The Golden Gate is 1.7 miles long, built like a small mountain. I pedalled uphill to the half-way point, then down the other side. The two cables contains 80,000 miles of steel wire and are built to sway in the often hundred mile-per-hour winds that rip across the straits. Such an amazing feeling to cruise across this man-made wonder and gaze over the skyline, the bay.
After the bridge, one can choose to take a relaxing right down to Sausalito, or a grueling left up into the Marin Headlands. I did both, actually. On different days.
The road down to Sausalito is a nice looping descent past pretty houses clinging to cliffs and nice waterfront views. The village feels almost Mediterranean.
Stop and grab a giant ice cream cone at the Plaza de Vina Del Mar Park, the town square. The two 14-foot elephant statues and the fountain were created for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition.
For those wishing to return to the City, the ferry is inexpensive - $6, one way, cash only - and comes by roughly every hour and a half. Bikes go in the back of the boat, both inside and out in back, in racks for this purpose. You'll be surprised just how many people bring their bikes each trip. It's the thing to do. Plus, the short ride across the bay, with the salt-laden wind and screaming sea birds, is beautiful at any time of day.
Information on ferries and Sausalito can be found at their chamber's homepage - http://www.sausalito.org/, or call the Visitor Center: 415-332-0505. The ride from Colombus to Sausalito is nine miles.
I chose to continue another nine miles out to Tiburon, a charming town resembling a New England seaport village.
A few miles from Sausalito I stopped to explore the San Francisco Bay-Delta Bay Model. Constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950's, the model measures the effects of drought, floods, dredging and shoreline development along the bay.
I was suitably impressed. The scaled model is body-high in the areas where the bay is deepest, and water rushes around convincingly to simulate tides and currents. For a map lover like myself, this was the ultimate cartographic fantasy! For more information on the bay model, call 415-332-3871.
Further on, there are a couple of spots where the bike route winds across busy roads, but you will also pedal a lonely, lovely path path through a wetland teeming with egrets and herons.
