Two Towers

Today I did a solo ride while Cathy had to work (poor thing). It was a glorious San Francisco day with bright sun and a good breeze so that while it was warm day, the wind kept things cool. It was what I would call perfect biking weather! My initial objective was to climb to the top of Telegraph hill, the site of Coit Tower. Here is the route I plotted out on Bikely.com, complete with notes and pictures. If you click on the below Bikely map and look at the elevation profile you will see why I called this ride Two Towers.

Two Towers

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

I started my ride going down Folsom to the Embarcadero, up Bay and and left on Stockton. The climb started there and was actually pretty reasonable on my trusty 14 year old mountain bike. I didn't even have to stand up for any part of the climb since I had a great climbing gear. I got to the top and sent some pictures to brag to Cathy and Captain Kirk since this ride was pretty much my homework over the weekend. It is actually funny to go there because in the 13 years that I have lived in San Francisco I have never actually been to Coit Tower. The views along the way up are more impressive than the at the top since the trees obscure things. I guess that is the reason why people pay the $3 to go to the top of the tower, which I didn't. When I locked up my bike a I said good day to Vietnam Vet was standing there enjoying the sun. He was jovial and said that is a great day just to wake up alive. We chuckled and I pointed out that for days like today you have to appreciate getting a little extra and he agreed.

Looking to the northwest you can get a good view of the bay and as one might expect it was full of sailboats, some really heeling hard so I am sure the wind was strong out on the water. It would have been a great day to be out there, but I had my bike and I was ready to do a lot more riding. I looked over to the west and saw Nob Hill right there and didn't realize at that point that I would be climbing it. I left Coit Tower without any sort of plan and bombed down Telegraph Hill. I then decided to take my chances to go the wrong way on Grant a few blocks since there was no traffic and I tried to climb Fillbert and when trying to shift up to get more turn on my crank it slipped and I totally wiped. Shimano Deore components disappoint again. I fortunately didn't hurt myself but a woman who was unloading her kids from her car heard me curse as I was going down and asked if I was alright. She said that she lived on this hill and would never even think of biking up it. I decided maybe I would save that one for another day. I turned around, said "next time" to some guy who was watching me, trying to play it cool, and made my way into Washington Square.

It was a little less windy down there and it was warm, full of people sunbathing and of course there was a crazy lady yelling obscenities to no one in particular. I made my way over to the artists showing their work over on the southwest corner. I found two artists with really beautiful stuff. First was Stephen Bruce who had some gorgeous pieces of painted copper that made me think of a satellite view of what salt marshes like from very high altitudes I really wanted to get one of them because it would look amazing in our sage-colored bedroom. The aquamarine coloring was really gorgeous, but his prices were a little out of my league. Second I saw the work of James L. Marc who had some very beautiful paintings of horizons that he said were done on location. One that I really loved he said was was done off the coast of Venezuela, but strangely it is called Florida Sunset. Not sure what was up with that. I didn't even bother asking how much his pieces were because I know it was more than I was every going to be able to pay for on my salary. While perusing I also met a curious shirtless fellow named Devin who had some interesting concepts about what he calls "recycled art" which I don't quite get get, but he seemed to have a vision that was positive so I wished him well. I had enjoyed my stop long enough so I got back on the saddle and headed for some more hills.

I decided to head up Union towards Nob Hill. I turned up Taylor which and this time I got myself into a good gear to do a standing climb. I was very happy to have my bull bars because I was literally pulling my butt up this thing. They really d help for climbs and that hill was a beast! When I got to Green I was totally winded so I stopped and took a picture of the downhill but the picture really didn't do it justice. I wasn't initially going to climb the next leg up but I didn't really want to go back to North Beach on Green so I just went the rest of the way up to Vallejo. That got me pretty much to the highest point of Nob Hill. There is a cute little park up there called Coolbrith Park which I got a few more pictures of Alcatraz and North Beach.

After that, I just cruised Nob Hill proper along Taylor and thought about how to make my way back down. At California, right after Grace Cathedral, I took a left and started to head down the hill, but I decided to take a right down Powell which has the streetcar tracks on a separate elevated lane and rode down the middle of it to avoid the cars since traffic was now becoming an issue. It might not have been the best idea from the MUNI drivers perspective and I got some annoyed barking from them even though I never got in their way. They are on tracks so their path is going to be pretty predictable. I guess these guys are the closest thing to elite they have so maybe he felt obliged to tell me what's what. Once I got through Union Square I banged a left on Eddy so I could shoot back home down Fourth Street. The nice downgrade is such a nice reward after a long ride and I was able to time it just right to really fly.

All in all it was a pretty damned fine ride, and a lot more that I thought I was going to do when I started. I really got to get a taste of San Francisco's North end at its best, hills and all. Days like today you don't just waste and I am glad I didn't.