The coast proved to be much cooler…too cool really and quite wet, but the fog was gorgeous.
I rode along cautiously through the dreamlike haze.
Most everything was blanketed with white and I was hunched down to keep the cold wind from getting to me. I daydreamed about warm Mexican beaches and before I knew it, I was merging into the sea of cars waiting to pass across the Golden Gate Bridge.
(This picture obviously taken on a different day)
A sport bike zipped by bewteen the lanes and my eyes lit up. Lane splitting is legal here! I cautiously pulled out of my lane and rode up the white line all the way to the front. I was glad I had a thin bike and soft luggage, a beemer with Jesse bags would have been taking out mirrors. I got wedged between cars more than once because my bags stuck out further than my handlebars and I kept thinking I could make it. Even though I was crawling along at a snails pace, I made decent time compared to the barely moving cars.
I called my friend Anoakie to let him know I made it and he showed me a secret parking lot where I could store my bike for free!
I parked Zeb near this cutie. 😛
It was nice to take a break from riding. Also very nice to eat real food. I had been subsisting mostly on power bars and tuna packets. Anoakie is quite the cook though and having just moved to San Francisco, wanted to check out a bunch of different restaurants. On my god did we eat.
Worlds largest avocado buffalo burger:
Eggs benedict
We went down to the Castro and ate at The Sausage Factory.
Then we got drinks at a stealthy operation called the Smuggler’s Cove. It’s down a side street and just has small white letters on the plain black door. You go inside and it’s like you’re in a pirate ship. We ordered up some tasty grog!
The next day we checked out the farmer’s market.
We explored the city. I loved all the public art. This fountain was amazing, like being inside of a video game environment.
Checked out a couple museums. This one had freakishly realistic sculptures.
I love the contrast of sleeping hobos and college girls tanning in the park.
The next day I decided it was time to get my bike fixed. I did a little research and turned up this operation called WerkStatt.
It’s a motorcycle shop owned and operated by women! How could I go anywhere else?
I left Zeb there a couple days for repairs…
When I picked him up, they told me one of the subframe bolts that holds on the seat and rack had broken off and sent me down the street to get it welded.
The guy wanted $45 to fix it. I bartered him down to $35 but still felt ripped off. The welds looked terrible and broke again a couple months after I returned home. In the future I will do my best to get all welding done in Mexico…
I met up with Anoakie after work and we met with my friends Brent and Kalinda at the MoMA.
Kalinda and Anoakie doing strange things under a sculpture
I’m such a dork, I made anoakie take this picture of me.
 If you aren’t on advrider.com you are probably wondering what this is all about…
I had seen this very cool looking restaurant in the financial district with motorcycles hanging in the windows and talked my friends into going there for dinner.
The motorcycles were indeed awesome, but the place smelled like a nursing home, which, combined with the obese tabby in residence, made me less than excited to eat there.
We found the source of the nursing home smell…the owner appeared to be living on a couch in the corner of the retaurant hooked up to oxygen. Classy.
Exchanging looks of horror, we slunk out and grabbed a bite at the bun truck instead.
We called it a night and I made plans to meet my friend Dwayne at Alice’s Restaurant for lunch the next day…