summer of love, tried a modern bus, more walking and we were there. At twice the size of New York’s Central Park, we knew we wouldn’t see it all, but I managed a ride on an antique carousel, childish but I love them! We had missed the Blues Festival and chance to meet up with Harrison (not Ford) who had hosted us back in Florida, though he managed to chat with Chris, a fellow tourer we have made friends with on our tour, small world! Robert had said we really shouldn’t miss the Californian Academy of Science. Sat in the middle of the park, it contains an awesome rainforest from which you descend into the aquarium. That alone was mind blowing, we just found the time and energy to check out the display of minerals before we wearily made our way back to Robert’s and a final evening with our friends. Nicola was already on her way, back on Route 1 where most of the riders we had met were heading. Others like Robert had reached journey’s end but Tom and I were heading away from the coast and off to ride a few hills into Yosemite. Very few cycle tourers go this way, I expect we will find out why!
