California Dream Ride Day 5 - Corte Madera to Oakland (35? miles)

Finally the joy of the Dream Ride returned! We had a fantastic day. Our route was for the most part unchanged from the original plan. What that means is that we had beautiful roads, amazing views, wonderful foods, evening meet ups with local cycling advocates, and nice, yet interesting hotels.

We are staying at the Waterfront Hotel in Oakland for our last day. It is an excellent location - steps away from the ferry, our dinner location, the USS Potomac, and Jack London Square. If you ever visit Oakland, this would be the place to lay your head.

I am sure Jettie would love this license plate for herself. Way to go Wisconsin!

Lots of waterfowl in the bay areas.

Our destination is in sight (okay, still smoky, but recognizable!)

An amazing little market in upscale Tiburon.

I loved their displays of everything and the delicious smells.

Later we found out our lunches were catered from this very place (and it was indeed very, very good).

 

Elle's ear-to-ear smile is due to her fun times on the e-bike, climbing those Marin County hills.

Ralph must have some nifty photos from his helmet camera.

Getting closer! I have been wanting to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge for years!

Here we are, directly on the entryway to the bridge. The excitement builds!

 



Lots of historical information here. So lucky to experience this.

Dream Riders are quite photogenic.

Rico decided to add some extreme poses to enhance his photo.. (He's quite limber...)

 

Okay, here we are on the other side of the bridge.

Oh my goodness, I don't know what I was expecting, but that was one wild ride.

Only one side of the bridge was open this morning.

I understand on the weekend and evenings, both sides are open...

The left half of the walkway was for pedestrians. They had painted markers on the ground to show the path they were to take. Not that they stayed in their section...

The right side of the walkway was marked for bicycles. Going both ways!

There were many many many walkers and bicyclsts everywhere.

On their paths, outside of their paths, walking right into you, riding right into you.

Stepping in front of you to take a selfie.

It was batshit crazy and I am so glad I did it. Feeling no need to do it again!

 

Safely across, here is our awesome view from our lunch stop.

I really appreciate that John Riddle guided us through in one piece.

No crashes - amazing!



This is the Battery East Vista. Beautiful.

Val, me and Kathleen.

 

Post-lunch, well-fed and happy with the day...



Pat: aka "Alpine Beer Man"

After lunch, we stopped to regrouped, and I popped inside the Fort Point National Historical Site.

This place was amazing. I wish I had more time to explore. I must come back.

Nathan and Kathleen (our SF Dream Riders) led us along this little park.

 

Wonderful artwork! Thanks, Nathan!

Heading out of the park. It is a popular spot for walkers.

Alcatraz just across the bay.

More scenes as we leave this area.

Regrouping and confirming the route.

California Dream Ride Day 4 - Lodi to Corte Madera (40 miles)

Day 4 is in the bag and Day 5 is uncertain. The wildfires continue, though there are finally signs of some containment. It is still very bad here. The worst in California history.

Before getting to photos for the day, here are some photos from dinner last night. The venue, Lodi Beer Company, was gorgeous. The food was outstanding.

The Dream Riders and crew.

The amazing cheese bread.

Wonderful facility...

 Pat is channeling his inner turkey.

 Cool old Masonic cemetery in Lodi.

 Beautiful Lodi grapes. Great for blends!

 Pristine old International - parked just outside Walnut Grove. We retraced much of yesterday's route today. This meant yesterday's tailwind became today's headwind.

Yesterday I mentioned the town of Locke was a cool old historic place to visit. 

Today we did! 

 Pedaling through Locke.

After leaving Locke, we headed south along the Sacramento River toward Isleton. 

This part of the ride was decent.

Then we had to turn due west to get to Rio Vista. We had a wicked quarter-wind coming right onto our right faces and shoulders for what seemed like hours. 

Quarter-winds are much worse than full headwinds to me. My shoulders tense up and my neck aches. Hills make you strong. Winds make you mean...

And then we had to cross the terrifying Rio Vista Lift Bridge. It was long - half a mile. It was scary - trucks zooming past us with no shoulder at all. It was windy - the side gusts were awful. 

This was the longest half mile I have ever ridden... 

Safely on the other side, we had lunch at a park near the boat ramp.

Here are the fish you can safely eat. A rather sad state of affairs, isn't it?

These guys did not catch any fish today.

And we are done for the day after 40 miles.

I think we were all glad to escape from the nasty winds.

Here's Debbie piloting us to Fairfax.

And Debbie's co-pilot, John.

 Here are some of the Dream Riders. Getting giddy. Getting silly. Having fun.

 Diem somehow found some cotton candy to make the car journey even more goofy. 

Diem is a one-woman party. She had Kathleen and Elle chuckling the entire ride. 

Driving through Richmond was bad. The smoke was terrible. Such a continuing tragedy.

 The highlight of the day was a stop at the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in Fairfax. 

I had no idea how young the sport of mountain biking is.

 Here are the nice ladies at the gift shop. I bought that nifty little bag for myself. 

The gal holding it made it! Talented!

 And here's Mr. Joe Breeze, giving us a personal tour and accounting how how mountain biking came into existence. He literally made the first ever mountain bike. "Breezer # 1" is now in the Smithsonian. Breezer # 2 is in this museum. (And why did I not get a photo of it???)

 And Joe Breeze is a delightful story teller. His description of the modifications he made were so interesting and not too technical for me to follow. He was very helpful and humble. 

Jett would have loved this visit. 

This is a definite must do for anyone interested in cycling or mountain biking.

After the museum, we headed to our hotel in Corte Madera. 

We had a nice BBQ dinner.  Now for bed. We get to sleep in. Breakfast at 7:30.

We still do not know if we will ride tomorrow or not. 

The adventure continues for one more day!