Cycling in San Francisco on a Saturday

Quite unbeknownst to us when we booked this trip to San Francisco, our friend Anna, one of last year’s radiology fellows from Toronto, was going to be in town at the same time as us. We’d only found this out about a week before – much to our joy. She arrived early Friday from Sydney and was leaving on Sunday afternoon so we had some time to meet up and explore. We’d organised to cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge and arranged to meet near there at midday. This gave us the morning to do a bit of sightseeing.

We had breakfast at the hostel, which supplies carbs and fruit for free, and then went down the road to hire bikes from Blazing Saddles. We were fitted with good bikes, helmets and locks, given some maps, and off we went.

We didn’t get very far at first. Glen’s hands were cold so he wanted to go back to the hotel to get gloves (which we did…and he got my gym gloves too), and then his footpedals had no grip (he’d already bashed his leg on the frame from it slipping off). We returned to the shop, replaced his bike, and then went off. We had three hours ahead of us.

We hadn’t gone far down Market St towards Golden Gate Park when we passed a restaurant that had been recommended to Glen for breakfast. So we stopped and had midmorning breakfast, having some eggs and some hot drinks. Even though it was only roughly 9am I was already feeling a bit tired, and worried that I’d be too exhausted to make it to the Golden Gate Bridge, let alone across it. But we persevered.

Glen navigated up and down some streets…and hilly ones at that. I knew San Francisco had a lot of hills but honestly, does it have to have so many? We had to walk our bikes a couple of times because the incline was so steep (and our fitness so poor). We eventually found the start of Golden Gate Park, by which point the sky, which had been overcast, cleared and it was set to be a beautiful day.

Golden Gate Park

We made a stop at the Conservatory of Flowers and went inside to check out their many orchids and pitcher plants. I’ve never seen quite so many pitcher plants before. Some looked downright monstrous with barbs and furry bits. It was a great display and a nice interlude. We jumped back on our bikes then and cycled through the rest of the very large park, past the museums and the bison, before getting to the Dutch windmill and then – surprise – the ocean.

A dip was tempting, even though it doesn’t look like the nicest beach, but by that stage we had to hustle it to meet Anna. The time had shifted to 1am, which suited us, especially as everything was so much bigger than it looked on the map.

We cycled (uphill again) along the coast road, around Lincoln Park and then through another park and off-road track (having to carry the bikes up stairs at one point), then finally, blessedly, there was a long downhill section we took at breakneck speed. Then it was under a bridge, up another hill, down another before reaching our meeting place at a shop called Sports Basement.

Glen and I went in, hoping there’d be some place to eat. There were big letters around the top of the walls that said ‘Dairy’, ‘Bakery’ and ‘Frozen’, but a quick search revealed that these must have been remnants from when the building was something else. Instead we found new gym gloves and a ‘nutrition’ section that sold Cliff Bars and Gatorade.

Anna and her cousin’s family were running late so that gave us time to recharge (though not long enough to have a nap). By that stage, we’d been cycling for about four hours and were starting to feel it. I haven’t done that much cardio in a long time, or spend that long on a bike for ages either. Thankfully, there were some soft chairs for us to sit on.

Anna arrived at 1:30pm and it was such a strange feeling to see her. It just felt weird to see this person who was meant to be in Australia but was now in San Francisco with us, completely by chance. Such a wonderful surprise. We met her cousin, Kate, and her family, husband Scott and kids Nick and Eliza. Everyone was ready with their bikes so after a bit of a chat we set off for the Golden Gate Bridge.

Cycling the Bridge

There was one hill to the bridge path that we had to take, but that wasn’t too bad. Being such a beautiful Saturday there were plenty of people out making the most of it. We cycled across the bridge, which was a nervewracking experience. The paths on either side of the bridge serve pedestrians going one way and bikes the other, so that means there’s two-way bike traffic on a path that’s not all that wide. It’s even skinnier when people (including us) stop to take photos. Then there’s the traffic that’s zooming by very loudly and the whole experience can’t help but raise your blood pressure. It’s an amazing bridge though.

We reached the other end without incident (thank god), though Anna was nearly taken out by a pro cyclists. We then took the path around to Sausalito, which was a really nice cycle ride. One of the things we noticed here, and in the park, were the very tall Eucalypts growing around the place. Glen and I had smelled the gum trees, which instantly made us think of home. Of course, here the trees are a pest and grow extremely well.

Sausalito is a little bayside town popular with tourists and locals. It feels like a little holiday location, sort of like Dunsborough or Margaret River back home during Easter. There were people everywhere and trying to find food was a bit of a challenge because there were a lot of queues. We eventually settled on a burger place that served the kind of burgers you’d make for yourself at home. My grilled chicken burger was very nice.

We sat on the grass, eating our food and swapping stories. We then began to get organised for the ferry ride back to San Francisco. Our bike hire place had already given Glen and I tickets (if we hadn’t used them, we wouldn’t have been charged for them) but the others still had to get tickets. There were a lot of people eager to catch the ferry. We couldn’t get on one ferry because it was just leaving once we were ready, so we got in line for the next. Glen and I stuffed things up by going to the loo and then joining the queue about ten people behind the others.

When it came time to board, they very kindly waited back for us until we got to the front of the queue…and then they stopped letting bikes board. At least we were all together and were guaranteed a place on the next ferry that was due to leave in about 45 minutes. We watched the crabs on the rocks and chatted while waiting.

The ferry came and we boarded. We then had a drink upstairs during the crossing. The ferry we boarded was due to land at pier 31, which was much more convenient for Glen and I, but less so for the others. When we landed, Scott cycled to Sports Basement to collect the car, while the rest of us stayed and had tacos and margaritas at the Mexican place right on the pier. The tacos were really good, and of course it meant we had more time to catch up with Anna.

Scott made it back to us probably around 8:30pm or so. Eliza had fallen asleep at the table, poor love. We said our goodbyes and went separate ways. Glen and I cycled back to the bike hire place, which was a little worrying as we didn’t have any lights on our bikes and it was dark by then. We made it there safely, however, and returned the bikes and walked back to our hostel.

Being a Saturday night in San Francisco, how could we not go out? Well, pretty easily, once we got over the guilt. I was wiped out after 11 hours on a bike. Glen found a couple of places to go but we figured that as it was just the two of us, there wasn’t really much point in heading out. A club is a club, after all. If we’d been with friends, we would have sucked it up and gone out, but as it was just us, we committed the social sin of staying in and went to bed. Despite this, it had been a good, jam-packed day in San Francisco and I had enjoyed seeing a little bit of this city.