Another Ride in Paradise

~Sunday 11.16.08~

Paradise Loop in Marin County that is. Don't know what it is but I could just keep doing this ride over and over again. Weather was fantastic for mid November - low 70's. We had about 12 riders and 3 new: Brian Fessenden on his incredibly clean old orange Pogliaghi, Tom Hardy on his Gios and Stephen Bryne on a 1974 Raleigh International. I was riding my commuter bike, a 1974 Raleigh Pro so we had fun taking pics of the (2) 34 year old brit bikes. Most of us started out at the Log Cabin in the Presidio in SF. It was a beautiful morning so we wasted no time in blasting across the Golden Gate Bridge. Randy and his Woodrup were waiting for us at the north end of the bridge so after photo ops we saddled up again and headed down the hill into Sausalito. When we arrived at the Mill Valley Heliport there didn't seem to be anyone meeting us but Greg spied Charles asleep in his car so proceeded to simulate an earthquake to gently stir him from his nap. Charles showed us a cool new jersey (Belgian?) while the rest of us admired the bikes for awhile and then we were off. The Camino Alto climb seemed a bit longer than usual perhaps because the 3 new guys kicked my ass across the bridge a few minutes before. We met many riders on Paradise Drive taking advantage of the nice weather and everyone was in an upbeat mood. Greg & I sprinted the last few yards into Tiburon where we had lunch at the Italian coffee shop near the ferry stop. After some pannini and Le Dolce Vita we climbed out of Tiburon for the final leg back to the Heliport. We said goodbye to Bob & Charles and headed off to Sausalito - Bob rode from Mill Valley across the GG Bridge earlier this morning to meet the rest of us at 9:30, BTW. We made the climb back up to the north end of the GG Bridge, took some pics and said goodbye to Randy then headed south back across the bridge. We didn't experience the usual afternoon winds and the ride back to the Log Cabin was very pleasant. Thanks for the great day everyone and thanks to Stephen, Tom and Brian for joining us, hope we can do it again real soon!

MORE PICS HERE:

http://flickr.com/photos/ericm/sets/72157609296738703/

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