San Fran to Vallejo to Sacramento (with candy heaven added bonus)

Day 1 - San Fran to Vallejo

75 miles

During orientation, they made the point that this ride was called the Cross Country Challenge, not the Cross Country Easy.

Day 1 was fabulous. But definitely through in many things challenging about cycling into the first day.

We started in Burlingame and rode into San Fran to the beach just south of Golden Gate Park. Madronas all along the route. Gorgeous sand beach with the coast snaking off into hills to the north. We picked up our bikes and hauled them 1/4 mile to the ocean and dunked the wheel in the pacific. Photo. Haul the bike back. Then ride north through the city - fabulous and quiet at 8 am on Sunday morning, and to Golden Gate Park and over the GG Bridge. That was a blast. Photo. Then north and East through Saucilito (photo photo) and hugged the bay inland. We hit the burbs where we counted 5 plastic surgery offices in about a mile. Considered getting a little "work" done so you could all tell me how this ride took off 10 years. Then outside of the Bay metro area and into farmland. Past San Quentin Prison ... Dang that is one huge compound of badness. Complete with big vultures hanging around outside. And then a fast ride with a great tail wind down a highway into Vallejo.

This was challenging because it took forever. Lots of climbing, regrouping, photos, etc. Tons of foot down for the first 50 miles. My average speed was 11 mph ... That's a long day. Everyone is nervous, and it was when you could really tell who had basic bike skills. Navigating was very time consuming and took a committee and an occasional Garman. There were 2 crashes - one sadly that ended with a cyclist dislocating his clavical and being sent home. Both were due to inattention ... A good reminder about how important it is to err on the side of caution on a ride this long (the odds start to be stacked against you I think with multiple days so control the risks you can).

Day 2 Vallejo to Sacramento

75 miles

Today was comparatively easy. It started with some climbing -including a couple of nasty steep hills a few hundred yards from the hotel. Warm up hills. Then we dropped into a valley with gorgeous fields and mountains in the distance. Perfect weather.

Some of us took a detour to tour the Jelly Belly Factory. That was a blast. Did you know it takes 7 to 21 days to make a Jelly Bean. Or that you can mix a chocolate with a cherry jelly bean and have a recipe. for chocolate covered cherries? Very fun stop. Then pedaled on through farmland till we went right through the UC Davis Campus. Then a stop at the In and Out Burger for what many swear to be the best fast food burger ever. Then smoked back in with another nice tail wind. Decent pace on this ride - 16.5 mph average. Fun and pretty low key. Beautiful country. Gorgeous sunny weather. Fresh local strawberries at the SAG stop. A quick swim in the river before dinner.