Double In-N-Out stops for Double-Doubles on our double metric century. I'd been wanting to do the double century I did for the summer solstice again and Emily was game to do it as well. But two weeks ago she sprained her ankle pretty badly and we decided to do something "shorter". 😂 She also hurt her back more recently so didn't bring her camera. 😭 Is this why we weren't riding photo pace? 🤔 I rode up to the city to meet her at Neighbor Bakehouse. It started off nice but got chilly north of San Mateo. The wind also started to pickup. In San Bruno I could see a bank of fog where it got colder and windier still. I thought it was just going to get worse but then the sun came out. Sadly it got even windier and colder still. Going by the airport, on N. McDonnell Rd. just before San Bruno Ave. The road was closed with a bunch of fire trucks, ambulance and police. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to pass and there’s really no other way without a big detour. Luckily they allowed me to go through. A white SUV was driving the wrong way and went head on into a black sedan. They were maybe 30’ apart so quite the impact. I’m guessing it happened in the dark and not sure if the SUV was DUI. It kept alternating between sunny and overcast all the way to Neighbor Bakehouse. We had a bunch of pastries in the cold and really couldn't wait to get going and warmed up. We started later than the solstice double and the city was far busier. It was gray the whole way and when we got to Crissy Field, The bridge was almost completely hidden in the fog save just the base of one of the towers. The crosswind was ripping on the bridge and it was wet too. No bridge pictures there. The sun came back in Sausalito but again - windy and chilly. Just yesterday evening, it was so warm. Once we got over to Pt. Richmond it stayed over cast until we got to the Bay Bridge. We made a couple of bakery stops at La Noisette Sweets and Third Culture. We hadn't been finishing all the pastries we got and Emily was bringing them along. Her plan for the end of the ride was to create a "super pastry" from all the leftover bits. 🤣 She ended up eating it all throughout the ride and never got to make it. We continued the game we started on the solstice double - Pole Polls. Whenever we saw a pole, and yelled out a warning about them but really we were yelling, "Poll" where we'd alternate asking each other a question or a poll. As we neared the Bay Bridge, within a block, it went from chilly to very warm. It was nice to run into Marlon and his son who had just finished riding the Bay Bridge. Over on Treasure Island, I pointed out the Administration Building that was used in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as the Berlin Airport but Emily hasn't seen any of the Indy movies. More on that later. Treasure Island had nice views but there was much else to see there. The climb back out was crazy steep. I don't know why it isn't graded better. Thankfully they paved some switchbacks at the start - not sure why they didn't do it for the whole climb - and the last part to the top isn't too long. Navigating to the Posey Tunnel to get into Alameda was a little confusing at first. And the pedestrian walkway was super narrow. I don't know what would've happened if there was someone coming the other way. Probably no one is crazy enough to go through there because of how narrow it is. On the other side was our first stop for a Double-Double. We sat out in the sun and enjoyed some extra good fries. One of the reasons I wasn't finishing my pastries was because they were all a little too sweet and really I was craving something salty. It's like they knew because the fries seemed saltier than normal. Same with the burger. Parts of the route, I let Strava do and I wish I had looked more closely. Like taking Webster from In-N-Out to get to the waterfront was not ideal. No room for bikes and it's pretty busy. Once we got to the water though, it was super nice. Protected bike lane and a very nice tailwind. Really this was the part I was looking forward to because it was mostly tailwind - especially because of how windy it was today. I don't remember where exactly, somewhere on the Bay Trail in Hayward, my left knee and hip started bothering me. I haven't had any issues since getting my bike fit years ago and I never used to get knee pain on my left knee but I had it and as the miles ticked by, it got worse. On the solstice double I joke about how I crippled Natalie and Kira since they had some pain during that ride that prevented them from riding as much after. And I joked about how Emily pre-crippled herself before today's ride. Sadly, I managed to cripple myself. Natalie had planned to ride out route in reverse and meet us out at Coyote Hills. When we got there, I realized I needed water. I was so pleased with my reroute to get water because it meant avoiding the terrible headwind on the path out to the levee. As we were getting water, I was having some dried dates and remembered another Indiana Jones scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. He's served some dates that have been poisoned and before he can eat one, he's stopped by Sallah who notices the monkey has died after eating a date. Emily's response, "NICE!!!" (to the monkey dying) I cracked up! 🤣 We had gotten to Coyote Hills much sooner than Natalie expected so by the time she was able to ride over, we were already on the other side of Dumbarton. We rode over to In-N-Out in Redwood City to get another Double-Double for dinner. I showed Emily the photo of Dr. Michael (name has been changed to protect his identity) and his expression is so weird, we all cracked up again. Too good. Natalie offered to drive me home because of my knee and Emily was going to ride up to San Mateo to take the Caltrain home. Then we realized, Emily could just get the train from RWC not too far away from where we were. I probably could've ridden home but it wouldn't have been pretty so I'm really glad Natalie intercepted us and offered to drive me. On the ride over to Caltrain I said, "This all worked out perfectly. My knee hasn't gotten any better." Natalie's response, "I'm glad." (To everything working out but sounding like she was glad my knee still hurt) 🤣 More cracking up. Such inappropriate and bad responses. Love it! I brought along tons of snacks and barely ate them. One that I highly recommend and both Emily and Natalie thought they were great too - Quinn's Creamy Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels Nuggets. I was going to give what I had left to Emily for her trip home but in the rush for her to catch her train, I completely forgot. Sucks for Emily but great for Natalie who got them instead.