Day 13 - Bodega Bay to San Francisco

April 27, 2002 ( ~ 72 miles)

OK by Day 13 we were anxious to get home. We got up at dawn as usual and woke up Allison and Adam. It was their last day too. We ate breakfast and talked about our routes and stuff. Allison asked how many flats we had had. We said, "None!" Now you know what is going to happen.

We set off and immediately got separated from them. The road headed inland after Bodega Bay and we were going through some nice pasturelands when I realized I had a flat. If you will refer to my packing list, I note there that I should have brought a spare tube. But I never bring a spare tube anywhere. I just patch the holey one. But that's no excuse. This was the most annoying flat ever because I could not find the hole. I went over the tube many times and couldn't find it, so I put it back on and hoped it was a slow leaker. It was. Didn't bother me again until 10 miles from home. During this process though, Allison passed us, and we didn't see either of them again. Probably because we eat so much.

Ryan still wanted waffles, but I insisted on stopping at a fine pastry shop in Tomales (Tomales Bakery). We had croissants and tarts. It was Saturday, so there were lots of other cyclists out having pastries too, so we chatted a bit.

We got going and within a mile Ryan, who had taunted me when I got my flat, also got a flat. I was looking at his tire and I saw a piece of glass in it and Ryan was like, "Wait, I'll get my tweezers." If you had to carry everything you brought on a trip for two weeks, would you bring tweezers? I would not. He did bring a tube though, and that was useful.

It was a beautiful day and as we rode toward through Marin, it should have been nice riding too. But I think we both just wanted to get home. We seemed to be rushing, and I think we tired ourselves out. We had to stop at Samual P. Taylor State Park to eat. We also hoped that we had somehow passed Adam and Allison and that we would see them there, but we didn't. It was good that we ate before we got home because we were able to use up all the mangy remnants of our food supply [except those tasty dried pineapples].

By then we were on roads that we've been on tons of times before. The riding was getting a little tedious. Now that I think about it, part of the tedium might have been caused by my leaky tire, which I had forgotten to keep an eye on. When we got to the last hill of the trip, the hill climbing out of Sausalito, it was flat again. Then it was leaking fast and I had to pump it up a couple times before I got home. We didn't get home until about 6:00 in spite of our early start. I thought this day was tough and I was tired. If it was a regular trip day and not the last day I think I would have advocated for a motel.