Tag Archives: bikes

Ocean Beach Adventure

It’s weird to think that I live 3 miles from the beach, and go there so rarely.  It’s just so cold!  Saturday we had some gorgeous warm weather so once Josh got home from work I went for a bike ride through Golden Gate Park.  I live at one end of the park, and the other end of it dead ends at the Pacific Ocean… not too shabby of a ride.  Here’s my excursion in pictures:

Cruising along on my new Novara Buzz.  I don’t know why my reflector is sideways, just ignore it okay?  Yes I took this picture on my iPhone while whizzing by cars…   I had a helmet on, at least.

I rode past the new baby bison!  There’s been adult bison there for a while but someone just gifted 7 babies to the park.  (And then, one of them died after being terrorized by a small dog… weird story) Lots of people were gathered around so I joined in the fun.

I made it to the beach!  The road along the coast here is called the Great Highway.  I feel like it should be PCH, but that’s inland a little.  Did you know that the Golden Gate Bridge is technically part of PCH? 

There were so many people out.  I had a perma-smile on and was whistling Paul Simon songs, there were dudes out playing Sublime on the guitar, it was magical.  At this point I decided it would be a travesty to turn around and go home as originally planned, (sorry Josh!) so I ventured north a bit towards the historical Cliff House, built in 1858 (sort of).

I didn’t get a good picture of that, but just past the Cliff House lies the Sutro Baths, which used to be a public pool (opened in 1896) but burned down in the 1960s.  Now just the ruins remain.  Hello, Gorgeous.

Back up near the restaurant lies the most exciting part of my little adventure.  The giant, room sized Camera Obscura.  Like a pinhole camera you can walk into!   I paid the $3, asked the ticket dude to watch my bike, and headed inside.  It was kind of like those circus attractions where you can see a giant horse or something.  I wasn’t able to take a picture since it was super dark, but it was pretty rad.  Definitely worth $3!

The sun was starting to set (as the Seal Rocks so elegantly display) so I figured I better head home.  The ride to the beach is always a breeze because it’s mostly down hill, but heading home is a long, slow incline.  Grueling.

So anyway, there you have it.  Enough beauty to last me the whole week.  This Friday my aunt is coming into town and we are going on an SF adventure, starting at 6:30 AM!  I hear we’re taking Trapeze Lessons on Saturday too.  I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

New Bike!

Yep Yep – I am the proud owner of a brand sparkling new bicycle!  I got some cash from a few lovely family members for Christmas, and that combined with my work Christmas bonus was just enough to cover it.  I am so stoked.  You may recall that I had a road bike a few years ago and did a fundraising event for my work in 2010.  But when I got pregnant I sold it on Craigslist immediately because let’s be honest, the thing was a death trap.  (At least when I was riding it… best of luck to the nice Japanese man who bought it from me!)

When I was looking at new bikes at REI I specifically said I did not want a road bike with curly handlebars and super skinny tires.  But I didn’t want a mountain bike either… I ended up with a Novara Buzz, an urban bike with 24 speeds that shifts like a dream and was practically made for me.

I’ve gone on several rides through Golden Gate Park already… a few days ago after my ride I had to stop and get dog food down the street.  Then I balanced the bag over my bike and walked it all home.  (A homeless guy laughed at me and said I needed a mule.)  Hey, my system worked and I didn’t even have to look for parking!