Next to Russia House #1, we stayed in a small trailer along the Russia River. We made our classic breakfast of peanut butter sandwiches and oatmeal, and our hosts also sent us off with these delicious European style pancakes.
Our original route would have been about 120km along Highway 1 including a 400m climb before entering Sausalito and eventually the Golden Gate Bridge, but for some reason, Google didn’t even offer that route as a viable option from Jenner, but rather to take a series of inland back highways, side streets, and paths. Although it added another 20km to our route towards SF, we didn’t want to gamble with a route Google didn’t see viable, so we made our way along the Russia River islands towards Santa Maria.
To say our new route was troublesome would be an understatement (thank you Google). Our first turn off onto the Bohemian Highway was closed road to through traffic, but that didn’t stop us from scooting around the signs to what was more or less a perfect road to cycle on. We had two ~150m climbs, with the second climb shooting us into a rural Valley road, which we would like to rename Death Valley. This is not the type of road you want to take a touring bike on, let alone the road bikes we have on our tour. For about 10km, we would climb 10-12% grades only to steeply descend onto pothole happy obstacles. Instead of enjoying each descent, we played a game called inspect all shaded areas for holes or sharp objects. Call us lucky, but we managed to avoid any major damage to our tires, other than one connection piece on Sammy’s panniers. Our wrists may have taken the most damage based on squeezing our brakes alone.
Our route then proceeded to take us out onto another set of rural roads, all of which were better paved than Death Valley, but still plenty of obstacles to avoid along the way on 10-12% grades yet again.
Eventually we made our way to Petaluma for our lunch stop. Although still 75km from SF, this may be the biggest town we’ve stopped through in quite some time, so it was nice to have some options for food. By the time we left, our bike computer was telling us we’ve reached the temperature of 33 degrees. Since it was just a bit after 1:30, we decided to dodge the next set of rural roads and take the nearesr Highway 101 entrance.
We flew for the next 25km on the 101 before an official “Cycling is Prohibited” sign was spotted. Luckily enough, there is a route (Route 5) which would take us from that location towards Sausalito, so we were now clear of the rural Death Valley Roads. Our next issue was the inland heat. By 3pm, temperature hit 38 degrees. We played it smart and made a point to stop to replenish water more often.
Route 5 was really well designed with bi-directional facilities adjacent to Highway 101, including some really neat cyclist round-a-bouts and cycle tunnels.
By the time we arrived in Sausalito, the temperature cooled off significantly. We had one final climb of about 100m, this time populated by many local cyclists and cycle groups. It was a pretty satisfying feeling to cream all cyclists up the hill (other than one e-bike), now that our legs are more or less immune to any climb under 9% grade or 200m ascent. With one final push, we made it to the Golden Gate Bridge! We have to be honest, it felt pretty cool to know we had cycled from Vancouver to SF in 14 days on the bike.
Our host in SF is Colin, one of Sammy’s old University of Toronto roommates. We have a few days off in SF, one in the city, and two at Yosemite National Park, before making our way down to LA with our remaining six days of cycling.
We’re both thrilled to take a break from riding on our saddles, and look forward to exploring the city and hiking what will like likely be the most spectacular National Park of our trip!
Count:
Bars devoured – 34
Bananas chomped – 36
Peanut butter wraps – 20
Arizona iced tea drained – 11L
Warmshower hosts – 12
Total ascent – 17100m
Calories burned – 64,100
Total distance – 1740km
Pacific Coast Trail 