Bike routes and Ferraris

A few weeks ago I had the idea that I should get out of bed and go for a bike ride. This was right before I left for Thanksgiving, when it was 80 degrees in the middle of November. I figured it'd be fun to bike out to the ocean as I'd only been to Ocean Beach once, when I first moved to the city and met Kate, Geoff, and Stevelin there. That may have actually been the first time I met Geoff and Caitlin. The ocean is still a very foreign thing to me, and as it has always seemed so far away, it blows my mind that I can get to it so easily and that SF is actually right on it. I understand other bodies of water very well; the Puget Sound, the Bay, etc. These contained bodies, or at least bordered sections, are easy to comprehend as being close by. Meanwhile, the ocean has always been associated with Southern California vacations for me, or long trips across Washington to the ocean there. Either way, it was always something far away. That doesn't diminish how awesome it is, I'm just not used to it being right there.



So the bike ride. I looked on gmaps and just randomly chose what looked like a decent way out. It takes me all the way down Market St, up and over the big hill, which is a fun way to start out. Near the top there are some amazing views of the bay and the city, then it crests and I get to fly down the hills to the beach. On warm days there's a marked change in temperature as the beach nears. Then it's down to the long highway which is decent for biking, certainly beautiful, but the pavement kind of sucks. Then I get to go through Golden Gate Park, which is awesome because I'd never really spent much time there either. Now I have a better idea of the layout, the scenery, and I now know for a fact that there are actually bison in the park. What the fuck. Up Stanyan past Haight for a couple big hills, then back down fast again into the Castro. Fun little ride, a good way to get in some miles without being too daunting and only taking about 50 mins.



Which leads to my next point of interest, being the Ferrari that parks on the street on a hill at the end of my bike ride. I was cranking up the last hill and, even though I knew it would mean a painful start back up the hill, I had to stop. A silver Ferrari 400 was just chilling, parked like any other car, on a steep incline no less. Can't imagine doing that much damage to that clutch all the time, knowing the pain that will come when it has to be replaced... ouch. Anyways, I took some pictures and submitted them to Jalopnik, so maybe someday it'll be on their Down on the Street.

No big deal.