day 21

instead of heading straight down 101 to muir woods, which would have taken about 30 minutes, i decided to head to the coast and take highway 1. it took over two hours to get to muir woods along this route due to the winding roads, rough pavement, and construction, but it was worth it. it was a challenging ride, but i saw things i never would have seen on 101. while going up and down the hills and mountains and moving closer and further from the ocean, the tempurature changed many times, varying by about 30 degrees.

the first picture below is from the route to highway 1, looking back at the road i just rode on with the hillsides in the background. i think those are hawks in the sky circling over something. once i got to highway 1, there were many small fishing towns along the way. this second photo is one of the old fishing boats in tomales bay. continuing down highway 1, i rode between the point reyes national seashore and the golden gate national recreation area. the third picture is the ocean fog rolling in over the hills of point reyes.


along marshall-petaluma rd, ca - 09/01/2006


tomales bay, ca - 09/01/2006


fog rolling in over point reyes, ca - 09/01/2006

the section of highway 1 just south of stinson beach to muir woods was extremely winding and treacherous. there were dozons of hairpin turns with posted speeds of 10 to 15 mph; there were usually steep cliffs off to the side with no guard rails; and the road surface was extremely uneven, often going down to one lane due to slide where part of the roadway fell toward the ocean.

once i got to muir woods (thanks mike), i knew i wasn't going to make it all the way through my original itinerary for the day, so i decided to spend some more time here and cut the route short. i was very glad i did.

i took the long trail and was amazed by not only the trees, but also the history of muir woods, john muir, and his importance regarding the national park service. near the end of the trail, i asked one of the park volunteers about some trees that i rode through on highway 1 north of the park. he told me that they were blue gum eucalyptus and went into a 20 minute explanation of their history, how they were introduced to california from australia in the 1800s, and the problems they have caused in california. the most interesting story he had was the role these trees played in the 1991 oakland hills fire and how the oils in the trees causes them to explode.


walking among giants, muir woods, ca - 09/01/2006


old and new, muir woods, ca - 09/01/2006


"small" grove, muir woods, ca - 09/01/2006

after spending a few hours at muir woods, i knew i had to make some progress on my route, even though i already knew i had to cut it short. after riding for almost three weeks on secondary roads with limited traffic, i was not too excited to ride around san francisco on major highways on the friday afternoon of labor day weekend. most of my concerns were met or exceeded.

it wasn't too bad while i was north of san francisco and oakland. i even got to go over the richmond-san rafael bridge. once i got to oakland, though, it got pretty bad. there were times when it was about 10 miles per hour for about 20 mintues. there were tons of motorcyles riding between the slowed to stopped cars, called lane splitting, which is legal in california. some were going only slightly faster than traffic, but others were really flying.

for quite a while i didn't even consider it, but after about an hour sitting in traffic, i gave it a try. i set a rule for myself that i would only do it if traffic was going less than 15 miles per hour. i also didn't allow myself to go to0 fast. it ended up being pretty easy and i really did feel safe doing it. if i was going too slow and there were other motorcycles behind me, i would move back into traffic and let them pass me. i think it ended up saving me about an hour of travel time over about two and one-half hours.

the long day, the traffic, and the over 90 degree heat caused me to stop even earlier than i had planned. i might take a break on saturday to catch up on laundry and reassess my itinerary for the next few days, taking into account the labor day weekend and warm weather in the southwest.