San Franciscan Dreaming
Oct. 19th, 2014 01:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aI rather spontaneously took my bike out to San Francisco yesterday and had a beautiful day out there and in Marin. It's really a gorgeous city and it was a bright and beautiful day.
The Green Paths. I started out at Embarcadero and biked around from there to Crissy Field. I was quite struck by how much effort SF has put into its bike paths since last time I biked through North Beach. There are now consistent bike lanes from the Ferry Building to somewhere around Pier 39, all painted bright green. It gets dicier from there, as you can ride up on the Bayside paths if you want, but those are clogged with tourists, or else you can ride the angry streets. (I did the latter.) Still, the trip out there was very nice, with my only problem being get stuck behind slow moving tourist bikes or bike rickshaws when the adjacent street was so bumper-to-bumper that there was no way to get around. I actually hopped off my bike at one light and walked my bike along the Bayside path to get ahead of slow bikers.
The Presidio. After most of Crissy Fields I turned my bike up into the rest of the Presidio. My goal was the Presidio Officers Club which has recently been reopened with a museum and an archaeological lab there. It was actually somewhat disappointing. There was a nice timeline of the Presidio with some artifacts and beyond that it was fun wandering around the building, which is almost all open to the public. But a lot of it is set aside as an event venue now, with ballrooms and such, and those were just big open spaces in the middle of the day on a Saturday.
The rest of the Presidio was very nice though. I have barely been there since it was turned over to the National Park System in 1994, so it was really nice to see what a great urban park it's becoming. I rode the Presidio Promenade back and forth and would love to explore some of the other trails, particularly the ones going through the "historic woods".
Golden Gate. One of my goals was to ride out to the Golden Gate Bridge, and I did! I'd actually tried to make the ascent to the bridge several years ago, on the day of Jason's bachelor party, and totally failed. Today it was no problem: I just rode the Presidio Promenade the opposite direction of the Officers Club, and I was there. Granted, it was an easier ascent than the one I tried a few years ago (straight up from Fort Point), but it was also zero problem.
The ride across the Bridge was totally beautiful. I think I walked the Bridge many years ago, but I've definitely never ridden it. The northern path is solely designated for bicyclists so you get to bike out with open ocean and the actual Golden Gate to your left. Very nice. I was a bit amused how the trail got all clogged and chaotic at each of the towers — not just because you have to make sharp turns to go around them, but also because all of the tourists stop their bikes there to take pictures.
Marin. In Marin I went down a steep path which takes you to Fort Baker, below the Golden Gate. It's a former army base right on the Bay that's been nicely refurbished. Much of it is now a "luxury resort", with the old army buildings turned into luxurious places to rent. I'm of mixed emotions over that — now just the commercialization, but the upper-class commercialization. It somehow seem wrong to turn a working man's, blue collar army base into a resort for the one percent. On the other hand, it's probably better than them being totally abandoned like the eerie, empty barracks on Alameda or just south of Golden Gate Fields. There's also a kid's discovery museum back there and a teeny little beach. I sat at the beach for about an hour, doing some writing and watching dogs chase toys into the Bay.
I would have loved to travel on to Sausalito from Fort Baker, as it was just two miles on, but I'd had a late start to the day, and decided I didn't want too much of a good thing.
The Journey Home. I was a bit worried about getting back up to the Bridge from Fort Baker, as the road was pretty much straight up — something like 200 feet of ascent in a pretty short distance. However I managed it riding, then it was back across the Bridge. I was amused as I dropped down into the Presidio, seeing all the tourists who looked like they were dying, trying to get their bikes up to the Bridge. (I'd passed many of them on the way up originally, but now I could see their contorted faces.) Then it was along the Bay. I eventually turned south at Polk Street, riding back to BART through Russian Hill, Nob Hill, and (unfortunately) the Tenderloin. I was happy to see more bright green bike lanes around the Civic Center and also on Market.
Surprisingly when I got off BART in Berkeley, I found K. and her friend L., who'd had lunch in the City, wandered it widely, and had come back on the same train as me. So K. and I ended up walking home together.
Sore. Today I've discovered that my legs are shockingly sore. That used to happen sometimes when I rode, but it's been a while. I guess all the climbing did it — up to the Presidio, up to the Bridge twice, then through Russian Hill and Nob Hill. Apparently if I lived in the City, I'd get much better as hill biking!
The Green Paths. I started out at Embarcadero and biked around from there to Crissy Field. I was quite struck by how much effort SF has put into its bike paths since last time I biked through North Beach. There are now consistent bike lanes from the Ferry Building to somewhere around Pier 39, all painted bright green. It gets dicier from there, as you can ride up on the Bayside paths if you want, but those are clogged with tourists, or else you can ride the angry streets. (I did the latter.) Still, the trip out there was very nice, with my only problem being get stuck behind slow moving tourist bikes or bike rickshaws when the adjacent street was so bumper-to-bumper that there was no way to get around. I actually hopped off my bike at one light and walked my bike along the Bayside path to get ahead of slow bikers.
The Presidio. After most of Crissy Fields I turned my bike up into the rest of the Presidio. My goal was the Presidio Officers Club which has recently been reopened with a museum and an archaeological lab there. It was actually somewhat disappointing. There was a nice timeline of the Presidio with some artifacts and beyond that it was fun wandering around the building, which is almost all open to the public. But a lot of it is set aside as an event venue now, with ballrooms and such, and those were just big open spaces in the middle of the day on a Saturday.
The rest of the Presidio was very nice though. I have barely been there since it was turned over to the National Park System in 1994, so it was really nice to see what a great urban park it's becoming. I rode the Presidio Promenade back and forth and would love to explore some of the other trails, particularly the ones going through the "historic woods".
Golden Gate. One of my goals was to ride out to the Golden Gate Bridge, and I did! I'd actually tried to make the ascent to the bridge several years ago, on the day of Jason's bachelor party, and totally failed. Today it was no problem: I just rode the Presidio Promenade the opposite direction of the Officers Club, and I was there. Granted, it was an easier ascent than the one I tried a few years ago (straight up from Fort Point), but it was also zero problem.
The ride across the Bridge was totally beautiful. I think I walked the Bridge many years ago, but I've definitely never ridden it. The northern path is solely designated for bicyclists so you get to bike out with open ocean and the actual Golden Gate to your left. Very nice. I was a bit amused how the trail got all clogged and chaotic at each of the towers — not just because you have to make sharp turns to go around them, but also because all of the tourists stop their bikes there to take pictures.
Marin. In Marin I went down a steep path which takes you to Fort Baker, below the Golden Gate. It's a former army base right on the Bay that's been nicely refurbished. Much of it is now a "luxury resort", with the old army buildings turned into luxurious places to rent. I'm of mixed emotions over that — now just the commercialization, but the upper-class commercialization. It somehow seem wrong to turn a working man's, blue collar army base into a resort for the one percent. On the other hand, it's probably better than them being totally abandoned like the eerie, empty barracks on Alameda or just south of Golden Gate Fields. There's also a kid's discovery museum back there and a teeny little beach. I sat at the beach for about an hour, doing some writing and watching dogs chase toys into the Bay.
I would have loved to travel on to Sausalito from Fort Baker, as it was just two miles on, but I'd had a late start to the day, and decided I didn't want too much of a good thing.
The Journey Home. I was a bit worried about getting back up to the Bridge from Fort Baker, as the road was pretty much straight up — something like 200 feet of ascent in a pretty short distance. However I managed it riding, then it was back across the Bridge. I was amused as I dropped down into the Presidio, seeing all the tourists who looked like they were dying, trying to get their bikes up to the Bridge. (I'd passed many of them on the way up originally, but now I could see their contorted faces.) Then it was along the Bay. I eventually turned south at Polk Street, riding back to BART through Russian Hill, Nob Hill, and (unfortunately) the Tenderloin. I was happy to see more bright green bike lanes around the Civic Center and also on Market.
Surprisingly when I got off BART in Berkeley, I found K. and her friend L., who'd had lunch in the City, wandered it widely, and had come back on the same train as me. So K. and I ended up walking home together.
Sore. Today I've discovered that my legs are shockingly sore. That used to happen sometimes when I rode, but it's been a while. I guess all the climbing did it — up to the Presidio, up to the Bridge twice, then through Russian Hill and Nob Hill. Apparently if I lived in the City, I'd get much better as hill biking!