Tiburon to Half Moon Bay

It is fall and Halloween time. That can mean only one thing -- the Pumpkin Patch kid trap at Lemos Farm in Half Moon Bay. This place has monster locally grown pumpkins, pony rides, jumpy houses, a haunted train ride, unhealthy snacks, etc. etc. In short, everything you could want when you have two rambunctious kids. Always looking for an excuse to ride the bike (especially on a new route), I meekly suggested to Dana that I could meet her and kids down there. It is only about 45 miles from our house in Tiburon to Lemos Farm, and all of it along the mighty Pacific. Sounded like a good ride. It was. Apart from a scary ride along Devil's Slide -- where I thought the winds were going to hurtle me into the abyss -- it was a good, fast ride. I even got there before the family.

Sunrise over SF Bay from the Sausalito waterfront

Racing a container ship to the Golden Gate (I won)

The bridge from Vista Point

Looking out over Seacliff from Lincoln Blvd in the Presidio. Hard to believe that everything you see here is completely within the 7x7 city limits of San Francisco. What a city.

The Cliff House

Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Marin Headlands in the distance.

Boardwalk at Ocean Beach along the Great Highway

The ride gets interesting at the end of Great Highway. After winding over to Skyline Blvd (Hwy 35), you are best getting off where it turns into a freeway (at Westmoor) and doing the VERY steep climb on the parallel street called Skyline Dr. This then drops equally steeply down into Pacifica. You pick up Palmetto and ride all the way to the end and pick your way across, parallel to the freeway along Francisco, Bradford and Morris Point. From here you are on the highway, which ultimately narrows as it begins its climb up to Devil's Slide. This part is not that fun, as the climb is steep and the road somewhat scary. The upside is that it is only about 2 miles until you are back on a big shoulder.

Looking down at Devil's Slide from the top of the climb (where the new bypass tunnel is being built). You can just see a sliver of the roadway below. That is the scary part.

View down from the slide. Holy crap! Don't slip. It was very windy around this corner, so I just took the whole lane and prayed that the cars behind me had patient drivers.

Then you get down to Montara Beach. Nice! From here it is big ring, wide shoulder riding all the way to Half Moon Bay (and Santa Cruz beyond).