1. San Francisco to Davenport, CA, USA

After about two hours of half-sleep, I sprang up out of bed early for Day 1 of my bike trip around the world.

Members of Partners in Climb, my cycling team, arrived soon afterward. Stuffed into our garage, Bo and Lisa helped me with the final packing checklist. Laura reassured me that switching my tires at the last minute wasn't foolish. Abby, Carol, Ilse, Molly, and Gowri provided color commentary. Howard, my husband, packed his panniers to camp with me the first night, before parting ways for who knows how long. And Euge did the uzh, which is to say she artistically documented it all.

Iris stopped in to deliver a hamsa pin to protect me from the Evil Eye, an homage to our travels in Turkey.

And everyone chipped in to spackle my subtly cracking psyche.

Then we were off! All the sudden, I was living my dream. With so little sleep, I felt double-dreamy.

First stop was Ocean Beach, where my sweet friends Vicky, Bobby, Melissa, and Korn were waiting with my coach, Marissa. Howard scrambled down to the water to get a sip of the Pacific to splash over my rear wheel, how we do. When I return, I will dip my front wheel in the Pacific.

The wheel-dousing ceremony

And then we climbed out and south.

Euge rode with us until Pescadero, where we feasted on a sacrificial Arcangeli artichoke bread, per the Book of Bike. (Kudos to Daniel and Ellie-dog for picking Euge up and giving us a final good-bye.)

Howard was my hot date at Rancho del Oso, where the campground was all ours. A pale green shooting star bade me goodnight. I hadn't slept so well in weeks.

Distance: 63.46 mi/102.13 km

Climbing: 3,140 ft/954 m

Sleep spot: Rancho del Oso State Park, Davenport, California

Route:

SF_to_Rancho_del_Oso.gpx

Download GPX • 6.91MB