The Picnic went Well

My friend had prepared a picnic for the Ride to Larkspur so it wasn't too difficult to figure out the last few things. We included them in the baggage.  When we left I was wearing my bad shoes and my checkered polyester. I had brought my Northface but didn't want to wear it. My friend wore the green plaid skirt she had worn on our first trip to Sausalito. But she had a straw hat.

My historian acquaintance indicated as we were passing Duboce Park that he was going to be late. I let my friend go ahead as I called him. I got two Matching Half and found the Sacramentans with my friend. The consensus was we would be waiting so I got pastries. The others showed up looking fashionable then. I learned later that my friend had texted a few people. They had with called off or were nowhere to be found.

We rode to the Panhandle then and I talked to an acquaintance who said his girlfriend would be meeting us. I interacted with one of the Sacramentans too as we entered the park. We talked about authentic vintage and faking it.

The ride was fun. I took photos. I noted that I realized the trip was making up for my difficult time in San Diego. On 10th Ave the historian wanted to get stuff at the liquor store. When we went to catch up to the group we raced up the grade in the golf course. He attributed his speed to age. My friend had gone ahead and since she knew the route pretty well we had trouble catching up with the group.

It was about 20 minutes later that we met back up at immigrant point. They had just arrived. We took a photo and passed through the campground. We were not alone there.  We took the new ramp onto the bridge. That was when we took a photo of the group.  The ride across the bridge was forbidding at first because there was just fog and no wind. Near the top I passed everyone and it became easier because I did some spotting.

On the other side we grouped up and chatted but we couldn't go because the tea pot had a leak. We all had a cup and it made for very good photographs. Some guy took photos.  We descended to to Fort Baker. I was down first and only one had fallen behind.  From there the climb to the main road was very difficult. ONe of the Sacramentans was pushing his bike at one point. My friend told me that it helped sometimes to cut conversation short to climb hills.

I was ahead so I lead to the downhill portion of the route to Sausalito. I let everyone pass me because I wanted to follow the group down the hill. Only one car passed us before the ferry terminal.  We were going to regroup then but no one wanted to stop so we headed out to Mill Valley. We let a few cars pass us as we headed to Bridgeway. We saw an architect I knew with his wife as we headed passed the Bay Model. The group was trailing just enough that I could see the cars as they were merging onto Marin shipway.

We went through gate five with a few cars honking. The ride out to the Marshes were really nice and I really enjoyed riding with my friend. We found the architect and his wife at the picnic spot and we invited them to sit on his blankets.  They had gone on the Ride to Larkspur the year before.

The picnic went well. I had to stretch my legs twice. We talked about the projects we were working on. My friend reveled in her time with the ladies. My acquaintance’s girlfriend showed up with chocolate and some crackers. I was glad to catch some fresh air.

My friend rounded the group up then and we headed off to the ferry and made to leave.  We were halfway there when I realize that there might be some trouble on the return because of the queue. So, I tried to get us a place in line and we all made it on board.  We set upstairs and drink beer. Getting off the boat was hard because we had to carry heavy bikes upstairs.  Outside we said bye to everyone and took off quickly. I went with my historian acquaintance and the Sacramentans to Market street.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.