The bike ride.

We hadn't used our bikes since we'd been here. So last week, while the people we bought the car from were detailing it, I decided it was time. I read about a nearby trail in Mountain Biking The San Francisco Bay Area, we packed food for a picnic, climbed on the bikes and headed out.

Have I mentioned there are hills in San Francisco? I guess they call it mountain biking for a reason. Before we got anywhere near a mountain, we were working hard to climb hills on our bikes.

From our home, we have to ride to the top of the circle then make our way to the bottom of a very steep hill before coming to the main road. I coasted down the hill on my bike using the brakes the entire time. Sam opted to walk his bike down the hill this time.

We followed the road across the highway and into Mill Valley, our neighboring town. Finally, we made it to the park at the base of the mountain. We are relaxing in the park in these pictures. We had a snack, rested and talked. According to the odometer on Sam's bike, we'd ridden nearly four miles.

There was supposed to be an Old Fire Road trail leading up Mt. Tam. After our rest, we got back on the bikes and rode around a bit looking for the entrance to the trail. We couldn't find it. With that set-back and the recognition that we were quite tired already (and achy in places where we hadn't ached in awhile) we decided to leave the mountain biking for another day and just ride back home.

One of the things that didn't make it out of the basement and onto the U-Haul in our fervor to leave Chicago was the bike rack. I'd been waiting to get another one because I was not sure how much we would really use it. Now I think that when we can swing it, replacing the bike rack will be a worthwhile investment. It would have been nice if the energy we expended had got us at least partially up a mountain. With a bike rack, maybe we can even get Cam to drive us and our bikes to the top of some mountain trails and meet us at the bottom. I think the downhill part is going to be the most fun.