I know the “49-Mile Scenic Drive” was originally created to showcase San Francisco’s attractions by car — but I’ve always wanted to ride the entire route by bike (plus it makes it way easier to navigate the crowds and traffic through the city.) TBO and I found this version online (I believe it was created by the SFBC), so we used it as the basis for our adventure. It deviates a bit from the actual route, so we’d hop on and off at very points to stick with the seagulls. And the original route ends on 280 North, so obviously we skipped that part!

You can see the evolution of the weather and the signage as we looped counterclockwise around the city. Some of the seagulls were in pristine condition and featured a newer design with the arrow incorporated into the entire sign, while others barely visible and were ghostly visages that had faded away over time. Not all of my photographs turned out as I was just using my iPhone; the fog and/or me pedaling quickly by produced some blurry shots — so we spotted a lot more throughout the day than are featured here. Bonus sighting: a group of naked cyclists gathered on Ocean Beach along the Great Highway…