Some time to relax

I have been in northern California now for 5 days. I flew out to San Francisco on the Tuesday from Heathrow and up to Thursday hadn't done much other than work; absolutely intentional. It's always good to get some time off after a period of build|peak|race.

I hired a road bike locally on the Thursday. It turned out to be an Saxo Bank Specialized Tarmac S-Works SL2 ex-team bike that belonged to Jurgen Van Goolen. BLING! I rode it to work and back on Friday; my second ever bike commute (first was many many years ago)!

After dumping my bag back at the hotel on Friday I explored the local area by bike. 
Saturday was the big tourist day and I went in to San Fran by the BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit. Even though the sun was shining I'd chosen to not wear shorts, and when I got to the coast it paid off as it was a little chillier. I walked from the Embarcadero, past the San Fran Ferry Terminal (below) and I had some lunch at the famous Bubba Gumps on Pier 39, then took an open bus tour around the city. 

By the time we got to the Golden Gate bridge I was freezing. Note: I am no longer known for my photographic skills. The towers of the bridge were enveloped in fog.

The bus rolled back in to town, and I jumped off at Pier 33 and wandered through Union Square. As I was still cold I got back on the BART to go home. Once I was back in the car I drove to the ASICS outlet in Livermore where i picked up some Tri Noosa trainers for racing in. I also got a couple of shirts. Dinner was a large Pizza Hut meat feast (or local equivalent). This would last me until Sunday's dinner too. Don't fret my suite has a kitchen with fridge.

Sunday I braved the waffle machine at breakfast, then drove to Pleasanton (nice place!) to meet with the Tri-Valley Triathletes crew for a swim session. They're all tapering for the WildFlower next weekend so the swim session was a chilled one. More so for me as it was in an outside pool, crystal clear water, hot hot sun and the smell of sun cream all around. Fantastic!

Back to the hotel for a quick lunch, then bike in the car and off to Livermore to meet the Tri-Valley team again for a bike ride. I'd planned a fairly long bike ride but the temps were hot so we did a shorter route through the local vineyards of the area. Pretty cool.