Plan Your Golden Gate Bridge Crossing: Ideal for Cyclists, Runners and Walkers

TL;DR: I built a site to identify The Best Time for Athletes to Cross the Golden Gate Bridge which is great for cyclists, runners and walkers.

As someone who regularly cycles from San Francisco to Marin, I often found myself unprepared for the weather on the Golden Gate Bridge, where the temperature can be 10-15 degrees cooler by the time I arrive than when I leave home.

To address this, I created a site that offers real-time weather conditions—temperature, wind speed, rain probability, and sunset time—so you can dress accordingly before heading out. It also suggests the two best times for your crossing today.

Given that we’re living in the future, I built the site using Flow to quickly dictate prompts to Cursor, an AI code editor. Flow speeds up writing using voice commands, while Cursor handled the coding. The site is built with HTML5, Tailwind CSS, JavaScript, and Axios, which pulls real-time weather data from the Open-Meteo API. The project is served through GitHub Pages using HTML files.

I previously detailed how I use N8N with Browserless and Playwright. This N8N workflow captures a screenshot of the Golden Gate Bridge webcam every 5 minutes and posts it to the project’s GitHub repo.

Since athletes in SF often leave home, cross the bridge, and continue with a loop through the Headlands or other parts of Marin, the site includes a key feature: the ability to set time offsets. These offsets account for both the time it takes to reach the bridge from home and the time spent on the other side before returning. The personalized offsets are saved in your browser’s local storage, making it easy to align your typical workout routine with real-time weather forecasts. This allows you to quickly check conditions before heading out, ensuring you’re dressed appropriately for both legs of your trip. Additionally, the suggested crossing times highlight the best windows today, providing potential inspiration for your next outing.

Whether you walk, run, or cycle, I hope this tool helps you plan your visit to the Golden Gate Bridge better. As the saying goes, "There’s no bad weather, just bad gear!"

I developed two slightly different versions of the site:

1. The Best Time for Athletes to Cross the Golden Gate Bridge Today is designed for cyclists and runners who want to:
   1. View a real-time image of the bridge
   2. Check the expected weather for their planned crossings
   3. Access a daily forecast
   4. Get recommendations for the best times to cross today
2. Golden Gate Bridge Weather Forecast for Cyclists and Runners is tailored for athletes who know how long it takes to reach the bridge and simply want to:
   1. View a real-time image of the bridge
   2. Check the expected weather for their planned crossings

GitHub - danielraffel/ggb

Contribute to danielraffel/ggb development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHubdanielraffel

Note: Just after publishing this I made a sister site to identify the best time to swim on the rooftop pool at UCSF Bakar Gym.

GitHub - danielraffel/bakarfitness

Contribute to danielraffel/bakarfitness development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHubdanielraffel