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A POSTCARD AT EVERY TURN

It’s generally regarded that Mark Twain once wrote, "The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco" – he was certainly not referring to today. A picture perfect day if ever there was one. We rolled across the bridge at 8:30; it was clear and sunny – complete turnaround from yesterday. Eleven riders today – hard to believe that we will have 25 rolling out tomorrow.

Today it was up and over the Marin Headlands, around Tiburon and back – 47 miles with 2700 feet of climbing – another perfect day.

Perfect for everyone but Carter, he was off for the first of three airport runs for the day – both to SFO and OAK. I really feel bad for him, but not so bad as to have stepped in and done the drives myself.

The final drive, this one across the Oakland Bay-Bridge in the heat of rush-hour to pick up Wayne’s bike. Apparently, holding the highest frequent flyer status with the airline still doesn’t guarantee that your baggage will arrive at the same time that you do. But this final trip was not all for nothing; Wayne, who is well known as a coffee snob (he would refer to himself as a connoisseur, but we won’t quibble), was in need of a French press for his Stumptown beans. A quick swing into the Oakland Wal-Mart should do the trick. Into the parking lot Carter pulled – out jumped Wayne, “I’ll only be a minute, boys”, he shouted, as he slammed the door and dashed to the entrance.

Up and down the aisles he roamed, a look somewhat between perplexed and frightened increased with every turn. Nowhere was there a French Press to be found. “Come on”, thought Wayne, “it’s a French Press, how hard can this be?”

“I know, I’ll ask one of the highly trained employees – they’ll be able to point me in the right direction.”

Ok, you all can guess where this is going; she looked at him, a blank stare and ever increasing fog flowing across her irises’. He might as well be speaking Sanskrit. I’m sure Bodega Bay will be better supplied.

We roll out tomorrow in what is expected to be the hottest day of the year. Lots of time on the coast, so it should be easy sailing. The vans are loaded, everyone is excited, and if the missing press is the only thing that falls short it should quite a week.