The long day of travelling yesterday didn’t phase most of the touring party as a good number were up and about from 6am- their body clocks not quite adjusted yet. The word of Lions victory in New Zealand quickly spread and was very well received. Unfortunately the boys couldn’t avail as the wished of the “All you care to eat buffet breakfast” as the first training session was scheduled for first thing this morning. This gave the players a great chance to blow away the cobwebs of the long flight. Thankfully the climate here is similar to good days back home so the heat shouldn’t cause a problem as we build towards Monday’s fixture. After training we were able to take a look around the University of Berkeley facilities and as in all major USA universities they do things on a different scale to back home. The California Memorial Stadium would put many top sports grounds back home to shame.
After a quick bite of lunch we ventured downtown San Francisco for the first time in order to take a bicycle tour of the shoreline of San Francisco Bay, over the Golden Gate Bridge and then down into Sausalito. The logistical nightmare of trying to keep 54 budding Chris Froome’s together was well marshalled by recent Gran Fondo participant, the youthful Mr Knox who was setting a good pace. The evergreen Mr Irvine kept a close eye with his fellow social cyclists at the back. With clear blue skies and excellent weather we were treated to some fantastic views and many a photograph was taken. The journey was broken up into a few parts and some of the boys were able to show off some of their questionable dance moves. The tour finished in the very picturesque setting of Sausilito and we were then able to get a clipper ferry back to San Francisco. Dinner and the BART back to Berkeley followed and 54 tired bodies headed straight for sleep.
Tomorrow we go back into San Francisco for a tour of Alcatraz. Check the blog tomorrow to see how that went.
After a quick bite of lunch we ventured downtown San Francisco for the first time in order to take a bicycle tour of the shoreline of San Francisco Bay, over the Golden Gate Bridge and then down into Sausalito. The logistical nightmare of trying to keep 54 budding Chris Froome’s together was well marshalled by recent Gran Fondo participant, the youthful Mr Knox who was setting a good pace. The evergreen Mr Irvine kept a close eye with his fellow social cyclists at the back. With clear blue skies and excellent weather we were treated to some fantastic views and many a photograph was taken. The journey was broken up into a few parts and some of the boys were able to show off some of their questionable dance moves. The tour finished in the very picturesque setting of Sausilito and we were then able to get a clipper ferry back to San Francisco. Dinner and the BART back to Berkeley followed and 54 tired bodies headed straight for sleep.
Tomorrow we go back into San Francisco for a tour of Alcatraz. Check the blog tomorrow to see how that went.