San Francisco

Wednesday, Aug 31

Total milage = 5,700 = not helping the wear and tear
Current gas prices = not helpin the bills!!

We head out of town and decide to drive on the Scenic Highway (Route 1) down the CA coast. But, the dark cloud remains over my head today…for at least 80% of the drive (should be one of the most beautiful drives in the US)…all we could see was fog. BUT, when it cleared, man was it amazing.

Tuesday Aug 30

Woke up, and went out to my car to grab something. I had parked on the street, a block from Kelly’s house. I am looking up at my roof…and something looks different. For some reason, my rear wheel is on my rack, but NO BIKE! WHAT?!?!? This is not good. I start looking around, and see 2 little broken pieces off my front fork of the bike…my bike was stolen. To add a little salt to the wound, when the got the bike off, they nicely dropped the sharp fork onto my roof 3 times for some dents and scratches that will allow me to remember my stolen bike for years. I can’t believe it…and spend the rest of my morning on the phone filing reports with the police and insurance companies. This is DEF a bummer, but luckily, all my races were done for the season. I was hoping to get a new full suspension bike anyways.,.so life goes on.

Today was a big day for “The Beard.” Ladies, hold back your tears…I have shaved the beard!! I drove around to 3 barbers this morning until I found one that would do a hot face shave…pretty cool. Man, I really look different…makes me look so young!! Jack the barber took care of the shag hair and shag face.

Andrea and I went back down to Fisherman’s Wharf, grabbed lunch, then caught a boat over to tour Alcatraz. Pretty neat. After we got back, we jumped on a trolley and went further downtown, browsed, and came back to meet Kelly and her roommate Joanna for dinner/drinks.

Andrea is still sore from the race on Sunday. It is nice to let these roadies experience what a “real” triathlon is now and then, and feel the pain of the much tougher races!

Oh, and I saw 2 Ferrari’s today (and one yesterday)…these west coast peeps sure like to spend loot on their cars!

Monday Aug 29

Wow, we wake up to a beautiful day in San Fran. The fog burned off for the first time in 6 weeks, and it was nice and warm out. Kelly had the day off and showed us around town. First we went up into Marin County and had a nice view overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. Then we went over to a cool old lighthouse, but it wasn’t open yet, so I jumped the railing and did an extreme hike down a ridge to the ocean to see some little sea lions. After my hike the park rangers opened the gate to see the lighthouse, and we checked it out. After that, we went down to Sausalida (small town across the bay from San Fran) and wandered the town and grabbed lunch at a deli. Then we headed back over the bridge, and drove down Lombard Street…which is the curviest city block in the US…and it was so much fun…I did it 4 times…Andrea was particularly excited about this ;)

After the joys on Lombard hill we went over to Fisherman’s wharf, where I saw the best street performer…EVER! This guy was called “Bush Man” and he hid in front of a green trash can, placed 2 bushes in front of him, and would wait for unsuspecting tourists who were in their own world, and jump out at them and make this horribly scary roaring sound. HILARIOUS!! I couldn’t leave…it was SO funny. This guy was making some serious bank also (I put him at about $150/hour in tips). Andrea wasn’t so impressed, so she went around shopping while I enjoyed a few more good scares!

We then headed over to Haight Street downtown to grab dinner. We got food at a Thai place…best Thai I ave ever had. Pinapple cashew dish…yummy! After dinner we met up with Kelly and went to one of her favorite local establishments (about 2 blocks from her house).

Sunday Aug 28

We drive into San Fran around 6pm. It is beautiful, and we quickly realize the temperature is dropping (it is COLD, everyone is in long pants and jackets. We catch a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge, which is really neat. Fog has engulfed most of the city, very weird. Visibility is not that great after we cross the Golden Gate Bridge. We find my friend Kelly Wright’s apartment, she is right downtown, walking distance to a bunch of good restaurants and bars…and of course ice cream for Andrea’s sweet tooth (she craves it at least twice a day, and eats it like it is going out of style)!! We head out and explore the city (Kelly lives right off Union St). We grab a bite at Extreme Pizza!! “Extreme”…how cool!!!