As much as it sucks to be cold, it's great to be back on a bike I'm comfortable with after spending a day on a crappy Trek. I'll admit I'm going to be snobby about this, but if I'm going to be climbing hills and bridges and then flying back down I'd like to be on a bike I trust. I just don't feel steady on a hybrid, especially one with flat bars and grip shifters. Still, it was a great ride even though I felt like I was going to fall over half the time.

These bikes sucked.

Still, what a great city. The rest of the trip only reinforced my view of Chicago as the best city in the world, but at least San Francisco didn't have me thinking about it everytime I looked around. Fascinating neighborhoods, ridiculous hills to climb, great climate, fresh ocean air, really a great place to spend a few days seeing the sights.

Hills like this

lead to shots like this

There were a few times I had my doubts, but they were rare. Climbing up to Nob Hill lugging the wife's 50 lbs suitcase. Making the 2 1/2 mile walk to Anchor Steam when we didn't really know where we were going. But even both of those worked out. The view from the top of Nob Hill was fantastic, and the Anchor Steam tour was great. The more I think about it, the harder it is to go back to work b/c that was such a fabulous vacation.

There are more pictures of more stories, but they can wait until I need cheering up as it gets colder. Portland/Seattle up next.

Current beer-scale: 1.3