(no subject)
One of my first riding experiences as a resident and not a tourist in San Francisco was going from Ocean Highway to Skyline Boulevard toward Daly City. Ocean Highway is a really easy, flat ride along the Pacific Ocean. It would be perfect for a time trial were there no stoplights for pedestrian crossings, and if it were longer. I flew past a couple older guys -- well, relative to my age -- and encountered them again when I had pulled over and started wondering if anyone actually rode on Skyline, a wide 55mph road with rolling hills and mostly a large shoulder. That's the sort of road I would deliberately avoid in Massachusetts. They kept going on the road, so I caught up to them, asked them if they really intended to continue, to which they answered "yes" and after a bit of conversation invited me to tag along for the loop they were going to do.
As we get to talking, I learn that one of them also moved here from Boston. I believe he lived around Braintree. Huh. What are the chances I would find another person from Massachusetts so quickly? Probably pretty good, but nevertheless, it still amused me at the time.
Fast forward to a couple weekends ago. I intended to ride along Bolinas-Fairfax Road, which, unsurprisingly, is a road going between Bolinas and Fairfax. It crosses part of Mt. Tam. You don't summit the mountain, but you do go 1500 feet up starting from sea level. As I was trying to figure out how to get onto Highway 1 (Shoreline Highway) in Sausalito, a guy passed me, going where I think I needed to go, so I jumped onto his wheel and asked if this was the way to go. He answered affirmatively. We start talking, and I learn he's from Brockton. That makes me two for two on finding Massachusetts ex-pats by accident when asking people questions while cycling.
While climbing on Shoreline Highway, I see a small group of people just standing on the other side of the road and chatting. I'm awestruck by the views, and slightly loopy from the amount of effort I'm expending.
Slight detour: a couple weekends previous to the Bolinas-Fairfax ride, I was on Paradise Drive, trying and failing to do a hard workout, when I saw three cyclists pulled over while one is working on fixing a flat. They ask me if I can help, so I go over there, and the one fixing his flat starts explaining the situation. I heard words coming out of his mouth, but couldn't actually understand what he was trying to say. After asking him to basically repeat himself three times, I explain my inability to process what he's saying, and am able to catch my breath and figure out that he just needed to borrow my hand pump to inflate a tube.
So, one of the guys on Shoreline Highway says hi and starts talking to me while I'm rolling along, and he has caught me in a similar situation. I think he was trying to make a joke and I was having a really hard time understanding it. "They built this fence, but it doesn't do all that good of a job at blocking the view, does it? They should fix that!" So, despite feeling like I gave him the impression that I was mildly retarded, I was still able to have a quick, friendly chat (he told me the ride was only going to get a lot harder from where I currently was... and it did) with a total stranger and carry on.
As we get to talking, I learn that one of them also moved here from Boston. I believe he lived around Braintree. Huh. What are the chances I would find another person from Massachusetts so quickly? Probably pretty good, but nevertheless, it still amused me at the time.
Fast forward to a couple weekends ago. I intended to ride along Bolinas-Fairfax Road, which, unsurprisingly, is a road going between Bolinas and Fairfax. It crosses part of Mt. Tam. You don't summit the mountain, but you do go 1500 feet up starting from sea level. As I was trying to figure out how to get onto Highway 1 (Shoreline Highway) in Sausalito, a guy passed me, going where I think I needed to go, so I jumped onto his wheel and asked if this was the way to go. He answered affirmatively. We start talking, and I learn he's from Brockton. That makes me two for two on finding Massachusetts ex-pats by accident when asking people questions while cycling.
While climbing on Shoreline Highway, I see a small group of people just standing on the other side of the road and chatting. I'm awestruck by the views, and slightly loopy from the amount of effort I'm expending.
Slight detour: a couple weekends previous to the Bolinas-Fairfax ride, I was on Paradise Drive, trying and failing to do a hard workout, when I saw three cyclists pulled over while one is working on fixing a flat. They ask me if I can help, so I go over there, and the one fixing his flat starts explaining the situation. I heard words coming out of his mouth, but couldn't actually understand what he was trying to say. After asking him to basically repeat himself three times, I explain my inability to process what he's saying, and am able to catch my breath and figure out that he just needed to borrow my hand pump to inflate a tube.
So, one of the guys on Shoreline Highway says hi and starts talking to me while I'm rolling along, and he has caught me in a similar situation. I think he was trying to make a joke and I was having a really hard time understanding it. "They built this fence, but it doesn't do all that good of a job at blocking the view, does it? They should fix that!" So, despite feeling like I gave him the impression that I was mildly retarded, I was still able to have a quick, friendly chat (he told me the ride was only going to get a lot harder from where I currently was... and it did) with a total stranger and carry on.