Looking Forward to the trip

Two years ago, on a trip through California with my two nephews Björn and Yannick, I was envying all the time the cyclist that I encountered on Highway number one. It became clear to me, that some time I will treat myself with an extended bike trip around the San Francisco area. Now the time has come to make this dream come true. Saving holiday from last year and “investing” my 10 years workplace jubilee gift (2 weeks of extra holidays) and shifting duties to open a larger time slot in my agenda,  I will spend 5 weeks in Santa Rosa to enjoy myself on the road bike.

After booking a little flat in Santa Rosa, booking the flight from Zurich to SF and back, arranging for the rental car and procuring a bike-suitcase for the transport, the date of my departure is drawing nearer and the (joyful) anticipation is climbing. For the preparation, starting of a Blog seemed a good idea to me. For one it is a great archive for keeping a trip diary and also share the experiences with others.

Preparation wise actually I have not made much planning, other than stated above. The larger part of the preparation time may be I spent with getting hold on everything that I could find on the web regarding cycling the Bay Area and Sonoma County. Somehow that is the good thing of an extended trip of a few weeks. I do not need to worry about the weather as I will have a bit of everything for sure, I do not need to stress to “efficiently” plan every day in advance and adopt rather an attitude of planning things on the fly. Problems are best solve when they occur and not before.

What I certainly did, is to identify some cycling clubs to join training rides and meet the local affectionistas, looking for routes and bike stores for spares and repairs. It looks that with choosing Santa Rosa (Half moon bay and Pacifica were the other options) I really hit the sweet spot, the SRCC (Santa Rosa Cycling Club) seems to offer everything I am looking for (great web side, check it out here http://srcc.memberlodge.com).

You might ask who I am. Well I am Oliver, 44 years old (or young depending how I feel). For a living I am a researcher in surface science and nanotechnology and cycling is a passion for me since almost 30 years, although I really picked it up again after a long hiatus about five years ago. I live in Switzerland which is (not only) a paradise for cycling of any type. On my profile (http://www.bikemap.net/user/gol127) on bikemap you can explore some of the routes I usually like to ride and already some I will do in the states.

So that is it for now and the start is made (of the Blog that is)… It is as if my trip has started right now!  

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