Biking about town

We're planning on a trip to Machu Picchu in June, so I've been trying to come up ways to get in shape and train for it. One of my ideas is to do something long each weekend - long bike ride, long hike, long walk around the city, or at the very least, an hour on the elliptical (which is not that long but you try to run in place for longer than that). This weekend we were thinking of doing like a 15-20 mile bike ride around the city on Sunday but we ended up doing a more broken up 19-20 miles worth of biking yesterday instead.

First up was a 6.5 mile bike ride through GG Park, down the Great Highway, to the SF Zoo, where we met up with a couple of friends and their 19-month old. The ride took about 35 minutes and wasn't so bad, especially since there was a lot of coasting through the park, though at some point along the Great Highway I was thinking to myself that this bike riding was a whole lot of work and didn't leave me that much time to look at the scenery. Too busy steering around joggers, walkers, and other bikers. Of course, I was also not going at a leisurely pace...

We first picnicked in the zoo (on the lawn by the playground), eating Acme baguettes with Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam triple cream cheese and good French strawberry jam, Acme onion bread (also with cheese), salami from the Ferry Building, and other random snacks, which was quite enjoyable. We then strolled around the zoo for a few hours, unfortunately missing the baby giraffe (5 days old - we put it off until last and it already went indoors by the time we got there), but checking out the various other animals and closed exhibits =P they had. The zoo isn't the hugest place in the world but it's got a decent amount of stuff to look at. The 19-month old was initially quite fascinated in the children's zoo by the turtles and the sheep and getting to feed the goats, and got really excited about the penguins (they'd come swimming around by where we were, and then zooming away again, at which point he excitedly signed "more! more!"), dancing around while we watched them get fed. I think he had less of an ability to connect to the large animals that were rather far away in the bit enclosures, losing interest quickly in the lions, tigers, and gorilla, and more interested in the lights, rivets, and drains in his immediate vicinity. I was rather amused because there were some very aggressive seagulls at the zoo who hovered around the cafes and practically would dive bomb you for the food you were carrying in your hand. Evidently the seagulls were an issue at the penguin feeding as well (Magellanic penguins like the ones we saw in Argentina) so the zoo people had developed some methods to deal with it. First, the feeder kept a hose at hand to spray seagulls with. Then, they rigged up a net over part of the water so some of the penguins could go under there and safely eat their fish without being bothered by seagulls. And lastly, they brought out the bald eagle to both raise awareness of bald eagles and to keep the seagulls away, since the gulls feared the eagle. And right they were to, I think - the eagle was quite imposing and seemed to keep an eye on the skies above, ready to pounce on any interlopers. The penguins were adorable as they came to get their food, I must say. Overall it was a nice trip and a quite nice day (sunny though it started getting cooler over the course of the day).

Then it was a 6.5 mile ride back, which was less fun b/c of the gradual but unrelenting uphill through the park for a good 2/3 of the park on our way home (we appear to live more or less on top of a hill so all paths home require some uphill =P). I figured we were done with biking for the day but when it came time for dinner, we decided to get Korean bbq at Pine Restaurant at 20th and Noriega, followed by dessert at Golden Island Cafe a couple doors down, and my bf suddenly decided it'd be stupid to bus or drive there, and said I could do whatever I wanted but he was biking there. So of course, it seemed even stupider for me to drive while he biked, so back on the bike we went. 2.8 miles or so each way this time, with a steady and steeper uphill for a good 5 blocks from Irving to Noriega on 20th. I wasn't liking my bf all that much by the end of it, but we made it. The trip back, of course, though, was very quick, coasting downhill for 5 blocks and basically not pedaling (though we did make a stop at Andronico's to get some milk, thus breaking up the trip), some uphill for maybe 3 blocks on Irving, and then an easy ride through a quite deserted park on the more or less flat part of the ride home.

It's funny how much the last part of the ride influences your opinion. If we had just stopped after the zoo ride, or after the first part of the dinner ride, I'd be all grumbly about how tiring biking was. But the coasting and the easy ride through the park and panhandle were nice, so I instead ended the evening thinking biking was fun and plotting the next bike ride.

We're probably going to take a break from the riding today, though, and I'll do the elliptical instead. Which is just as well - I haven't used the elliptical at home for a few weeks now!