Absolutely loving SF. Had a leisurely ride over the bridge today (which didn't disappoint) as well as around golden gate park, presidio and down to the beach and the Pacific Ocean. I didn't dip my rear wheel in the ocean as is tradition for some cyclist riding coast to coast. Just being there was symbolic enough for me as the starting point of the journey.
Morning news is on, sun is coming up. They says its inseasonsbly warm in California :)
Flight in was pretty smooth with little or no turbulence and was overall pretty perfect until 600 ft from the ground when the pilots aborted the landing and quickly put the power on and pulled up. Was pretty bloody scary not knowing the reason. Seemed to take him ages to come onto tanoy to explain but I guess he was focusing on flying. Came out with a pretty good excuse in the end in that another plane was still on runway! Hmmm
This photo was my first glimpse of San frans most famous landmark. Glad to report my mode of transport for the next few months came out of its box in pretty good condition. No problems :) Finally at airport. Bags and bike checked in. Virgin airlines took a heavy bike box at no extra charge. v inpressed. Very strange feeling being here. Sad to go but super excited.
Rode to Bath again to re visit my bike shop, Cadence, who have been fantastic in helping set me up with my bike and gear.
My power plug which connects to my dynamo hub seemed to be playing up as when I tried to power up my phone it kept dropping out and wasn't charging properly. It turns out there is nothing wrong with the power plug and actually it is me that is broken. I need to ride faster to get it to charge my phone! The power plug manufacturers say it charges at low speed. I guess 'low speed' is open to interpretation. With all the weight I'm carrying I'm only going achieve the 12 mph required, and charge up my electronics when I'm going down hill or travelling with the wind behind me. It was an amazing day to ride today though - I actually managed to get sun burn, in England, in April! 90 miles done in the last 2 days on a fully loaded bike. Day off tommorrow before riding 2 x 60+ mile days on Thursday and Friday. That will be my (minimal) preparation complete before packing up and flying Sunday. |