Wednesday, January 4, 2012

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The scheduled ride for today meets up in front of the Marin Brewing Company located at the Marin Country Mart in Larkspur. Parking is available along Sir Francis Drake Blvd and the side streets around the Country Mart. Water and restrooms are available at the nearby Starbuck’s or at the Marin Brewing Company.

We exit the shopping center, hop onto the sidewalk to follow the green & white signs for Bike Route 20. The route leads us under Hwy 101; pass the railroad trestle to the path along the canal. We exit the bike route on S Elisio Dr, cross Bon Air Ave to get back onto the path. The view of Mt Tam is fabulous!

There is one left turn onto a very narrow bridge; it’s easy to miss! This section of the bike path is very narrow-watch your speed and watch out for folks along the path! There are a few blind turns!

We exit the path at Ross Common and continue on Lagunitas to Shady Ln. The turn on Bolinas Ave takes us onto the bike route along San Anselmo Ave into Fairfax. We stay on the bike route from Broadway Blvd through the side streets out to Sir Francis Drake Blvd.

The climb up White’s Hill takes us up and over towards Woodacre and San Geronimo. We roll pass Spirit Rock, horse ranches and the golf course before making the turn onto Nicasio Valley Rd.

The following climb up Nicasio Valley Rd is about a mile long, it’s not too steep-the gradient ranges from 6-7%. The downhill takes you in and out of the redwoods and pass numerous horse ranches. next There is a brief regroup in Nicasio.

We continue on Nicasio Valley Rd to Pt Reyes-Petaluma Rd. The terrain along this stretch is pretty flat all the way to the turn at the colored bridge. The views of Nicasio Reservoir are always gorgeous; the water is so blue! The rolling hillsides are turning green again!

We make a right turn at the colored bridge to stay on Pt Reyes-Petaluma Rd.  The next 3+ miles along flat to rolling terrain takes us to Hwy 1 and into Pt Reyes Station.

The weather is unbelievable here; it’s warm and sunny! What a great day this turned out to be! There is plenty of seating area around the Town Commons.

After lunch, we take Sir Francis Drake Blvd to Bear Valley Rd. This quiet back road has us passing through the Olema marshes and the Bear Valley Visitors Center.

The turn on Hwy 1 takes us back on Sir Francis Drake Blvd for the climb up Olema Hill. The descent on the back side is fast; slow down or you’ll miss the entrance to the SP Taylor park bike path. We opt to make a left near the bottom of the hill and loop under the bridge to crossover to the park.

The ride through the park is absolutely gorgeous! There is one section of the road that has been washed out-be cautious! We stop along the way to help Pat R with a flat. Wyatt and his SUPER-pump has her back on the road in no time!

We follow Phil through the park and continue on the bike path-the remaining way out on the path is ALL GRAVEL! We opt out of the path at the next available exit and stay on Sir Francis Drake Blvd.

We meet up with Phil and Pat at the bridge and continue on Sir Francis Drake Blvd through Lagunitas. Unfortunately, the tandem gets a flat too! We stop and Wyatt has us back on the bike lickety-split!

We stay on Sir Francis Drake Blvd to Fairfax. The return from this point is the reverse route of the ride. The climb up the back side of White’s Hill is much shorter and gentler.

We follow the bike route through San Anselmo to Ross Common and decide not to take the path and stay on the road. We take Kent Ave to Magnolia, Bon Air and S Elisio Dr.

Now back on the bike path, we come across other riders near the railroad trestle and stop to chit chat for a moment. We all ride back together through the Ferry Terminal parking lot to the ramp which takes us over to the Country Mart.

Beauty can be found anywhere; these brilliant colored orange poppies are growing between the cracks of the sidewalk! Marvelous!

Thanks to Phil for leading yet another fun ride! We had spring like weather-it was superb!

~35 people in attendance with 2 tandems

52.37 miles with 2318′ of elevation gain

Weather: SPECTACULAR! Sunny blue skies with some afternoon winds. Temps ranging from the mid 50’s to mid 60’s at Pt Reyes Station.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>RIDE TO HAVE FUN!>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Follow this route sheet for today’s ride: