Bike Touring Day 1: San Francisco to Pescadero

With the trip from San Francisco "in the books," it's time to give a report of the adventure.  There is much that can be said about the trip, so I hope that I am able to communicate all the important and interesting details.  Feel free to post/email a question if you have specific questions, okay?

(I am not planning to talk a lot about all the gear that we took for the trip unless it pertains to specific details.  Again, if you have questions, please ask and I'll be happy to elaborate).

Our trip began at the Golden Gate Bridge.  As you might expect, there was plenty of fog - marine layer - to send us on our way.  The bridge is used for a lot of tourists who are walking/cycling, and native Bay Area residents who like exercising in the salt air (though I cannot imagine why they would put up with the crowds).

Although the skies were gray, our spirits were feeling good and ready to roll.  Our route kept us out of the city streets and close to the coast, which was nice.  We soon realized, however, that the first half of our journey (to Los Angeles) was going to be a lot of up and down - with very few flat sections.

We stopped in Daly City for some lunch.  As would become our custom, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few things for lunch and snacks later.

Hills Everywhere

As we rolled into half moon bay, Dal's legs started to cramp up.  We stopped for a while to get him some water and give him time to relax.  After a while we continued riding, but he struggled with it for the rest of the day.  Sometimes when the weather is cooler it is tempting to drink less water. 


Our plans were to ride about 60 miles until we arrived at a KOA campground a couple of miles past the Pigeon Point Lighthouse.  Rob's parents were planning to stay the night there and wanted to make dinner for us upon our arrival.  The campground was the nicest one we would stay in by far!  But more about that later.

We were approximately 3 to 4 miles away from our destination when I heard/felt my rear tire suddenly go flat.  It went flat so quickly that I knew it must have been something substantial.  I couldn't figure out what caused the flat, but it became apparent that the tire (not just the tube) had a hole the width of a pencil eraser.

Could I get a new tube to stay inflated with a compromised tire?  I had a tire liner inside the tire, but I still added a couple of folded dollar bills between the tire and tube to try to reinforce the tire and hopefully avoid having the tube punctured again.

Thankfully we made it to the campground without another flat.  (Now to figure out where to get a new tube).

Rob's parents spoiled us for the night by feeding us chicken, potatoes, carrots, fruit, and sourdough bread.  We even got to have some ice cream for dessert!  (Thanks Tom and Judy!) We enjoyed it, because we knew the days to come would not include such nice accomodations.  The clean bathrooms and free hot showers were awesome.