BayCycle 2009: Each to Her Abilities

"I think I can, I think I can"
-- The Little Engine That Could

We circumnavigated San Francisco Bay, traveling through all nine Bay Area counties. My Beautiful Wife (MBW) rode 262 miles through 48 cities and towns, cycling 15 to 51 miles per day. I rode my recumbent trike in ten of those towns, cycling 3 to 9.5 miles per day.

As we had expected, the driving was harder for me physically than the riding, even though I drove many more miles than I rode. Fortunately some lessons were learned the first two days that made the rest of the trip much easier. For example, unless I really wanted to see something along the way it was a lot easier to take the fast route on the highway rather than the surface streets MBW was riding. My joints don't like repetitive motions, which is one of the challenges that had kept me from cycling for years (and the major reason why I wasn't riding every mile with my wife). On the highway, I can use cruise control. On surface streets, the constant starting and stopping irritated my ankle after the first two days. I spent the rest of the trip driving in an ankle wrap and took the freeway where possible.

I'd originally had a training target of being able to ride 10 miles/day. Although I did complete some training rides of up to 12.5 miles, it became clear I wouldn't be able to sustain that day after day. So I changed my training target to 6-8 miles/day. In the end, timing issues kept some of my rides shorter than planned. It took me most of the trip to streamline getting the trike off the rack and everything (safety flag and triangle, water bottles, backpack, etc.) strapped on and ready to ride. It also took awhile to get the rhythm of when I should to arrive in order to be ready to roll by the time MBW reached me. By the end of BayCycle, we had that timing down pretty well. She caught up to me at Crissy Field in San Francisco as I was getting the trike ready to roll, and we arrived at our destination in San Mateo within minutes of each other.

The sinus/ear infection turned out to be a bigger obstacle in many ways than any other physical issue. But I only lost one full riding day to it, after that rough night with the earache. Otherwise I was glad to ride off-road trails where possible. Most hearing was temporarily blocked in my right ear and that made me a little nervous riding along parked cars and through intersections. But I had come to ride and ride I did, saving my longest ride for the last day.

Now that we've completed BayCycle, we're starting to think about where we can take other cycling vacations. Future trips will likely be more leisurely, because MBW won't be trying to ride every mile as I drive. And we still want to go back up to Marin for that ride down Shady Lane.

BayCycle Day 9: Home Sweet Home!

"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
-- from Home Sweet Home, lyrics by John Howard Payne

Today we woke up in our own bed, ate breakfast at home, and then loaded the bike and then the trike onto the car for the last leg of BayCycle 2009. We could have spent the night in San Mateo but it's so close we figured why spend on a hotel? So we drove up to San Mateo, where My Beautiful Wife (MBW) had finished yesterday's ride. Unmounted the trike in order to get the bike unloaded, then reloaded the trike. I kissed MBW and wished her a safe ride as she pedaled off in the wrong direction so she could use a restroom in San Mateo's Central Park before heading for home. Then I drove down to Menlo Park, parked on a side street, unloaded the trike once more, and pedaled over to my allergist for my shots. By the time I was done, MBW had arrived. We cycled over to Tootsie's, a new but already favorite cafe located next to the Stanford Barn, and shared a sandwich on a patio surrounded by a sea of blooming lavender abuzz with industrious bees.

From there we headed towards downtown Palo Alto and turned onto the Bryant Street bike boulevard, a tree-lined street of expensive homes that runs for blocks and blocks with no stop signs (yay!). At Colorado Street we turned towards Midtown Palo Alto where I had a 5:00 appointment with my chiropractor. Both she (the chiropractor) and I had expected me to be in much worse shape after driving and cycling around San Francisco Bay. We are both delighted with how well I held up (ear infection aside). Since she was running late, we had time for a latte a few doors down, and I left MBW there to amuse herself with the netbook.

After the appointment, it was time for the final leg of our ride. We took a less than direct route through another tree-lined neighborhood in order to avoid the commute traffic, but before long we were home. Home! The first thing we needed was dinner. But there was one more BayCycle task we needed to do (besides the final photo shoot): Drive the other car back to pick up the one I'd left in Menlo Park. So after a celebratory dinner at Chevy's (second choice since our favorite Thai restaurant is closed on Monday's) we headed back to Menlo where MBW hopped into the other car and we both headed for home.

There's more blogging to do. I need to write more about yesterday's fabulous ride in San Francisco, and post the photos from there. And I want to look at the miles I rode. But we're home and the journey is over, and tomorrow we both go back to work. It was great fun, and I totally admire MBW for coming up with the idea and for all the planning and all the riding. And I'm really proud of myself for going along and doing what I could do ... and then some.

Time for bed and dreams of rides to come.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leapingwoman/sets/72157619415938070/
MBW's BayCycle blog: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/baycycle
(and here's her post on Day 9)

BayCycle Day 8: Tired and Happy!

My Beautiful Wife (MBW) started her day's ride with a short steep uphill out of the condo parking lot, then rode through Sausalito and across the Golden Gate Bridge on a glorious sunny day. I updated my blog, then headed onto highway 101 and across the bridge. So far, so good. But when I hit Doyle Drive coming off the bridge, I hit a major traffic snarl. There was a triathlon, Escape from Alcatraz, ending on the Marina Green. I turned off at the first opportunity and called MBW to adjust our meetup plans. Then I headed away from the traffic onto the Presidio, and wound my way to the Crissy Field parking lot. By the time I had the trike off the rack, MBW was there.

We headed away from the water, past the Palace of Fine Arts, and over to Chestnut street to meet our friend Jan for lunch. She'd been following MBW's blog and that had inspired her to bring us a box of Kara's Cupcakes. We caught up over lunch, then headed back toward the Marina and towards Fort Mason. At that point MBW continued on towards the Embarcadero. I turned back for a ride into the wind along the Marina.

The wind wasn't as bad as I'd expected. It had been windy for the whole trip and we were getting somewhat used to it. I stopped for a cupcake break and watched a sailing race in progress, the crews climbing over the edge of the boat as counterweights. Along the shore people were watching the race and some were cheering on their favorites. It was such a beautiful day that I was smiling all the way down the Marina and along the Golden Gate Promenade. I knew that MBW was approaching her Third Street ride on the south end of town, one that she felt a little nervous about. I had half a mind to cut my ride short and get down closer to there in case she needed me. But she had told me to enjoy myself and take my time, and I knew she could take care of herself. So I rode down to the end of the big Crissy Field meadow before heading back to the car.

MBW had gotten out of San Francisco safely and we couldn't find a good place to sync up, so we both headed for San Mateo where we were having dinner with her brother and his girlfriend. She arrived literally minutes after I did, which amazed us and impressed our hosts. Here she is, exhausted, getting a welcoming hug from her brother.

I was too tired to blog that night so I initially I'd just posted this picture from my ride along San Francisco Bay. I'd been trying to take my own picture with the bridge in the background. A woman whose companion had left her sitting on a nearby bench offered to take it for me. Since she had crutches and her leg in a serious cast, I figured there was little danger of her taking off with my cell phone. So that helpful stranger gets the credit for this photo.

Here's My Beautiful Wife's post on Day 8.

BayCycle Day 7: The Shady Lane Decision

"Life is not a bicycle ride down Shady Lane."
-- Overheard in Marin County

I had a decision to make on Day 7: Where to ride in beautiful Marin County. My first idea was to drive up Sir Francis Drake Boulevard to the Ross Commons, and from there ride my trike down Shady Lane, a lovely tree-lined street popular with local cyclists. Years ago while waiting for a bus on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard I'd heard a mother admonish her teenage daughter, "Life is not a bicycle ride down Shady Lane." Any local would have understood what she meant: that life is not always easy and pleasant. I had walked down Shady Lane and driven down it, but never ridden a bicycle there. And since I was in the area with my trike, it seemed as though I could finally take that ride.

The other option was to drive down to the north end of Sausalito and ride the bike path to Mill Valley along Richardson Bay. It's a beautiful part of the Bay Trail and a favorite walk when visiting MBW's sister, whose condo overlooks the path. It would be easier to ride with My Beautiful Wife (MBW) since it was on her planned route. I could park at the end, ride up the path, meet her, and we'd ride back to the car together. From there we'd mount both bikes on the car and drive them up the long steep hill to the condo. But I was having trouble letting go of the idea of Shady Lane, so all morning I dithered, unable to commit to one ride or the other.

We were treated to lunch in downtown San Rafael by MBW's aunt and uncle. After eating we walked down the street and checked out this double arch of bicycle wheels, joking that it was placed there in honor of BayCycle 2009. This weekend is San Rafael's annual Italian Street Painting Festival, a fundraiser for Youth in Arts. So we strolled through the festival and checked out the works in progress.I've posted more photos of the festival in my BayCycle 2009 album on Flickr.

Then it was decision time. Shady Lane was not on MBW's route and we really wanted to ride together, so we decided to save Shady Lane for another time and ride the Richardson Bay bike path. MBW climbed on her bike and headed south. I followed an hour later in the car, trike on the back. By some quirk of fate we both took wrong turns in Corte Madera and, in the process of getting back on track, crossed paths unexpectedly at an intersection. I honked and waved, and continued on to Sausalito.

It takes me a while to get the trike unloaded from the car and loaded up with water bottles, backpack, etc. So once I got out on the path I didn't get far before meeting up with MBW. She turned around and we pedaled all the way up the path and back. It was a glorious sunny afternoon, a little cool and breezy but pleasant. The path has great views of Mt. Tam and the surrounding hills.

Having spent most of the last thirty years without a bicycle, one of my favorite things about the trike is being able to ride with MBW. She's had so many great adventures on her recumbent, including riding from San Francisco to Los Angeles twice with AIDS/LifeCycle. On this trip I get to have some of those cycling adventures with her. And when I'm riding with My Beautiful Wife, life is a bicycle ride down Shady Lane.


P.S. Here's MBW's post on Day 7.

BayCycle Day 6: Petaluma to San Rafael

While the love of my life cycled the scenic hills from Petaluma to Novato on Friday morning, I had a leisurely breakfast, tidied up, and loaded my trike onto the car. Then I took the fast route (highway 101) to Novato, and turned onto Novato Boulevard hoping I wasn't too late to catch her coming the other way. Within a mile I saw her, but she didn't see me. I pulled off onto a side road and called her cell phone, then instructed her to look back. A short way down the road we pulled over and went into Sam's Place, what looked like a solid local establishment and a change from some of the fast food we'd been consuming. The menu included everything from BBQ and oysters to falafel and enchiladas. The food turned out to be disappointing, but we had a really great latte afterwards at the Marin Coffee Roasting Company, a drive-through cafe located in a former gas station.


From there I drove to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Marin County Civic Center, a local landmark. It's got a great view of the Terra Linda area of San Rafael including a copper-clad building in which I'd once worked as software engineer. I stopped in at the library and was pleased to see a couple of book displays for June 2009, LGBT Pride Month. I spent 30 minutes on the computer, met Kathleen at the Embassy Suites, and we went for a 3 mile ride around the surrounding neighborhood.



When MBW* and I were new, she lived in the East Bay and I lived in Marin. When we tired of driving back and forth over the Richmond Bridge, we moved in together in San Anselmo. We both still love Marin County and it's beautiful open spaces and rolling hills. It is always such a joy to be back there. So after checking into our hotel we went for a ride around the Marin Civic Center lagoon and the surrounding neighborhood.


Our next stop was a Long's Drugs where my doctor had phoned in an antibiotic prescription for my sinus and ear infection. As I waited I was struck by the choice of merchandise next to the pharmacy counter: Vitamin Water and Coors Light. Okay, maybe Coors Light is a healthier choice than regular Coors (is it?) but selling alcohol right next to the pharmacy just doesn't seem right. And selling it side by side with Vitamin Water seems downright weird. Watered-down beer next to overpriced water. Beer with a vitamin chaser. Or maybe a lighter take on a boilermaker? The mind boggles.


Then we had dinner with one of MBW's work friends, her almost-done-with-second-grade son, and a friend who helps take care of him. These women are no slouches. One runs the ICU at a nearby hospital, and the mom just finished police academy. After lots of crunchy fried foods seasoned with great conversation, we headed back to the hotel as the sun set and the fog rolled in over Mt. Tamalpais.


* My Beautiful Wife (here's her post on Day 6)

BayCycle Day 5: On the Fifth Day, We Rested

"Petaluma, California! What a great place to live, work, raise a family, and enjoy life!"
-- from Petaluma.org website

MBW* and I thoroughly enjoyed our day off in Petaluma. To begin with, she got a break from cycling town-to-town around San Francisco Bay. We both got to sleep in, instead of just me. We were staying with her cousin Mike and his wife Pat in their beautiful and comfortable home, much better than a hotel.

After a leisurely morning we got in the car (with MBW driving for a change) and ran some errands, then headed to the historic part of downtown Petaluma for lunch. As we walked down the street we ran into Pat and a friend on their way back from a weekly lunch date. They were coming from Cafe Zazzle, one of the places MBW had in mind, so we popped in there and had a fabulous lunch: fish tacos, Italian sodas, and a shared slice of key lime pie (sublime) for dessert. It was heavenly after some of the fast food we'd been eating on the road.

In the afternoon we did some laundry, uploaded photos and caught up on some blogging. I realized how much energy this ear infection had been sapping when I could barely blog anything and instead opted for a nap.

Pat and Mike and other friends and relations from as far south as Sausalito have been gathering for weekly Friday night dinners. In honor of our visit, the dinner was moved to Thursday and the dining room packed with 12. It was great seeing everyone since we don't get up this way very often.

* My Beautiful Wife (here's her (very brief) post on Day 5)

BayCycle Day 4: So Good in Sonoma

The Sonoma Bike Bath is a converted railroad right-of-way that runs through a history park with preserved buildings like the Victorian style (and adobe insulated) home of General Vallejo. The history park even includes this beautiful meadow within the city limits. My beautiful wife* and I rode the path together and it was glorious, particularly after the clouds cleared.

I've got more photos posted at http://is.gd/ZfvQ and http://twitpic.com/photos/leapingwoman.


* Here's MBW's post on Day 4.

BayCycle Day 3: A Ringing In My Ears

"It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop."
— Confucious

The night before we embarked on BayCycle I left a message on my allergist's cell phone. I had a budding sinus infection, and it made me glad we weren't flying on our vacation. But I prayed she wouldn't direct me to the nearest urgent care clinic, where I feared I would contract something even worse in the waiting room. To my relief she said to just keep doing what I'd been doing, and within a day my sinuses seemed to have recovered. However.

However, when we arrived at Denise & Kim's last night and started to set up our things in their guest room, I had an allergic reaction to their cat. First I started coughing, but my asthma inhaler took care of that. Then my ears started plugging up, and by the time we were ready for bed I had the most painful earache of my life. Warm compresses helped but I couldn't keep that up all night. It took a long time to get to sleep and in the meantime I was up and down so many times that no one in the house got a full night's sleep. Well, except maybe Louie the cat.

In the morning, warm compresses and decongestants calmed the earache but did not clear the congestion. Instead of riding by the Richmond Marina as planned I spent the morning running errands (pharmacy for more ear ministrations, bike shop about the wobbling wheels, etc.). I caught up with My Beautiful Wife (MBW) in Pinole for a cupcake break, lingered over a latte in Hercules, and caught up with her again in Vallejo. She had ridden up and down huge hills and across the bridge over the Carquinez Strait. And since she had not had a good night's sleep either, she was running out of steam and out of patience for Vallejo and its commute traffic.

We looked for a decent restaurant but ended up with fast food, then loaded MBW's recumbent onto the back of the car above the trike. After checking into our room in Napa, I applied more warm compresses to my ear and then crashed and slept for an hour and a half.

The ear? Still ringing, but I think the pressure may be going down. If it's not improved in the morning I'll call the doctor again. In the grand scheme of things, it's not so bad now that the pain has subsided. Nothing that should keep me from completing BayCycle 2009.

Here's MBW's post on Day 3.

BayCycle Day 2: Accepting the Mundane Gift

"Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch."
-- Orson Welles

On Day 2 of BayCycle 2009 I was delighted when MBW* offered to go for a ride with me around the San Leandro Marina before striking out on her own. We did a loop around what turned out to be a dead end, then headed towards the road along the golf course and the marina. I thought of a park with winding trails that I'd seen on the map in the opposite direction and asked, "Which would you rather do: ride along a manicured golf course or go explore the trails in the park?"

So we turned and rode up to Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline. We took the paved bike path up to a sculpture on a bluff overlooking the bay and the Oakland Airport. Then we rode around the perimeter, and back through the park on winding gravel trails.

Finding our way back took longer than expected. By the time we had the hotel in our sights again, MBW was starting to stress about her delayed start. She also realized she was hungry, and that wasn't helping.

If you're open to it, what you need often just appears in front of you. Sometimes you don't recognize it. We were riding right past an El Torito, a chain restaurant, right by the water. I hadn't even noticed it when we'd ridden past in the other direction. "Let's go in here and have some lunch," I said. She looked dubious. "It's right here." "No," she said, "that will take too long. I need to get going." I bit my tongue, not wanting to argue. Then she took a second look and saw the Lunch Buffet banner over the door. What could be easier or faster?

The food was decent. The corn tortillas were freshly made. We were in and out of there in short order. It wasn't what we'd planned or what we'd have looked for, but at that time and that place it was a total gift.

*MBW = My Beautiful Wife (here's her post on Day 2)

BayCycle Day 1: Driving Around with k.d. lang

"Out of nowhere this gust of wind
Brushed my hair and kissed my skin
I aimed to hold a bridled pace
When with love itself i came face to face"
-- k.d. lang, Ben Mink

As I started up the car that first morning of our BayCycle adventure, A Prairie Home Companion was beginning its broadcast from Los Angeles with a start-studded guest list: Sheryl Crow, Martin Sheen, k.d. lang. I'd tuned in just in time to hear Garrison Keillor sing a song about a teenage boy driving around L.A. with the top down. The topic seemed appropriate enough for starting out on a road trip. I left the radio on that station so I could hear k.d. lang. The next day was going to be MBW* and my 18th anniversary as a couple. k.d.'s song Pullin' Back the Reins had played an important role in our early days, describing so well the wild and heady rush of our new love. Hearing the "driving around" song and k.d. lang on the first leg of the journey seemed an auspicious beginning. I chose to accept these as good omens as I drove around the southern tip of San Francisco Bay to catch up with the love of my life.

*MBW = My Beautiful Wife (here's her post on Day 1)

BayCycle Day 1 Mountain View to San Leandro: Is That Possible?

"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
-- Lewis Carroll

When we checked into our San Leandro hotel tonight, the desk clerk began to list the hotel's amenities: complimentary breakfast, pool and hot tub open until 10, bicycles ... She didn't get any further because we broke up laughing at the mention of bikes. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

"I'm the pace car," I joked. My Beautiful Wife (MBW) was ready to head out on her recumbent this morning so I climbed onto the trike and rode with her out to the stop sign. Then I went back in to linger over my tea, finish packing, load my stuff (including my 65 lb. trike) into and onto the car and head out in pursuit. We met at a bakery in Fremont for French toast and then headed towards Coyote Hills, a favorite hiking and birding spot of mine but one I'd never cycled in before. I pulled over at a cherry stand that seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere, at the edge of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The cherries were grown in Stockton, so fairly local, and they looked gorgeous: plump, dark and tempting. I bought a box and hid them under a towel on the floor of the car to stay cool.

Once I reached Coyote Hills I pulled into an unpaved lot and rolled the trike off its rack. It took me a few minutes to put everything back on the trike that I'd removed for the drive. Harness and reins for pushing, if needed, up hills or where bikes can't be ridden. My backpack full of stuff. Water bottles, binoculars, etc. Then I folded up the rack and rode on a nice paved trail just off the ride of the main road until I reached the visitor center. I had some time to kill before MBW made it there on her bike, so I puttered around taking pictures and taking in the fresh air. Two families of barn swallows had built nestss right over the center's door and I sat on the trike watching the parent take turns feeding their gape-mouthed young. Then I rode down toward the rode and sat just gazing out into the hills and over the marsh, checking out birds. American White Pelicans, mallards, red-winged blackbirds, cliff swallows, coots, white-tailed kites hovering over the hills.

Eventually MBW rolled up hungry and tired of fighing the afternoon wind blowing off the bay. After a snack she recovered and we headed up a paved trail toward Alameda Creek. And I do mean up, because most of the ride was, though with some downs, primarily climbing, wntil we reached a vantage point that looked out over the southern end of the bay. From there we cruised down a steep hill onto the Alameda Creek trail where the wind blew us inland, the broad seatbacks of our recumbents acting like sails. MBW had ridden here before but this was a new experience for me: sail-triking! Halfway down the trail we split up. She continued on, and I took an unpaved trail around the marsh and back toward the car. I've walked this trail before and always love the sights and sounds of birds, water, and wind rushing through tule, mustard, grasses, scrub. When I discovered that a trail I'd planned to take was closed, I didn't really mind backtracking. I knew where I was and where I needed to go, and enjoyed the extra time there.

Just as I pulled up to the car, MBW called. She was tired and hungry and didn't want to deal with any more wind. We agreed to skip Hayward Regional Shoreline and head for San Leandro, to visit some of MBW's large and loving extended family. She explained where she was and I headed up to meet her in Union City for a late lunch. When we reached the house in San Leandro they fed us watermelon and homemade cookies, and we shared the cherries I'd bought at the stand. They were watching the Lakers game so we watched the end with them, not caring about the game but happy to be off the bike (for MBW) and out of the car (for me). Then we tucked the bikes in their garage for the night and headed for the hotel. My Beautiful Wife had ridden 51 miles since she set out this morning, six more than she'd planned. I had ridden not quite 5 miles, a little less than I'd planned, but in the right ballpark.

Now, back to that desk clerk who had offered us the amenity of borrowing bikes. MBW explained that she had ridden to the hotel.

Clerk: "From where?"
MBW: "Mountain View."
Clerk: "Is that possible?"

More laughter. I imagine that MBW will have at least one of those conversations every day on this trip. And she'll probably document them all at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/baycycle.

BayCycle 2009 Here We Come!

"I think I want to ride my bike around the bay."
-- My Beautiful Wife (MBW)

That's how it began one day last fall. MBW came up with the brilliant idea of riding her recumbent bike all the way around San Francisco Bay. She figured it would take her about a week, and that she could stay with friends and family along the way. But that was before we got the Hitch Rider, which meant that I could come along (in the car) and pick bits of her route to ride with her. After months of planning and training and customizing my trike we are finally ready to go. MBW is blogging at Crazy Guy on a Bike (where she calls me MBW) and I'll be blogging here after months of neglect while hanging out on Twitter. See you on the road!

Goin' Back to She's Geeky

In October of 2007 I left my software industry job and went immediately to two back-to-back conferences for technical women. The first was the fabulous Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC), presented by the nonprofit Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI). The second was a fiesty little unconference for technical women organized by Kaliya Hamlin, also known as Identity Woman. I had a fabulous time at both of these very different events and got to know many very smart, accomplished, interesting and, yes, geeky (and I mean that in a good way!) women. I now work at ABI and get to help produce GHC, and I'm totally looking forward to this fall's conference in Tuscon, AZ, Sept 30-Oct 3. But that's months away, so I'm glad that She's Geeky is returning to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA on January 30-31.

If you're scratching your head and wondering what an unconference is, it's a facilitated, participant-driven event. The attendees put together the agenda at the unconference itself, based on their interests, expertise and needs around the event theme. It's a popular format for technical conferences in the Open Source, Linux and Web 2.0 spaces. I've been to a few now and found them to be fun and productive networking and learning experiences.

As with any other technical conference, at technical unconferences women often find themselves in the minority. Enter Kaliya Hamlin, an experienced unconference organizer and facilitator, and the She's Geeky, the technical unconference for women who self-identify as geeks. She and her friends have created an event for women with a wide range of interest or experience in using or creating technology to gather, share, and learn from each other. Not only do I consider She's Geeky worth attending for its own sake, but I think it would be a great place to get familiar with the unconference format if a woman was a little shy about diving into the Bar Camp scene.

Registration is open now at http://shesgeeky.org/. I'm geeky, and I'm goin' ... how about you?