PowerCycle

10/02 Crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and rode down into San Francisco this afternoon. What a thrill riding across it on my fat, old touring bike. The sidewalk is wide enough to ride on but there were a lot of people out walking so I had to go pretty slow. That didn’t stop a couple spandex-wearing racer-types from whipping through the crowd. Once on the other side I called Lauren to see if it was still cool to stay with her. Unfortunately her roommate had company in the spare room so I was on my own. I had a couple things working against me while searching for cheap motels. It’s the weekend, the weather is perfect and there’s a free concert in town: the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival to be exact.

If I can find a place to stay in town that’s a little cheaper than the motel I’m in now I’m going to meet Sara for lunch and then check out the concert tomorrow.

Camping for the last couple days has been exciting. At Gualala Point Regional Park CG raccoons were running rampant. Much to my delight I missed the naked guy running after them in the middle of the night with a golf club. The park was awesome and we had a nice bonfire and drank beer.

Just to log this somewhere we met “Doogit the Legend” a few nights ago. He’s 5’0″ older guy with no hair on top but who sports a lengthy ponytail. His sentences usually start something like this, F*@% those [whatever]! He’s also very loud. We were only able to spend the one night camping with him but it’s something we’ll cherish for the rest of our lives.

A couple nights ago we were camped out at Bodega Dunes CG. Rather than eat at camp, myself, Dave, Sara, Lauren, Heather and two of her friends that live close by met in town for a nice sit-down Italian dinner at Claudio’s. The conversation was dominated by all our bike trips which was new for Heather’s friends but I think the rest of us were looking for something else to talk about. Bound to happen I suppose. These days nothing is more refreshing for me than talking about something other than bike riding. Not that I mind it but it’s great to get my brain thinking about something else. Dinner was excellent and we had a fun half-drunk ride back to camp in the dark.

Nothing else too exciting. I bought a new battery for the cell phone today so no more fast drops on people. Also picked up a new rear taillight. The one that came with my bike is toast. My watch is official dead. I’ll be shopping for a new one of those soon. I was going to ship a couple thing back home but I’ve decided I’m at my minimum now. It”s not looking good for my Canon 40D. I might be selling it and getting something smaller.

GPX Track