-- 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)
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