A Weekend of Firsts

First First: My first job in San Francisco.. I was offered a job as an AV Technician at the SF Art Institute! I'm excited to work at another awesome school, and the staff seems similar to the folks I miss so much at SAIC.. personable, handy, and reliable, among many other positive traits.

Second First: My first bike ride outside of SF, first time north of the city, first giant hills, first time going reallyeffingfast, and first long ride since (well, I can't really remember.. maybe the 30-something-mile ride I took with Duane over the summer?). That's a lot of firsts for one event! I'm pretty sure the ride was around 75 miles including getting to and from home.. and considering that I shipped my last bike from Chicago at the end of September, didn't ride at all for three weeks, and have only gone on a couple of short non-challenging rides since, I'm surprised that I didn't die. I definitely felt out-of-shape from my normal tiring point, but I did a lot better than you might think I would. I could've worked my way up to a ride like this, but sometimes I like to just jump into things.

Nine of us rode out at 10am on Sunday, and about half were on their fixed gear bikes. I did alright through the parks, over the bridge, and through Sausalito, but on the first really big climb my muscles started to fail me. I persisted though, shifted down and just kept going up. I thought I'd be on my own since everyone else managed to make it up like champions, but it was a cool group and they were all waiting for me.

That was the case for the rest of the climbs.. at some point my muscles just hit a wall and wouldn't really go up anymore. I'd make it about thirty feet, then a cramp would hit my thigh and I'd have to get off and stretch. It really sucked. But the rest of the group, it turns out, was having fun at the top, monkeying around and showing off tattoos, taking silly pictures and stuff. It gave them a chance to get refreshed, but by the time I rolled up panting they were ready to take off again and leave me in the dust some more!

I have to say those climbs were worth it though, because we zoomed down the other side. "Of course..." you're saying to yourself, but if you've never zoomed down a hill on your bike before like me, you don't quite understand. It's crazy! I guess it's kind of how skiing feels, because the roads wind down the hills. I think my bike appreciated the chance to be let loose after being so shamed by my pathetic ascents!

Practice makes perfect though, so I'm going to take advantage of my optionally-hilly commute to Russian Hill on the other side of the city. Maybe I can regain some dignity in the eyes of my peers. I did make sure to blurt out "Chicago" a lot so that maybe someone would understand that I don't know what a hill is, or how to ride up one. My grace period is expiring soon, though. Can you believe I've been here for almost two months?!

Anyway, here's a terrain snapshot of the bike route.. keep in mind that it was 'there and back'.