Day off numero uno in San Francisco
After running into some last-minute issues loading all the bikes into the trailer this morning, Elyse and I were off to Dublin a little later than expected. We made it though, and not too long after we had hoped. We figured out a system with the awesome staff of the Dublin Cyclery and left the trailer with them for the day. We needed to get one of our Specialized pumps fixed by an authorized Specialized dealer, and Dublin Cyclery is not one, but the owner had a friend who owned another shop not far from where we were who was in face a Specialized dealer. And, thus we were off.
We arrived at the Livermore Cyclery and looked around for a bit as we had somewhat of a shopping list given to us by other riders. Eventually, we began speaking with Mr. Chuck Richey, the Assistant Manager of the store about what we were doing. As it turns out, he was a former pro cyclist and cancer survivor himself. Unfortunately, it was cancer and the treatment to beat it that had cut his cycling career short but he was fortunate enough to come out a survivor and was very touched by what we are doing and had much that he wished to talk with us about. It was very touching to meet and speak with him and I wish I could have spent all day listening to his stories. Just meeting him was inspiring and another reminder of the fact that we are doing something important, but to make the deal even sweeter, he gave us a huge help on all the items we needed to purchase from him and saved the team a great deal of money. We had to buy things like a new helmet for Darlene, due to her mishap yesterday, a new saddle for Peyton, gloves, warmers, etc, and Mr. Richey was more help than I could have ever hoped to just "run in" to. It kind of makes you think that sometimes seemingly random events are perhaps not so random after all and were really meant to be. Either way, this trip means more to me every day.
Once we finished up our business at the bike shop, we were off for a short visit with the Hydes. It was great seeing all of them, albeit much too short of a visit. But, a short visit is better than no visit, and hopefully I will be back out this way sometime soon as I love the area and it is always great visiting with old friends. We tried to get the oil changed on the van at several places in Benicia, but everywhere we went was either closed or too busy to see us today. No bueno. We had to return to Dublin not too long after our arrival in Benicia to pick up the bikes before the shop closed, and by the time we got there Mr. Tyler and his staff had finished everything and were ready for us to check out and be on our way. What a magnificent job they did for us! Vitek had written a note on his bike that said "bike needs to be made faster" so they had strapped some sports drink mix to his handlebars and given us several cases of this Revenge Sport drink, in the flavours of Lemon Venom and Orange Oasis. So, they went well out of their way to help us!
On our way back to the boat house, we received a call from Peyton saying she and some of the teammates were in Chinatown and wanted to know if we could pick them up and give them a ride back to the boathouse. Luckily, we were right at the point where we had to either exit to go over the Oakland Bay Bridge or continue on straight to Marin County, so we headed into the city to pick them up.
Yesterday, I said I hoped I never had to maneuver the van and trailer through a city like San Francisco. Well, my worst fear came true! Driving that rig through the city was frightening and times and downright insane at others, and not one of my best decisions. Now I know why there were street signs saying no trucks/trailers... Oops... But, we made it safely, bikes, riders, and all back to the boat house! I believer we are going to a co-op party in Berkeley hosted by a friend of Shelley's tonight, though I am not sure. Tomorrow I hope to spend some time in Berkeley as I have only ever been there once but loved it and have been wanting to go back ever since. So, until, then... Toodles!
Peace and Love,
Trailer Tito
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