200 KM Circling South San Francisco Bay Bike Ride

Finished a two-day, 200KM bike ride around the south San Francisco Bay.  Felt great and rewarding after the BIG RIDE 2021. 

Most of the ride is on the wonderful San Fransico Bay Trail. While the total 500 miles of trails are partially finished and most of them are not paved, it is still a nice trip riding thru miles of shorelines, seeing a very different silicon valley.

I am writing this post, hopefully as a resource for others who want to try it.  I will cover the route planning, equipment, packing, and point of interest.

Routes 

Day 1, 115KM, from Alviso Marina County Park to Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point

Day 2, 107KM, from Alameda back to Alviso Marina County Park

Schedule

Day 1 - 

• 9:00 AM Started at Alviso Marin Park
• 10:30 AM Stop at Palo Alto for a break and snack
• 12:00 Noon Lunch in Foster City
• 2:00 PM start the afternoon ride (riding through SFO is so cool)
• 3:30 PM take a break at Millbrae
• 4:00 PM heading toward San Francisco, a slight climb
• 6:15 PM arrive at the Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point and complete the day
• Took our car and drove to the City of Alameda for dinner and hotel

Day 2 - 

• 9:00 AM Started from Alameda downtown
• 10:30 AM took a break at Oyster Bay shoreline park - so tranquil and beautiful
• 12:00 Noon Lunch in Union City - nice hot pot
• 1:30 PM start the afternoon ride (riding up and down on the hills of Coyote Hill regional park)
• 2:45 PM take a break in the City of Fremont
• 4:00 PM arrived at Alviso Marin Park, ride the Slough Trail, it is rough and windy
• 5:00 PM Complete the big ride 2021!!

Equipment

Because the ride went through various terrain, also, the goal is to experience different parts of the beautiful Bay Area, instead of speed.  I chose to ride my commuter bike - Marin Fairfax 3 bike with 700X32 commuter tires.  It is slower but more comfortable than my road bike. I installed a simple cycling mirror for safety. 

I pump the front tire at 55PSI and the back tire at 60PSI.   It is a bit higher than recommended but decided so to reduce some road resistance.  The ride on-road was great but on gravel was a bit rough.

Packing

• Two bottles of water
• Three protein bars
• Cell phone plus a 6,400MA backup battery and a cell phone mount
• Replacement tube, tube changing tools, and small hand pump
• Sunscreen
• Thin cycling jacket - some parts of the bay can be windy and chilly.  Some can be dry and warm on the same day
• Gloves, backpack, helmets, sunglasses, riding shorts, etc - the usual long-distance riding outfits.

Summary

So glad that I did the ride.  There is a minimum climb.  The bay shore is extremely beautiful.  It is surprising that just a few miles from the bustling Silicon Valley with headquarters of Facebook, Apple, Google, Oracle, there are hundreds of miles of quiet trails.  I did it in September so it is a bit warm on the east bay, but overall, the weather was nearly perfect.  If I do it in the fall, the temperature will be lower but it also means the sunset will be earlier so the last hour of the ride each day might not be as safe.  I will try to the do the same circling the north San Francisco Bay next time!

Note

There are miles of the trails that are away from any city or stores, so prepare to repair the bike yourself if needed.  

I rode half of the trip with my son, half by myself.  It is recommended, as any ride, to go with a group of 2 to 4, for safety and fun.  

Since I use Google Maps as a navigation tool,  the battery drained fast, make sure you pack a backup battery with a charging cord.  I charged my cell phone fully, plus the 6400mA battery connected at all times, I have about 20% power left at the end of the day.  

I would recommend bringing a second cell phone or a small point-and-shoot camera so you don't have to unmount the cell from the bike.  There are so many great points to take photos.

Start training three to four weeks before the big ride, I rode about 20 miles every other day for two weeks, most on hilly Carmel and Pebble Beach, which prepared me well for the long ride.  At the end of the BIG RIDE, I felt very energetic.

Unplanned Lunch and chagrin

 Professor W. Wang and Geoffrey the realtor invited me for lunch.  I was planning to have them come to Carmel so I can be a good host, and of course, cut down two hours of driving to San Jose.

They suggested Capitola, near Santa Cruz.  I accepted because the Shadowbrook is a restaurant that I had heard about and like to try it.  However, they changed their plan to go to Zelda, a run of the milll seaside eatery that was not impressive.  The conversation was OK but not exciting.  Geoffrey was a nice guy to shared a lot of his experience running assisted and independent living real estate in So Cal.

Since the conversation was not leading anywhere, I focused on the beer and the food.  It is not too bad, the hazy IPA was on par so did the calamari.   Not sure it worth an one hour drive thought.

Filled with food. I slept for 30 minutes near the vista point on hwy 1.  Because of the beer, I wasn’t productive all afternoon.  Much to my chagrin.  

Should plan better next time.

Big Fish

 The movie big fish is wonderful.  We all have to try to make our mundane lives fantastic.

The little boy observed that a gold fish will not grow big in a small tank, but will grow big in a big pond. We all have to put ourselves in to the big ocean in order to grow big - even endure the risk of being eaten by bigger fish.

Journal of 1/26/2021 Taoyuan Quarantine Hotel

 This in my Bigu. That many have struggle to find time to do so.  But not 100%, since I still have the connection to the world via the on and off of currents.

Reading Sapian, myths or faith is imperidvie.  The law, social norms, religion, country are all faith that impact us, sometime make us welling to sacrafice.

Sucess does not equal happiness - the billion of chickens raised in a crowed farm for 21 days before being slaughered is an evaluation success by the sheer number of individuals, but it does not mean they are happy.

Childless couple might have more comfortable lives - without the burden of bringing up children, but are they really better off?  Many of the first world's young believe so and acting so.

Liberty, or give me freedom or give me death, is a faith, not a logical conclusion.  Hormony and secruty is another believe, widely accepted in the East, is also a faith.  Which one is better?  Can a happy empire filled with dying generation without offspring considered an successes?

Wealth is a faith, faith create action.  There are people, family and tribes that do not believe in wealth and they continue to live in poverty, maybe happily.  Should we education our children to be wealth or poor.  The answer is not clear.

Cultivating the next generation with my missions

Sometimes I wonder why I still put in so much time in instruction for meager compensation.   Sometimes I wonder I need to spend so much time explaining to students why we have to add a fee to their financial burden.  

But it is not for the monetary reward, which I am fortunate enough not to worry about anymore.  It is for the mission: to learn, to love, and to serve.

Without the learn, we don't have to tool to move forward, without the love, there is no passion to move forward, without the serve, there is no reason to move forward.

Living by the three missions, I am often frustrated, exhausted, troubled, challenged, but feel every day is worthwhile.

 

Portola Valley

Have been staying in the Portola Valley house for about a month now.  It is quiet and pleasant.  The 5 acres lot make it pretty private, next to Stanford and Sandhill Road, make my connection to the Silicon Valley much easier than Carmel.

The cook Karina is great. When I stay in PV, each meal is well prepared, mostly Sothern Chinese, Vietnamese or Southeast Asia cuisine.  My assistant Elaine is also trying her best to complete the my personal and the UnivSA project.

I arrive at PV usually on Thursday morning, have the study meeting while driving with IT folks, have an update meeting with Elaine, lunch by Karina, update meeting with Steve, prepare for evening working meeting with Chinese partner at 6:00PM.  Dinner is served at 7.  Then I take a long walk, sometimes with Steve, on the trail between PV and Woodsides, crossing a running creek, for about 45 minutes.

The garage is small after I park the Mercedes S, there is ONE inch left between the car and the garage door.  

The weather is hot, last week it was in the 90s, have to turn on the air conditioning. 

Overall, it is a new experience and a pleasant one.  The UnivSA vision: bring Silicon Valley Venture knowledge and connection to the world, is an exciting one.

Tennis Drama 06 2020

I have been playing tennis with LP in Carmel. Enjoy the exercise and soft hitting.  But she has a controlling tendency.   Any other females want to invite me to play without inviting her, she got very angry and speaks ill of the others.  I was surprised by the drama and kind of amused by it.  

This also applies to the other, Ja.  The female's minds are hard for me to understand.  So competitive and jealous among them, even for just playing tennis.

Spending more time on tennis and piano during the COVID19 lockdown.  Playing with Vicky and Michelle in San Jose high school on Friday.  Mattie and David (both are very good and compete and NSTA) and Ling in South San Jose with good dinner afterward, in addition to playing in Carmel.  I enjoy them but not sure I care about the drama.

I lost some weight over the last year, reduced from 189!!! To 174, together with the collagen, my knees are getting better!  I try to modify my troubled forehand with consistent unit turn and bending the knees to get more consistency and power.  Flipping the forehand was more powerful than I expected when done well, it is beautiful and very satisfying. 

 

Bob Lin’s talk for Mount Jade 05 30 2020

What a great guy!  So true that loving to connect with people will enhance someone’s career.  He assisted many startup to go IPO.  Definitely should connect with him.  He is fun and frank.  Touch many industry is great.  

Dealing with the finance, governance and legal challenges at PGI, but I make sure I do the right thing and enjoy the ride - even a bumpy ones.

To build a tall building, the location is essential. The “location” for startup is “market”. You can not create the market, you have to follow it.

Market and the people are the most important components

What pain of the customers that you can reduce?  What pleasure your products can bring to the users?

Mount Jade and Hua Yuan are good association to join.

Typical VC firm on Sandhill receive 10,000 proposals per year.  Select 1000 to meet, select 20.  Of the 20, 10 already have prior connection.   Only 10 new projects are picked.  Trust is an important factor.

20 pitches reviewed per week.

Homedepot is doing well, because everyone is working on home improvement!

Political Paradigm Shifting - from plutocracy to meritocracy

1950 saw the world’s political system moved from Plutocracy to Communism.  Corrupted region fell and either national democracy, or communism disguises under the flags, established.  In the 80s and 90s, capitalism, disguised as democracy, become the norm of the political system.

The raise of China, especially in the aftermath of the COVID19, exposed the weakness of the western political system.  Democracy is a great idea - people, after thoughtful discussion and analysis, caste their votes and pick a leader to govern.  Alas, there is less and less thoughtful discussion these days.  Most people are manipulated by the media, which is manipulated by the powerful and wealthy.  

The democracy become just a name, it has become the marriage of two extreme negative forces - populism and plutocracy.  The lower class, easily fooled, voted with anger and fear, to the detriment of themselves.  The rich become powerful and the powerful become rich, and their kids become rich and powerful!

Chinese Communist Party, with all its faults, has lifted more than half of billion Chinese out of property. The lower 50% of the Chinese people, have never have this level of prosperity. One can argue that this has happened in spite of the CCP, but it is never easy to argue of success.

One process of that makes the success of the CCP is strict meritocracy, most government workers are selected thru a huge human resource department, the CCP’s organization department, since the person is admitted to the party.  They go thru as small roles as a village chief, to a town, a county, a province, a small city, big city and to the central government.  At least from my observation, in the public sector, there is no “royal family”, such as Trump, Kennedy, Bush...

CCP pick their leader as a CEO, while the west pick their leader as rock star.  The result is drastically different style and personality of the leadership.

It is said every 60-80 years, three generations, there will be a regent change and political paradigm shift.  A shift is happening to bigger, more controlling, more effective, and merit based government.  We shall see.

Eric Tao

05 22 2020 Carmel

World is changing because of COVID19

Moving budget from fighting war to fighting dease,because now people know virus can paralyze arm forces

People are a pushed to embrace digitalzatikn   including online meetings, classes, and probably eMedince

Roosevelt's "The Man in the Arena" 竞技场中的人

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

“荣誉不属于在一旁指指点点的人，不属于那些谈笑强者跌倒或者哪里可以做得更好的人。
荣誉属于真正在竞技场中努力，那些脸庞沾满灰尘、汗水和鲜血，那些勇敢奋斗，屡败屡战的人。因为任何努力都会有错误或缺点；荣誉属于投身于有意义的事业，属于敢于追求伟大梦想，最终取得伟大成就或者虽败犹荣的人。这样，竞技场中的人，他的位置，将永远超越那些冷漠胆小而不知胜败的人。”