Photos for Thursday, 7/30

South San Francisco to Cupertino, CA

Thursday, 7/30. We have been on the road about a month now and we have covered over1200 miles. This morning started out with some extremely large hills. We were following a route generated by my GPS unit which routed us on several bike paths. One bike path we were directed to had a gate across it to prevent entry by any motor vehicles. Unfortunately, the access provided for pedestrians and cyclists was so small that it made it impossible to gain access with a bicycle. Needless to say we had to backtrack and take a different route. We saw a large number of bikers and several were very helpful with routing us onto a series of bike paths. One path followed the San Andreas fault and another followed the shoreline of several reservoirs that provide water to San Francisco. A portion of one of the paths had a barb wire fence on both sides of the path. That struck us as a strange design because it would insure that a cyclist would be seriously hurt if they crashed. We ended up taking a break in Woodside where we had to decide to make a huge climb to reach the coast near Half Moon Bay or head inland and reach the coast tomorrow in Santa Cruz. We decided it was too late in the day to start a big climb plus we weren't sure where we could stay near Half Moon Bay. We found a Marriott in Cupertino which was about 18 miles away. We made a reservation their and proceeded to cycle through Stanford and parts of the Silicon Valley. We found hotels quite expensive in this area but we used a Marriott rewards voucher I had earned so we got a room that normally costs $260 to $300 for the cost of a portion of the hotel taxes which was 37 cents. Towards the end of the day I ran over something that gave me an instant flat rear tire. Whatever I hit took a large chunk out of the tire. I put a boot on the inside of the tire as a temporary measure but I will need to get a new tire. After sucessfully patching the hole in the tube it went totally flat again after I pumped it up. It seems there was also a tear where the valve was attached to the tube so the tube can't be used or fixed. I then used one of my spare tubes but it had a hole in it. I couldn't find my second spare tube so I used one of Hal's extra tubes. When I went to use my pump I found that the small cap on the end of the hose was missing. The pump can't be used without that cap. Finally, got the wheel fixed and remounted it. Riding through various towns in Silicon Valley was an interesting experience. Bike lanes were very common as well as frequent signs telling drivers to share the rode with bicycles. It was great to see so many cyclists however their behavior was a little strange. None of them said hi or anything else when they passed us. And, none of the cyclists engaged in the usual safety etiquette typically followed in other regions. For example, numerous cyclists crept up behind me and passed without indicating their presence. I often didn't realize they were passing me until they suddenly appeared next to me and then shot ahead of me. In most places the custom is to yell out passing on the left (or right).