The day started out a little chilly…okay who am I kidding. It was downright cold when I left my house to head to Shari’s – nothing that 3 layers of paints and 4 layers of shirts/vents/jackets wouldn’t fix. But it did get better and it turned out to be an amazing day for a ride – was able to shed many of my layers by the time we got to our lunch spot.
I want to thank those that braved the cold weather morning to join me on my ride and the last official ride of the year – just realized that on Sunday. We had 8 riders (6 members and 2 new riders – Brian Hasek and Mark Soiland). Hopefully we will see the 2 new riders again.
I have to admit, I was not as prepared for this ride as I usually am, but thanks to our understanding group, we made an adventure out of it.
Once we wrapped up our pre-ride meeting, where we decided to change the ride slightly, we headed down Hwy 101 towards Sausalito to the Marine Mammal Center. I must confess, I was a little disappointed as the Mammal Center did not have any animals that we could see as this is their slow season (good for the animals but not for those of us that wanted to see these beautiful creatures). We spent about 30 minutes or so at the center before we hopped back on the bikes. George took the lead and we headed up to the Golden Gate View Point where we got to see the breath-taking views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Truly a beautiful site.
Once on our way, I took the lead again and we headed back up Hwy 101 to Lucas Valley Road. This is an amazingly beautiful road. Highly recommend it. We followed this to Nicasio Valley Road where we turned and headed to San Geronimo. This is where we had lunch. For those of you that have been to Two Bird Cafe, it is under new ownership and has a new name: Giaco’s Valley Roadhouse.
Food was good and service was relatively fast considering how busy they were. Oh and yes, we got separate checks this time…hahahaha
Once we were done with lunch, we headed West on Sir Francis Drake Blvd out to Olema. Some decided to break off and head home on Pt. Reyes-Petaluma Rd while the rest of us continued up the coast to Pt. Reyes. From here everyone broke off and headed their own way home. I continued up the coast on Hwy 1 to Tomales then headed inward towards home.
As usual when we are on our bikes – it was a great day, with awesome people. It felt so good to be back on the bike.
Your Ride Captain – Melisa
Click the Google Photos Image to open the Ride Album in Google Photos