I think it was Mark Twain who wrote that the coldest winter he ever remembered was a summer he spent in San Francisco. However, there are those remarkable days in The City when the fog has not crept in on cat's paws and everything is crisp, sunny and warm. Today was one of those days!
The meeting that I was in San Francisco for had evaporated and the other meeting with a software company had been scrapped when we decided to re-evaluate their platform for a new project, so my only work planned for the day was to meet with Chris, the Deputy Director of IISD Reporting Services at his home in Sausalito. Taking advantage of the free morning, I left the hotel at Mission and Third Street at dawn to pedal along the Embarcadero, through Fisherman's Wharf and across the Golden Gate Bridge, stopping off at the top of Mt. Tamalpais on my way to see Chris in Marin County.
Mt. Tamalpais rises almost 800 meters above San Francisco Bay, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge and east of the cold beaches along the Pacific Coast. It is the birthplace of mountain biking, but the lightly trafficked roads (on a Monday morning) that wind up through the eucalyptus and redwood trees are perfect for road biking.. if you like to climb. Most of the way up the mountain is 8-10% grade with some steeper spots near the top. I tried to throttle back, since I had planned for today's ride to be an easy spin after some tough rides last week, but for some reason I kept creeping up to 90% of max, hammering uphill at a furious pace. I'm not sure why, however I think that my body just appreciated the fact that these hills were not at 4,000 meters and there was enough oxygen to go around for everything to use.
This shot is looking down the south face of the mountain, past the switchbacks, with the tall buildings of San Franciso in the distance. San Francisco Bay is off to the left and you can see the tips of Tiburon along the left hand edge of the photo. To the right, above the tree line, is the entrance to the Bay, just outside the Golden Gate. The picture looks straight down on my route this morning, from San Francisco north to the top of Mt. Tam.
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