Sunday
SUNDAY 10/21/07
Sunday started early as my wife had to be at the starting area in Union Square for 6 am. The race started without a hitch and I managed to meet my wife and her running mate a couple of times along the course. They were running for TNT (Team in Training) which benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I forget how many people were running for TNT but they raised $18.5 million at this race alone. They finished 26.2 miles in 5 hours, 41 minutes (chip time). I’m proud of her because I know if it were me, the ambulance would have picked me up about mile 5.
After the race she got her Finishers shirt and Tiffany & Co. necklace and we headed back to the hotel so she could take an ice bath and get cleaned up. We lounged around for a while and decided to go ahead and take another ride. I told her we could just take it easy and lounge around the hotel if she wanted, but she insisted on keeping moving. So we decided to go south out of San Fran for this trip. I charted a proposed route and we took off. We headed south on 280 to 101 to 35. The roads got progressively smaller and less congested. We didn’t stop much and didn’t take many pictures. My wife was just enjoying the scenery and didn’t want to hassle with the camera. We turned west on 92 for a short distance and then back south on 35. At the intersection of 35 and 84 is a small restaurant called Alice’s.
We stopped here for a restroom break and some water. I took a couple of pics and we got back on the road. There were several other bikes here and plenty on the road. I noticed they were all running the route in the opposite direction from me and figured it had to be because of the blinding sun setting on the coast. I talked to a guy who was on a ’96 XR650L that was super motarded. The bike had an Excel rim and tire setup that looked sweet. Black rims and gold hubs. It was the perfect bike for carving the sharp turns on these mountain roads. This was to be a short ride as we had to be back at the hotel for the victory party. 84 took us through plenty of redwoods over the mountain and back onto Hwy 1. In my opinion, the views of the coast in the south of SF were better than the views in the north.
Hwy 1 on the south side is a much wider road and traffic flowed really well until we hit Half Moon Bay. This town has 3 red lights and traffic came to standstill. Sunday afternoon at 6pm and the highway was like a parking lot. It took us about 30 minutes to get past those 3 red lights and then it was wide open again. We stayed northbound and passed through Pacifica then on to Daly City. Hwy 1 turned back into 35 and then we got onto 280 headed back to the hotel. We made it back to the hotel about 7:15pm and headed to the victory party. The food at the victory party was a big improvement from the pasta party the previous night. We ate, watched the crowd for a bit, then headed back to the hotel to crash. The weather was great, mid 60's again, a little cooler on the coast. Total mileage for the day was 98 miles.
The Harley was definitely in it’s element on the 280 at 75MPH. The 6th gear cruises 2K RPM doing 75 MPH. The only real drawback other than the weight of the bike was the top of the windshield fell right in my line of sight. I was constantly looking over or under the windshield to see unobstructed. The seat height of the bike was perfect for my short legs. I don’t know that I would personally own an Electra Glide, but if I was going a long distance on the interstate and could rent another one, I’d look into it. It is much more comfortable than my old CBR for long distance travel. I’d like to go back to SF again and spend a little more time – maybe stay somewhere outside of the city. There is too much to see and too little time! I would like to go further north for sure. Two wheels is definitely the way to travel in California.