Certified Rollers

Work trip + bonus day + fun-seeking friends = adventure of the week

San Francisco has become one of my favorite work trip cities over the last few years. I’ve been to the bay area a handful of times but I’ve only had a chance to explore SF, apparently, it’s not cool to call it San Fran, on my last two trips to northern California. The last time I was in town was a few years ago, but I had an epic run to and across the Golden Gate Bridge that pretty much sealed my affinity for it.

Fast forward to this most recent trip. We were stationed in San Jose, which despite being in the Bay Area is roughly 60 miles from San Francisco. Fortunately, since we were there for an extra day one of my co-workers rented a car and a small group of us were able to take advantage of some downtime to explore the city.

The day started with an early departure from our San Jose hotel as we drove north. Our itinerary was pretty touristy, but the crew I was traveling possessed a promising adventure spirit that gave me hope. We started off at Pier 39 to check out the sea lions and grab a cup of coffee. That was a pretty cool sight. Somehow I didn’t know about the sea lions the last time I was there, which in retrospect is a little surprising but I was glad we got to see them. There were probably 100-150 of them laid out on the docks barking.

After hanging out with the sea lions for a bit, we decided to grab bikes from one of the many rental shops in the area. I suggested heading out to the Golden Gate Bridge to ride across, figuring it would be fun to recreate the run I had done a few years prior but with slightly less effort. We talked to the people running the shop and told them about our plan. They suggested we continue on after the bridge and head down to Sausalito to grab lunch and then take the ferry back to San Francisco. That was about all the convincing we needed to hear, so we went on our way.

We followed pretty much the same route that I did on my run, starting in the Fisherman’s Wharf area and climbing up above Fort Mason and then down along Marina boulevard to Crissy field. This was one of the spots that my previous knowledge of the area helped as we jumped off the main bike path and made our way to the gravel path that runs alongside the beach. It’s a super popular spot but it has awesome views of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay.

We briefly contemplated stopping for coffee and baked goods at the Warming Hut, a cafe, and bookstore that doubles as a National Park information center. It’s a worthwhile stop if you are in the area. We decided to press on start the climb up to the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a doozy. As I rocked back and forth on my way up the first part of the climb, my pedals suddenly slipped and stopped pulling the back wheel forward. I looked down and saw my chain trailing behind. No Bueno. At first, I thought it just came off but upon closer inspection, I realized that I had snapped it.

It’s true, I am notoriously hard on bikes. I’ve ridden pretty much bike I’ve owned into the ground. That’s not to say I don’t take care of them, but I generally don’t know what I’m doing and beat the crap out of them. That doesn’t really factor into the chain breaking on this bike, but it was fitting that mine would be the one that broke.

Fortunately, after calling the rental place they arranged to meet me at the Warming Hut and bring me another bike. Remember when we contemplated stopping there? That was before the climb we undertook. Neither of my compatriots wanted to join me as I coasted down the hill to get my replacement bike. Funny how that works.

Once I got my new wheels, I climbed back up and met up with Sam and David and then we carried on to the Fort Point area and the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped for a few minutes to take in the incredible views of the Pacific ocean. From where we stopped you could see clear across to the Marin Headlands and Point Bonita Lighthouse.

The Golden Gate Bridge has two pedestrian paths, from San Francisco, the right-hand side is for pedestrians, walkers, and runners, while the left is for cyclists. This is definitely a smart way to do it, but I have to say I enjoyed running across it a lot more than riding. There was a brutal headwind, but really what made riding it a little tricky was the amount of traffic. It wasn’t a traffic jam or anything. Quite the opposite. There were a good number of people riding the bridge and they were moving. That made it difficult to stop and really appreciate it the way you can when you are walking or running it. That’s not a complaint. More an observation from my perspective. Part of it might have been that we did it around lunchtime on a Saturday and it was one of the nicest days they’d had in a while. I would imagine if you rode it mid-day on a weekday it’s probably not nearly as crowded.

From the other side of the bridge, we followed the bike path under the bridge and to the Fort Baker area then on to Sausalito. What a cool little oceanside town. I can’t begin to fathom how expensive it must be to live there, but it was a beauty to visit. We locked our bikes in one of the bike parking lots and took a stroll around town to check things out.

I ended up bailing on our lunch plans to catch the ferry back to San Francisco. I met up with a friend for coffee at the San Francisco Ferry Building, which is kind of like a cross between Fanuel Hall, Reading Terminal Market, Ponce City Market, and Chelsea Market. The Ferry ride was most definitely the highlight of the day. It was about a 30-minute ride from Sausalito past Angel Island and Alcatraz.

One of my favorite parts of the ferry ride was when we passed Alcatraz. I had just recently listened to a Stuff You Should Know podcast about when native Americas occupied the island. It’s a really interesting historical tidbit and I’m glad I knew about it before passing the island on the ferry. I’ve never been to Alcatraz, but seeing it from the opposite side of the bay was pretty neat. I didn’t know that the graffiti, from the native American occupation of the island, was still there.

I hopped off the ferry at the Ferry Terminal and met up with a friend for a coffee. We hung out for a bit and I got a mini-tour of the area before I eventually met back up with my co-workers who took a later ferry after eating lunch. We dropped the bikes and split up again as I made my way to Lombard Street before catching up with a couple of other friends at the Buena Vista for an Irish Coffee. From there, we all regrouped and hit the Cheese school in Ghiradelli Square for a snack before making our way back to San Jose for the night.

All in all, it was a great day of exploring the city and spending some time with fun people. I wouldn’t have minded riding back to the city and spending some more time by the water, but I think the ferry experience was certainly worth it. If you’ve got a day to spend in SanFrancisco, I highly recommend riding to Sausalito, eating and taking the ferry back. We probably totaled 10 or 12 miles of riding but it was all at a leisurely pace and there are plenty of places to stop and take in the sights. Definitely less strenuous than the 15-mile run from the last trip.