When Dr. Bill Bradford lived in Cow Hollow, he'd bicycle to work in Brisbane. It took an hour, which wasn't long enough, so he moved his family over to Marin County.
This way he gets a two-hour ride covering 30 miles and three mountains while touring through the towns and cities of Ross, Kentfield, Larkspur, Corte Madera, Mill Valley, Sausalito, San Francisco, Daly City and on to Brisbane, where he is at his desk by 8 or 8:30 a.m.
"I wasn't sure how the commute was going to work out until I started doing it," he says of adding a bay to cross. "Then I thought, 'This is even better.' "
On these short winter days, he times his commute to InterMune, the biotech company where he serves as a senior vice president, so the sun is rising as he comes across the Golden Gate Bridge and setting as he goes back. In between, his Serotta custom carbon racing bike sits outside his office door, leaning against a carrel. His window looks northeast to Candlestick Park, and when the daylight tells him it is time to go, he walks the Serotta down a long hall to a locker room, from which he emerges fully geared up.
"I've got the best commute in the world. I get high the whole way. I'm serious," he says as he sets out to prove it, blowing by all styles of Lexus and Acura in the company parking lot and starting off with a 1.5-mile climb up Guadalupe Canyon Parkway. Within minutes he is looking down on the Cow Palace.
The parkway connects San Bruno Mountain State Park to civilization, where he makes a hard right at Bobby Bonds Memorial Field and into the little boxes of Daly City.
"This is my cut-through, winding through the (back) streets so I don't get killed," he says, just before meeting his first hazard, a skateboarder flying out of a side street.
He crosses over Interstate 280, and as he reaches Westlake Shopping Center, his destination first comes into view - Mount Tam.
He takes John Daly Boulevard to Lake Merced Boulevard and leaves civilization again, pedaling between a golf course and the lake as the sun drops behind the cypress forest and the temperature drops with it.
When he turns onto the Great Highway, there is an elevated path between the traffic lanes, but pedestrians and dogs are a bigger hazard than cars, so he stays on the shoulder.
At the 45-minute mark, he passes the Beach Chalet, then turns right onto Balboa Street and zigzags up to ride the fun-house slide of Clement Street down the other side to the turnoff for the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.
"Is this an awesome commute or what?" he says, in a sweat after pedaling past the red steel sculpture in the parking lot. He's halfway home, but he doesn't stop and he doesn't snack. He snakes down through Sea Cliff, passing the house of Robin Williams, a reputable cyclist, though he's probably never ridden home from Brisbane.
It is a long pull up Lincoln Boulevard from Baker Beach, while contending with the 29-Sunset diesel bus. At the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge, he takes the west-side bike lane so he doesn't have to slalom through the tourist side. At the north end he cuts back under the bridge and down through Sausalito.
At the north end of Bridgeway Boulevard he flies by Mike's Bikes and onto the bike path, which angles under the Redwood Highway and across the marsh to Mill Valley. It is 5 o'clock, and he's drafting with another cyclist.
The last climb is Camino Alto, the mountain pass from Mill Valley to Corte Madera. It is a narrow road in fading light. A full moon is rising and there are deer crossing. Looking down across the valley, he can see the string of car lights all bunched together on the freeway. His bike is outfitted with a blinking red reflector on the back of the seat and a headlight on the handlebars with four strong beams grouped together.
"You can see this thing forever," he says, cranking it up. "When it's pitch-black dark, I can totally see the road in front of me."
The last long straightaway is Magnolia Avenue, where he passes the neon marquee of the Lark Theater in downtown Larkspur. By the time he reaches home, he's pretty much traveled the 415 area code, top to bottom and side to side. The stars are out, as they were when he left in the morning.
He parks the bike on the back porch and grabs a handful of cashews before grabbing a handful of kids. Later on, he'll hang the bike in the garage to get the lights recharged.
He's put in 62 miles, adding a slight detour in the morning to go through Cavallo Point, and he still looks fresh.
"I'm not that tired after doing the round trip," he says. --
Dr. Bill Bradford
Age: 48.
Occupation: Senior vice president, clinical science and biometrics, InterMune, a biotech company.
Distance in miles: 30.5, one way from Ross, Marin County, to Brisbane, San Mateo County.
Time elapsed: One hour, 53 minutes.
Total climb: 2,000 feet.
Time he leaves in the morning: 5:30 or 6 a.m.
What he eats for breakfast: Banana, handful of cashews and almonds, and an energy bar.
What he eats for lunch: Salad.
What he carries: Cell phone.
How long he's been doing it: Eight years
Biggest impediment: Time, with competing family and work obligations.
Why the hell: "How do you get to Brisbane? Freeways, traffic, sitting in cars, congestion. From Ross to Brisbane, best case is 35 minutes with no traffic. A typical return is 50 to 60 minutes. Cycling is a no-brainer in a lot of ways."
Weirdest experience: Sprayed by a skunk on San Bruno Mountain. "I went on to the office and attempted to clean up, but was unsuccessful and in the process managed to smell up the entire office building. It was a long day."
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