Level 5.... clear!

Left camp early yesterday morning to give me enough time for my big day.  And it was barely enough - I ended up being on the bike for over 8 hours and 15 minutes - the most on-bike time if the entire trip.

It took forever to get through Marin county.  The bike paths and roads sort of zig zag all over the place.  I though it was 12 miles to the bridge, and it would take an hour.  It ended up being over 20 and took 3 hours.

As you saw, I put the bike in the Pacific, then headed to Skyline.  I was delayed by a detour but eventually got up to the ridge.  It really is beautiful up there.  Sometimes you're along the west side of the ridge with a view of the mountains and ocean and fog.  Then you go around a turn, and you're looking down at the Bay and the cities along it.  My mistake was to not realize that Skyline is much more difficult heading south.  Steeper climbs, more elevation gain, etc.  Anyway, I eventually got to the intersection with route 9, which was really the goal of the whole Skyline thing. It's a 7 miles long climb out of Saratoga that gains over 2000 feet.  I'd gone up a bunch of times, but never down.  It was fun - I recognized a lot of landmarks and enjoyed zooming through switchbacks at 30 mph for 15 minutes.

From Saratoga it was just a matter of navigating city streets until I reached Amity's house (my sister-in-law).  They had some neighborhood kids over to cheer for me.  They had cow bells and a big map of my route and a finish line stretched across the driveway.  It was really nice.  I put the bike down, found my wife, and I was done.

Stay tuned.  I've got an epilogue to write in the next day or two, and some fun top 10 lists.  Which states did I like the most?  Which animals gave me the most trouble?  The thrilling conclusion!