Golden Gate Bridge
Trail Review
I had biked the longer version of this a few years back. Back then, I did not know about the Fort Baker Bay Trail, and after having ridden it, I highly recommend it instead of bombing down Alexander Avenue.
What I Learned
It was quite nice having five adults to two kids. The kids were basically sandwiched between the adults almost the whole time and I felt like the kids were as safe as they could be while biking a shared road.
Everyone was very steady and straight on the Golden Gate Bridge, where the bike lane could be quite narrow. Well, everyone except for Annabelle, who is still growing into her bike—she swerved and made some passers a little nervous, but she didn’t hit anyone and did a great job of cycling her little legs out.
Annabelle likes to bomb down hills almost as fast as she can go. Kaylee can ride up hills better than I had thought. My girls are growing up!
Kaylee gets nauseous on boat rides and this ferry (even though it was pretty steady) was no exception even with a preventative Dramamine. Cassie suggested that Kaylee stand up as her body would help compensate for the boat movement and it seemed to help. I think it also helped that as soon as she stood up, there were dolphins that seemed to greet her.
Friends
Mike, Andi, and Kassia joined us for this ride. Mike and Andi are my favorite people on the planet, so it was just fun to spend time with them. It was my first time meeting Kassia and she turned out to be a gem of a person—super friendly, super nice, and super chill. She seems quite the cyclist, so I hope Cassie and I cycle with her in the future!
What Happened?
8.8 miles, 3 hrs 13 mins, 591 ft of ascent
I had wanted to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge with the girls and this Saturday seemed like the best time for it. We met up at Crissy Field East Beach Parking Lot at 10 AM and headed off to the famous Golden Gate Bridge.
We started on the busy Crissy Field Promenade trail and crossed over to Mason St via the Airstrip Trail, which looked good on Apple Maps but it turned out to be a single-track dirt road that had multiple puddles to navigate. After that not-so-ideal start, we climbed up Crissy Field Ave which turned out to be a bit too steep for the girls. They tried their best, but after about 50 feet, they got off their bikes and pushed. We ended up pushing most of the uphill segments while biking the flat parts.
Riding on the Golden Gate Bridge was a bit stressful and not as cool as I thought it’d be. I mean, being on the iconic bridge was great, but there were lots of cyclists on the bridge. Being concerned that the kids might crash into these fast bikers made me nervous and anxious. It didn’t take too long for us to cross the bridge, thankfully.
The Fort Baker Bay Trail was a fun downhill and the trails/roads that we rode were calm and car-free until we got to Alexander Avenue. The ride into Sausalito was chaotic due to the number of cyclists and cars sharing the road, but we managed. When we got to the ferry terminal, there was a cyclist parking area that charged $5 per adult bike.
We parked, ate food, and went walking around town until it was time to ride the ferry back to San Francisco. The ferry was as simple and easy as I remembered and in a blink (still too long of a blink for Kaylee), we were back in San Francisco. We navigated the streets until we got back to our not-so-lonely cars at Crissy Field.
We hugged each other goodbye and enjoyed the taffy that Mike had gotten in Sausalito. The hour-long drive back meant hour-long naps for Cassie and the girls—and an hour-long karaoke session for yours truly.
