Double Stinson, plus Pt. Reyes

As the Death Ride gets closer, lots of entries are starting to show up on craigslist and some of the cycling forums. Lots of people must have changed plans or are worried about their training level. In any event, today I finally scored my coveted entry to the ride and now have a new impetus for doing longer rides with lots of climbing. I'm very fired up. To celebrate, I went on a killer training ride on Saturday. I left my house in Tiburon at the very early hour of 6am and rode out to Muir Beach. From Muir I dodged death defying deer along the coast to Stinson, then up to Ridgecrest on Mt. Tam. I dropped into Mill Valley and met some friends at Endurance, then we all did the Muir-Stinson leg yet again. We followed the coast all the way up through Olema to Pt. Reyes, then an easy spin back home through the hamlets.

Stats:
Distance: 91.11 miles
Time: 5:21:01
Speed: 17.0 mph
Climbing: 9,200'

Here are a few pics from the first loop on the ride. Once I hooked up with the others, the pace picked up considerably and the camera stayed in the pocket.

Early morning on the coast just north of Muir Beach, after climbing "the hill" -- i.e., the dreaded 400' incline from Muir Beach up to Slide Ranch. This hill always hurts.

Views out towards the west shoulder of Mt. Tam. No cars at 6:30am, and a screaming curvy descent ahead!

Except for these crazed creatures that are freakin' everywhere at this hour. Deer are not as big as cars, but a lot less predictable. Anticipate!

Hmmmm, nice curves...

Looking back towards the Golden Gate. Morning foggy mist still burning off. This is an awesome stretch of coast from Muir to Stinson -- great curves, a few hills, and insane scenery. This is my favorite quick loop and can be done in under two hours from my house.

Bang a right at Stinson for a steady and steep 2200' climb up a bare hillside, then into the redwoods, then back into the sun.

Near Ridgecrest, the great city shows itself to the south. Bonus points if you can spot the top of the GG Bridge. I stitched together a few photos from this spot to create a panorama. Pretty crappy work, but you get the idea.

Looking back down at Muir Beach and Hwy 1, where I was a little while earlier.

The Brioche Ride

One of our favorite spots is the Sunday morning Marin Farmers Market, held at the San Rafael Civic Center. They have a huge selection of fresh fruit and other goodies, jumpy houses to entertain the kids, good coffee and this one bakery that makes the most kick ass sugar brioche this side of the Boulevard St. Germain. The other great thing about the market is that it makes for a great one-way ride from my house in Tiburon to meet the family. I can leave early, get in a decent ride, then we can spend a couple of hours drinking coffee and snacking our way through the booths. Nice day.

This was the plan today. I pedaled out of the garage at 6:30am and rode through Mill Valley up to the top of Mt. Tam. After soaking in the views, I dropped down the 7 sisters to Alpine Dam and Fairfax. I still had some time, so I took the long way to San Rafael (via Whites Hill --> Nicasio --> Lucas Valley). The kids were in full jumpy house mode when I got there, so I headed right for the brioche guys. I was not disappointed.

Stats:
Distance: 53.25mi
Time: 3:13:46
Ascent: 4,300'

Mt. Tam looks the same on this elevation profile as it does from my house. Strange.

Marshall Wall plus BoFax

I got out today for a solo ride, the goal being to put in some long miles with a big climb near the end. I wanted to see how my legs would respond to climbing late in a long ride as a preview of the pain I would experience on the Death Ride.


It started with an easy spin through "the hamlets" (as Matt calls them), then over Whites Hill to Nicasio. From there over the Cheese Factory hill and the Marshall Wall loop from east to west. After a mandatory stop at the Bovine Bakery in Pt. Reyes, I rode down the coast and at mile 70 or so, I turned up the BoFax Road and climbed home over Mt. Tam. I was starving when I got home and pretty much didn't stop eating until ten minutes ago :-)

Stats
Miles: Around 95
Time: 5:26
Climbing: Somewhere above 6,000'

Here are a few photos:

Just after Cheese Factory Hill, I came upon a herd of friendly bovines. I sat there for a minute and suddenly these guys perked up and got REALLY interested in me. There's a lot of beef there, and it was kind of creepy. So I bailed. Quickly.

Turned left into Hicks Valley, cycling paradiso. Then onto the Marshall Road. Very cool that this is all doable in a loop ride from San Francisco. The new bike looks real nice (even though its pointing the wrong way...).

Some cool old history along the Marshall loop -- you pass an old schoolhouse built the same year Ulysses S. Grant was president and Yellowstone wasn't quite yet a national park. There are also a few old trucks from the early 1900s like this one. On this day, there were also lots of bugs which is unfortunately not quite as cool as the old schoolhouse or truck.

This gives you an idea of the Marshall road -- pretty countryside and no cars.

Eventually you hit a steepish but not terribly long climb -- the "Marshall Wall". This is the view from the top, which is good but not anything like you get off Mt. Tam or up near Jenner. The road drops down to the sea at Tomales Bay, right across from Point Reyes and the Inverness Ridge behind it (all seen here). Hard to believe that is a sliver of the Pacific Ocean with that huge mountain in the distance.

A screaming descent down the steeper west side of the Marshall Wall almost ended in tragedy when a deer popped out of the bushes right in front of me. In a car, you usually win (even if you mess up your ride). On a bike, at best you tie. Luckily I managed to swerve/skid left as the deer (itself scared shitless) jumped right. From there on, I dialed it back to slow, and saw a few more sneaky ones down the rest of the mountain, like this one here.

Ten miles to Pt. Reyes Station and a cup of morning coffee. The ride along Tomales Bay is cool.

Made it to Bovine Bakery at mile 56. There's usually around $150K of bikes outside this place on any given saturday morning.

Bolinas-Fairfax Road. The final insult. About halfway up, there's a supersteep switchback with "SUFFERING" written across the road. A little ways further up I found "ANGUISH" and then...

...which I thought was a bit overkill. I didn't really think I wasn't going to make it, especially since there was no way in hell my wife would drive out here to get me. So I was feeling pretty good, but at the top I definitely felt . . .

Muir Beach-Stinson Ride

Today I did a quick ride up to Pantoll summit on Mt. Tam and down to Stinson Beach. From there I headed down the coast to Muir Beach, then up and over through Muir Woods back home. This is a fantastic stretch of coastline -- it is hard to believe this is my backyard ride. I took a few cell phone pics along the way.


Stats:
38.93 miles
Time: 2:24:26
Speed: 16.2 mph
Gain: 3,200'

The Coldest Ride EVER

Matt, John and I rode down on the Peninsula today. I picked Matt up at the ungodly hour of 5:45am and we drove down to Woodside. It was a cold morning, but the weather was supposed to be sunny and warming up. The weather guys were flat out wrong. This was the coldest I have ever been on a bike by far, and maybe even the coldest ever (coming from a guy who regularly sleeps in snowcaves on the sides of mountains at 13,000', that is saying something).

I knew we had made a mistake when we started the quick "warmup" from Woodside over to Page Mill/Arastradero. It was F'ing freezing! I foolishly wrote it off as being early. Surely it would warm up, right? I sure hoped so, since I had only half gloves, a windvest and no shoe covers.

We met John at Page Mill and started the climb. Normally I am baking on steep climbs, but today I was perfect. Hmmm... At the top, the wind hit and I started to chill. The descent off West Alpine, normally a fantastic ride, was nothing but grimness. Farther down I had to stop every half mile to warm up. I was nearly crying.

We aborted on our original plan to ride out to Pescadero and instead cut the loop over to 84, then up Tunitas. We stopped at the San Gregorio stove for about 30 minutes, just slugging hot coffee and basking in the warmth of the stove by the door. Lesson learned -- always dress warm.

New Bike Stoke!

Its year end bonus time, so I decided to get myself a present for completing a full year of regularly riding to work 18 miles each way through fog and brutal afternoon headwinds, losing around 20 lbs in those 12 months, turning 39 and saving loads of money on gas. She finally arrived today! I need to get her fitted properly and cut the steer tube down, but then its ready for the maiden voyage. I am so stoked I seriously feel 8 years old again!!

BMC SLT01 Team Machine with SRAM Force gruppo and DT Swiss 1450 wheels in the gucci white "mon chasseral" stylie. Thanks to Charlie at Endurance PTC for the hookup.

Doored!

Well, it finally happened. I got doored today down in Fisherman's Wharf while riding home. I was riding along Beach St. towards the bridge. As I got to Hyde, there was a line of cars waiting at the light, one of which was signaling a left turn. This street has one lane in each direction, so I started riding along the right side of the stopped cars in the (fairly decent sized) gap between the passenger side of the cars and the edge of the roadway. There is no sidewalk here, just an iron railing which guards a 6 foot drop down to a sunken walkway behind a commercial building. So basically there is no place for a car to pull over, no place for a pedestrian to walk here, nor is there any spot for a passenger to exit a stopped car.

Of course this did not stop the guy who decided at the very moment I was riding past, to throw open the back door of the taxicab (4 back from the stoplight, in the middle of the lane) and T-bone me directly on the left arm, leg and handlebar. I bounced off, careened into the iron railing and snapped out of my pedals as I fell to the ground. After some hyperventilating and adreneline-influenced shouting and finger pointing, I calmed down to make sure I wasn't injured (and more importantly, that my bike wasn't injured). We weren't.

So the taxi rode off. The passenger walked off, and I nursed my bruises all the way home. Incidentally, I saw the guy cross the street and walk into the Buena Vista, presumably for a St. Patrick's Day whiskey. Was probably drunk when he flung the door open on me.

I played over in my head whose fault this accident was. In some ways we were probably all a little bit negligent here -- the passenger for not looking to make sure the roadway was clear before opening the door, the driver for letting the guy out in the middle of the goddamn street, and me for not demonstrating the proper respect anytime you ride your bike in proximity to a taxi cab -- especially in a touristy part of town. I think I had the legal right to ride alongside the cars (California law seems to allow multiple "vehicles" per lane, and requires bikes to ride on the right), but even if that's true there's a big difference between being "right" legally and being "wrong" based on the damage a car door can do to you.

Be careful out there. I got lucky this time.