One Ticket to Paradise

There are a few iconic cycling routes in the Bay Area, and the Paradise Loop is one I had never managed to do. Until today.

When my cycling buddy invited me to join another friend, I was all in. After a too-hot week, San Francisco's summer fog would bring a welcome chill.

We planned to include a Marin Headlands climb, but scrapped that idea given the strong, gusty winds pushing fog through the Golden Gate. Still, we were grateful to be ... cold.

I haven't biked through Sausalito or Tiburon in years, and given how popular this route is, I was pleasantly surprised that the locals were friendly (and, patient). One worker in a pickup truck paused to chat at an intersection where I stopped to wait for my biking buddies. There, next to a fire station, I spotted this sign:

Sure enough, tucked in the parking lot was a public bike repair station—the all-in-one model with a pump and a few tethered tools (like the Dero Fixit).

Paradise Beach County Park was worth the descent (and climb back out); a nice spot to enjoy our snacks at the water's edge (despite the June Gloom).

I was surprised to witness a cyclist pulled over by a motorcycle cop around Sausalito. There were a few small groups of us, heading in the same direction. I'm not sure what his infraction was, but his exasperated tone likely earned him a ticket rather than a warning.

We finished with some 28 miles and more than 1,000 feet of climbing, and a vow to return on some fog-free day in the fall.