Day 1
We're Off!!!  Well, maybe not!

DAILY DOINGS: Wow, what a morning!  I told everyone last night we'd have a tough day getting out of San Francisco, but I had no idea...SURPRISE!!!  Now that I've gotten your attention, I'll start at the beginning.  We got up early for breakfast at the motel and a leisurely load so everyone could try to see our routine...it always takes a day or three for everyone to get comfortable with how we do things so I thought since today was such a tough day on the bike, I'd make it a little easier by not putting much stress on the departure.  Can't you just see the low stress level of those in the photo left?  The low stress level for me, however, would end very shortly as we started to roll. Little did we know what lay ahead...the Aids Ride going out of town with 2000 riders greeted us with invitations to ride to LA with them and cat calls that we were going the wrong way...but they hushed when we said we were going to New Hampshire.

The first real challenge came just 2 miles from the motel as we started up the ridge to highway 37.  Our route wound through a neighborhood with pitches of 10-13% in places and climbed over 600 feet in little over a mile.  I was impressed with how everyone seemed to get up the first real climb so close to the motel.  There were "I Like Mike" signs all up and down the hill but I think someone in our group showed their displeasure toward their fearless leader before they got to the top of the hill. 

We actually made it to the beach in good order and in good time to accomplish the tire dip ceremony and group photo...that's when the fun started.  Our route was scheduled to ride through Lincoln Park which overlooked the ocean and the Golden Gate Bridge.  The park is the western end of the Lincoln Highway which was the first transcontinental highway stretching from New York City to San Francisco.  Interestingly enough, the road was designed by Carl Fischer who also built the Indianapolis Speedway.  Opened in 1915, the road was renamed in 1921 to US 30, 40, and 50 in different parts of the country.  You'll notice that we'll follow much of that route as we make our trek across the US.** 

Well, back to the day...As we were leaving the beach, we got tangled up with the ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ Triathlon with over 2000 participants and guess what...they were on the same route that we were on.  The police had all our route blocked and were directing everyone to alternate routes that would also lead to a blocked off road...was there no way out of town?  Karen and I were bringing up the rear with a couple riders when we saw our group had gathered at a dead end with no place to go...now what.  At least I had everyone with me...we were lost with no hope in sight, but at least we were all together.  A local law enforcement officer tried to help us get through all the road blocks but he kept coming up with dead ends too.  We could almost see the Golden Gate Bridge, but we couldn't get to it.  Finally, we found our way to an area where we could cross the triathlon route, but it took us 15 minutes or so to get everyone across the course with the racers flying down hill at speeds over 40 MPH with no break between the riders for us to cross.  After darting over the road in twos and threes every time we got a little break, we finally got everyone across with nothing else between us and the Golden Gate Bridge unless you count the gate that that was closed that thwarted us from getting on the west side of the bridge.  Undaunted, we took the pedestrian side (Bay side) of the bridge and finally made our escape out of SF...whew, everyone signed in at the SAG in Sausalito...all my ducklings were back together.

It was amazing aside from our escapades, the bridge was almost completely socked in with fog (left) until we got to the north end that was completely clear (below right) and the temperature went up almost 20 degrees in the span of about 200 yard when we popped out into the sun on the Sausalito side...we couldn't complain about the weather that was for sure.

Now I could breathe a sigh of relief, everyone was back on track and we were past the tough navigation...well, not so fast carrot breath.  There was more in store for us later on, but as for now, everyone got to the second SAG in great time and I was thinking we were going to get in pretty early and everyone was in a tremendous mood with the tailwinds and sunny skies...and hey, we had lots of great stories to tell about running amok in SF.  Karen jumped into the mechanics van so I could get some done on the website and we started forward.  Just before the trouble started, we had stopped to help Alan with a flat when we got a call from Larry and a large group of riders that couldn't find our next turn and were trying to get back to where they thought it might be.  Karen and I jumped back in the van and headed toward the next turn to try to see why no one could find it.  As we were entering Vallejo, I saw where I thought we should be going but that's not where the road we were on would take us...they had built a new road that passed over our next turn with no way to get to it if you didn't take the new exit.  By the time we got there, everyone was passed that area and was lost in a maze of roads that looped around a theme park and on roads that weren't on any maps I had.  Karen and I sped around and put AB directional arrows on every intersection we could find directing folks to our turn and finally after lots of phone calls and "Ask someone to direct you to here" instructions, we finally found the last riders and got them back on track.  So much for the early finish of the day.  I rode in with the last group and we arrived at the motel 10 minutes before Rap at 6:00.

All in all, it was a hectic confusing day but everyone got in safely and had plenty of stories to tell.  The good news was, no one hung me for the problems today (maybe they felt sorry for me for my sore forehead) and everyone worked well together to get through the day.  I think everyone should get a navigational award today.  After today, navigation will be a piece of cake the rest of the way.  Tune in tomorrow to see if we can find our way to Sacramento.  I've checked the route sheet and I think it will get us there...just hope they haven't built a new road between here and there.  See you tomorrow.

**Info from research provided by Gene Wengert a former staff member.

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