Day 13 (of 22) riding ...

SUNDAY, JULY 29
Santa Rosa, CA to San Francisco, CA

Staying at St. John's Armenian Apostolic Church

71.1 miles today, average pace 11.5 mph

Total ascent 3,675 feet (grades up to 12%)

San Francisco ... and the Golden Gate Bridge! 

My good buddy Sarah D and I were sweeping today, and she pretty much had to carry me most of the way. I don’t usually let myself get mentally down on these adventures, but today, for most of the day, I found myself wondering what I was doing out here on my bike, mile after mile, up and down these hills, bouncing over potholes, trying to keep from getting run over on some of these narrow or non-existent shoulders, all the time wondering how far behind I was letting us get. All the hills looked the same today, like I had already done the current hill just a few miles back. I kept wondering if we would ever get to the church.  A little good news for today, my knee was doing ok, and I was still able to get up out of my saddle to climb some of the hills.

Another good buddy, Chris C, is always looking out for me by chalking places for me to stop for chocolate malts. Unfortunately this one was too far from the church and I was way too far behind to be able to stop. Ya gotta love helpers like Chris!

Years ago when I was still a runner (jogger to tell the truth), and I was in San Francisco on a business trip, I looked out my hotel room at the Golden Gate Bridge and decided to lace up the running shoes, run to the bridge, and run across. Unfortunately, the bridge looked a lot closer than it actually was, considering all the distance added by going up and down all the hills, plus the difficulty of going up and down those hills. Well as I recall, I made it over and even back, but that was all I was good for. I had nothing left in my tank, and had to figure out how to get back to my hotel on the bus. These are some tough hills.

I’m not sure what’s on the agenda tomorrow for our day off. My chore group is getting up early to get laundry done, and then we have the rest of the day for doing whatever we choose. We tried to do the laundry tonight, but couldn’t find a large enough facility to handle all our clothes at one time. We changed chore groups today, so I’m not on the early breakfast chore any more (I’m not sad about that!). Jenn is my excellent chore group leader, and she helps me remember what I should be doing. 

Everyone enjoyed another great meal tonight, provided by yet another great congregation.

Peace ...