"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.
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