There are rides when all you do is go hard and there are rides when none of that is important, when the company is all that matters. Jen and I rode out to Fairfax, CA this past weekend. Her first time on a ride I’ve done numerous times now. It’s a good 50 miles roundtrip. It was hot, sweaty and moist north of San Francisco in Marin. The good kind of heat that left the muscles warm and loose.

A recovery pace if I were to use training terms but really, just a casual touring jaunt pace if distance were the goal. A pace where you could enjoy the scenery and watch the world go by as you tried to travel against it.

In Fairfax, there’s a great little brewery, called Iron Springs. I’ve not partaken in their namesake but have their food. And it’s solid good honest brewery grub. Good fries, good sandwiches and if you’re ever in the mood for black bean nachos, they have some of the finest.

We turned around and proceeded to head home. The heat was becoming a bit much for the lady and we decided instead of climbing back up over the big hill in Sausalito to the Golden Gate Bridge to take the ferry from Sausalito back to downtown SF. We’d never done it before so why not? Bikes lined up as we waited to board, trying to stay hydrated as the heat beat us overhead. The ferry, full of its load, left the pier and off we were, the breeze a welcome friend as we crossed back over to the city we live in.