The 1995 Bridge to Boardwalk Race

I participated in a really interesting, fun and challenging event on 7/22/95 called the Bridge to Boardwalk Roll. It was organized and run by CORA.

The Course Description

We began at the South-East parking lot of the Golden Gate Bridge National Recreation Area, which is the last SF exit heading North on 101 out of the City. It was a beautiful sunrise and we began skating the prologue at 6:00. We skated as a group through the Presidio. Then down Arguello into Golden Gate Park. The hill was steep and unfortunately a few people fell, but everyone continued in the race. We went through the park and down to the beach. The race began at about 7:20.

We skated South on the Great Highway and made a right onto Skyline Blvd. Then a left onto John Muir Drive past the South side of Lake Merced. Then right on Lake Merced ave. Then left up John Daly Blvd., also known as Headache Hill. Then right on Mission Blvd, down a long way, through Daly City, Colma, San Bruno, Milbrae and into Burlingame.

There was a water station at the base of Trousdale ave, also known as Misery Hill, and it was 16 miles into the course. Trousdale Hill was uphill two miles. By the time I got there it was already hot out. Up the hill and then left on Skyline Blvd., going South until Golf Course Road (the Black Mountain Road exit on 280). We went under 280 and to Crystal Springs Road, and took it South to Highway 92. We made a left on Highway 92 for a mile or so to Canada road, which marked the 25 mile point. Canada has new pavement and begins with a long slow downhill. We took that to Olive Hill Road, which was the end of the 50K race. About half of the people (I think) participated in the 50K race.

From the Olive Hill Road stop the we took a left on Albion and a right on Manuella. Then we made a right onto Kings Mountain Road, also known as Heartbreak Hill, which occurred at 32 miles into the course. King's Mountain Road was 5 miles of up hill, all the way to Highway 35, where it ends at 2200' above sea level.

Then we went uphill about another couple of miles on Highway 35 to finally reach Skylonda, 42.5 miles into the course, and 2300' above sea level. This is where Alice's Restaraunt is. There was a water station there.

From Skylonda there was 10 miles of thrilling down hill on highway 84. Honestly, this was incredible!. Then another 5 miles of rolling hills into the wind. Highway 84 ends at Highway 1 at San Gregorio at 57.6 miles into the course. There was a water station here.

Then we went South on Highway 1, with stops at a Fruitstand (76 miles) and at Davenport (85 miles). The course ended in Santa Cruz at the Coconut Grove on the Boardwalk. The official race course didn't include the prologue through the Presidio and down to the beach in the distances.

The winner took 6 hours and 5 minutes.

How I Fared

I did not finish the race. I reached Davenport with my friend Rama McIntosh. We had skated for 12 hours and 20 minutes and it was 7:40 pm. We realized we could not finish in the daylight, and the prospect of skating completely exhausted on Highway 1 at night was an unappealing risk for us. We hitch-hiked to the end of the race where we ate a ton of food and then collapsed on the sand. CORA provided the food and transportation back to San Francisco.

The T-Shirt

You might think I skated in this race to prove something, or to challenge myself, or for the fun of it. All wrong. In fact, I did it for the cool T-Shirt. The Shirt had a color image of the CORA Logo, looking something like this:

I scanned the image right off the T-Shirt for David Miles, who runs CORA.