Bike2Beer in the Bay City

The Mrs and I recently returned from a nearly two week vacation out to the left coast to visit the San Franciso Bay area and Seattle. While we promised ourselves that this was not supposed to be strictly a beercation, we did our best to break that promise throughout our visit. While San Francisco and the Pacific Northwest is known for its craft beer scene and breweries, it also known for its beauty and places to run and bike. One of the many things we looked forward to on our visit was doing just that - running and biking.

Since I am training for marathon season and September is the most important month of the program, I could not afford to let my training slack off for two weeks. The problem I encountered once we were in San Francisco is that my left knee was causing me a lot of pain but only if I tried to run; particularly downhill. It is the same pain that has nagged me now since mid-July that I mentioned previously. San Francisco is nothing but hills so for the first 5 days we were there, I could not run. Instead, we decided on a whim to see some of the city and the many sights we had on our list by bike in one day. That included one of the craft brew pubs on my list of must do's - Magnolia Pub and Brewery.

So on the Monday of our visit, which turned out to be the coolest and foggiest morning of entire week, we set out on rental bikes from Blazing Saddles San Francisco on a 20 mile planned route around the city. We started near our Bay Street apartment where we picked up our bikes and set off on the bike trail that begins near Ghirardelli Square and the turnaround for the Powell-Hyde trolley car. Not fully realizing just what level of ride we were undertaking, we only had yogurt and energy bars for breakfast. Luckily, beer would soon help replenish our energy levels. 

 

Our ride took us by many San Francisco tourist destinations, some of which make up parts of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. In order along our ride, we passed or stopped at Fort Mason, Marina District, Crissy Field, Fort Pointe, the Presidio of SF, Baker Beach, China Beach, Sea Cliff, Palace of the Legion of Honor, Cliff House and Seal Rocks. Our intended destination before lunch was Golden Gate Park. Due to the hills along the western shoreline of San Francisco, our pace was slower than expected so when we finally made it to GGP along the beach, we happened upon Beach Chalet Brewery and Restaurant - a surprise stop we had not planned but found thanks to Google Maps on Michelle's BlackBerry.

Before tackling the park, we pedaled on into Beach Chalet and went upstairs to check out the taps at the bar. The view from the restaurant and bar was fantastic with the beach and ocean stretching as far as you could see. Unfortunately, I didn't get a usable photo of the view due to the sunlight shining in as the morning fog had lifted as we arrived. I inquired with the bartender about their brews and ordered up a sampler flight of every beer they offered. This was our first brewpub stop on our vacation so our excitement to try something new and our thirst from the ride were heightened. Our flight came on a Lazy Susan of sorts and included an extra pour compliments of the bartender - I think he just lost count of the pours while he was answering my questions and asking us about the North Carolina craft beer scene. While any craft beer would have been good about now, we particularly enjoyed the Altbier and the DBA (Dee's Bitter Ale).

Moving on along a ride, we visited the Dutch windmill, Bison paddock and Japanese Tea Garden within Golden Gate Park. While the hills weren't as steep, the hills continued most of our way as we headed east into the beautiful park. GGP was described to me as San Francisco's Central Park and I would say its more than worthy of the title.

 

Now past lunchtime, our next goal was Magnolia Pub and Brewery located in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of SF. I had heard of Magnolia after they were featured in the same 2009 Draft Magazine article Nine Beer Innovators to Watch as Durham, NC's Fullsteam Brewery. We arrived at Magnolia mid-afternoon after the lunch crowd yet before the happy hour crowd so seating inside and out along the sidewalk was available. We took seats inside along the window and ordered up a flight of 6 beers that we selected from the menu on the wall of 16 beers including five, yes five cask ale selections! If this brewpub was an indicator of the selection at the rest of the places I had planned for our west coast trip, I knew I was in for a good 9 more days of travel. As I would soon learn, Magnolia was like many west coast breweries and featured 4 IPA choices including an English-style IPA and a cask IPA plus variations of hoppy American-style IPAs that both Michelle and I love. Our flight included a wheat, a bitter, a mild, a brown and two IPAs all of which in their own way were outstanding and above the norm in their flavor profiles. Lunch was also fantastic - it might have been my hunger but the grilled boneless chicken thigh sandwich I had was the very best chicken sandwich I have ever had.

  

 

We finished with a pint of the Pale Ale and headed off to complete our ride which took us straight back to the Marina District with stops near Alamo Square and the successful ride up the steepest hill I have ever ridden. It was the first time I rode in granny gear all the way up a climb. Luckily, lunch at Magnolia was late enough in the afternoon that it counted as an early dinner as we had a evening tour of Alcatraz to make at 6:30 so as soon as we turned our bikes in, we were home to shower and off to the ferry. Without out a doubt, it was a fantastic and hard earned day of beercycling 19 miles in the Bay City.