Day 18- We Made It!!!!! (Christi)

 

September 26th, 2020

    The day has finally come! We were making it to San Francisco today, but it was going to require the “official” longest ride of the trip (since we stopped earlier than originally planned on day 15). We’ve both biked 106 miles in one day before, so that wouldn’t be a problem, but it was likely going to be another hot day and we wanted to make it to the Golden Gate Bridge before the sun went down. So we were up at 5am, packing up camp in the dark using our head lamps, and hit the road around 0630. 

    We rode back around Bodega Bay to head southeast onto country roads again. Of course on the last day of riding I would have issues with my bike chain. I probably adjusted my chain about 10 times after attempting to go up hills. This bike has gotten me this far, but I think for future bike tours I will get a new bike to avoid the headache 😂.

    It was on the country roads that we witnessed magic! As we were riding past a cow pasture, I noticed something dangling out of the backside of a cow in the distance. I shouted to Brandon something to the effect of, “what the heck are they torturing that cow with, do you see that thing hanging out the back?” So of course we stopped out of curiosity, and to our amazement a baby calf came out!!! We witnessed a cow giving birth! It was absolutely amazing! We stood there for probably 30 minutes watching the mom clean her calf and the calf’s first steps. Unfortunately we couldn’t stand there all day, or else we totally would have.  I decided to name the calf Samuel 😊

Samuel getting a bath

    Next up was Petaluma; we stopped for brunch at Boulevard Cafe & Grill. The food was extremely satisfying and made up for the long wait time. I had to try a little of everything, so three of the five plates are mine 😂.

Ate all but a few bites of the egg scramble

    We started getting into busier areas after this. San Antonio road had a decent bike route and we saw multiple cyclists on this road. A few stopped to check on me when I was placing my chain back on the rear sprocket, and one even rode next to us to ask us where we were coming from and suggested a European chocolate place to check out. Unfortunately we never found that place 😂. 

    Once we hit the towns, we had about 25 miles of in town cycling before we would hit the Golden Gate Bridge. Not my favorite part of the trip, since majority of our time has been on country roads or on coastal highway with gorgeous views, but the end goal was near! Once we reached the Bay Area, we rode through a little town called Sausalito, which had multiple little shops and a great view of the bay. Next stop Golden Gate Bridge! But first, a 300 foot hill to the top and multiple chain adjustments. Riding up this road was emotional for me, it still hasn’t quite sunk in, but I know we’ve done something unique. This hill symbolized the struggles I’ve had to overcome in the last six years, and it felt great to conquer it. We enjoyed our last road beer stop at the top and met a couple who aspire to go on a bike tour. We gave them a few tips, suggested the book that we followed, and gave them encouragement to follow their dreams. 

    It’ll be weird not to write blog posts everyday going forward. Until the next bike adventure ❤

Road stats: 74.85 miles and 3,042 feet elevation gain

Road kill: 2 deer, 1 cat, 4 snakes, 3 possums, 1 bat, 2 skunks, and 3 unidentifiable 

Weird things in the shoulder: golf ball, 3 masks, jeans, shorts, couch, razor blade, and knife