live from sf

i arrived safely in san francisco last night. my bike also appears to have arrived safely, but i'd like to put out a word of warning. if you're flying out of austin with your bike and you see two women at the "oversized baggage" drop off (who may or may not be looking at golf clubs like they're weapons of mass destruction), i recommend you stick around and watch them open your stuff...so that you can make sure they put it back properly.

when i got my bike box back in sf, one of my wheels was partly out of the box...i looked at it confused because i'm generally pretty anal about making sure something like that doesn't happen. i opened my bike box to discover a flier from the tsa saying that they had done an inspection. i was annoyed to put it politely. if you're going to open people's stuff, for goodness sakes, at least try to put it back properly so it doesn't get damaged. my rear wheel is fairly untrued at the moment though not unrideable. before you think i improperly packed my bike in the first place, i should say that i travel with my bikes in an ironcase, a special, reusable plastic box made for travelling with your bike that has lots of padding so nothing moves or gets scratched or bent. i've lost track of how many times i've taken the thing on flights interisland, to the mainland and on the mainland. nothing has ever gotten damaged. grrr.

anywho, onto happier things, my bike is together and i rode down to the bike shop to pick up a few more spare tubes and co2 cartridges. i have my t4k bike with me, the one i rode to alaska, and because i was missing a skewer for the front wheel until last week, i hadn't ridden it since getting to anchorage. it was nice to be back on it today, although it reminded me how stretched out on it i am. thank goodness for long arms!

it was a little overcast and rainy today, but the sun eventually peeked out. i am hoping that it does the same only stays out a little longer tomorrow. we decided to go north instead of south, so tomorrow we'll be heading out over the golden gate bridge and then hoping on route 1 to start riding up the coast. we'll be staying at the point reyes hostel in point reyes national seashore, so we'll be getting two days of nothing but saltwater (insert huge smile here). from what the guy in the bike shop told me today, the last 10 miles or so out to the hostel make you feel like you're riding into nothing before the hostel pops up out of the nothingness. he also said the (cross)wind is ridiculous on the stretch. having experienced some pretty brutal winds this summer, i'm looking forward to seeing what california has to offer. hopefully i'm regretting that statement tomorrow afternoon!