“The bicycle saves my life every day. If you’ve ever experienced a moment of awe or freedom on a bicycle; if you’ve ever taken flight from sadness to the rhythm of two spinning wheels, or felt a resurgence of hope pedaling to the top of a hill with the dew of effort on your forehead; if you’ve ever wondered, swooping...bird-like down a long hill, if the world was standing still; if you have ever, just once, sat on a bicycle with a singing heart and felt like an ordinary human touching the gods, then we share something fundamental. We know it’s all about the bike.”
—Robert Penn
Whatever the reason for riding a bike, almost everyone agrees that cycling brings one closer to nature: The smell of fragrant flowers, colorful fruit orchards, the odor of horse manure from riding stables, the breeze against your skin, birds congregating at a nature preserve, or a majestic sunset on your way home. Bicycling extends one a panoramic view of the world and pitches you out into another reality free beyond time and space.
Bill and I completed a 25-mile round trip bike ride from San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail (part of the San Francisco Bay Trail) to Levi Stadium, home of the 49ers across from Great America. From here we continued cruising varying paths of Shoreline, passing through the Don Edwards SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge, the new stealth-looking Google complex still undergoing final construction, the Shoreline Amphitheater, the salt flats, and the white pelican islets. The mostly flat terrain included dirt, gravel and paved areas suitable for all bicycling levels.
On the way back, we retraced our path and even missed a couple. It’s all good when you’re on your bike. We eventually exited the safety of the protected space of the San Tomas pedestrian and cyclists trails. We made it to Evelyn Avenue and proceeded to Dishdash Mediterranean Cuisine on Historic Murphy Avenue in Downtown Sunnyvale. It is named after Martin Murphy, Jr., who planted the first orchard in Santa Clara Valley long before the tech revolution evolved in Silicon Valley. Sunnyvale is ranked one of the safest towns in the US, with a friendly and bustling downtown area. The street is closed off to traffic with plenty of outdoor seating for patrons of local restaurants. Bill ordered a Chicken Shawarma Wrap and fries and I enjoyed an exquisite looking and tasting Vegetarian platter with homemade pita bread as seen in the photos. We had certainly worked up an appetite and we savored every morsel of food before calling it a day and heading home.
