I've been assigned to support/volunteer with the >1 participants on Saturday the 16th at the Marina. I decided that it would be a positive thing to ride my bike to Crissy Field from the Sunset on that morning. I assumed that it would take about an hour to get there and knowing that I would have to be there at 7:30am, I needed to leave the house around 6:15 - 6:30am. The fun part was, I hardly ever visit the Presido or Marina area.

The day prior, I decided to go for a test ride to prepare for my next challenge. I started at 10am since it was past rush hour and traffic would be the closest to that of 6:30am Saturday morning [not really]. I couldn't go as fast as I wanted since major gears 2 and 3 were broken and gear 1, the easiest/slowest, was the only one working.

I also didn't plan my ride ahead of time, so going with memory and thinking at the spure of the moment was the plan of the day, which worked fine even with all the frustrated phone calls with a friend who didn't give the best directions. My fault really.

I reached the Presidio and there lived a GIANT hill which burned my thighs at the lowest possible gear. I hardly ride on the road with cars, but bike lanes are actually bigger than it looks, so that's a plus for future rides. Lincoln way was an uphill battle with cars zooming past by, but everything seemed balanced somehow. For instance, I wanted to stop but there was a nice view of the bay that kept me sane. The downhill was splendid! Absolutey fast! Yet in the back of my mind, I was thinking that my bike would trip, flip over and crash under a fast moving car. YIKES!

When I finally arrived, it was close to 11:30am which was pretty good considering all the pit stops to the public maps, bathrooms, phone calls, water breaks and wrong turns. I decided to leave as soon as I realized I found the place we were supposed to meet the following day and I also told grandma I was going to be back by 12 since we were having salmon for lunch. YUM! I knew I wasn't going to make it back on time [It was already 11:40am] but it should be faster going home since I know the way now. I was aimming for 12:30pm.

Of course, with all downhill fun, there's always a dreaded never ending uphill going back. I did fine with all the uphills getting to the Marina, but heading back home was a different story. I stopped 2-3 different times, walking my bike up the hill or taking breaks lasting more than 5 minutes. The first stop, I took a 10 minute break because my leg and butt muscles were extremely tired and worn. That hill was killer! Then all the smaller hills after that eventually became killers too! The only thing I wanted to do was to get on flat ground, but that too eventually became a killer. I just wanted to walk.

I made it home by 1:10pm. A total of 3 hours and learning now that it was 16 miles total. What a day. I can't wait for the next!