Marin 48O

[James Warren]

Well, my brother-in-law Joe and I finally did Marin County right for a trip that lasted longer than one day. My first adventure in Marin back in 2009 was a single night of hotel touring and accidentally meeting up with Esteban, Franklyn, Aaron, and a few others and meeting them for the first time. Since then, I have tried to get back to Marin for a longer adventure and kept getting rained out or sick or some other thing. Finally, Joe and I made it happen. We left Friday evening from San Francisco where Joe got off work at 6 PM. We were back to his house by 7:30 PM Sunday.

Here is a map of the route and a description below that:

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/114089915

Friday evening, we crossed the GG bridge heading into Marin.

We climbed Conzelman to the traffic circle.

We rode down Coastal in the dark to Bunker.

We stayed at the Headlands Hostel. I felt like I wasn't taking advantage of the tent that was adding to my load. But I liked the Hostel. I used the tent on night 2.

Saturday morning we climbed Miwok Trail in the Headlands.

Then we dropped to Tennessee Valley Rd to find and climb Coastal Trail. Tough climb, but I made it!

We dropped down Coastal to hang out at Muir Beach for a snack.

We took Hwy 1 North to a lunch stop at Stinson Beach. A lot of cars on a Saturday. No choice though.

We took Hwy 1 North to turn right on Randall Trail and climbed up to Bolinas Ridge.

We took Bolinas Ridge to Shafter and descended that. That put us on Cross Marin Trail.

After taking Cross Marin trail north, we planned to camp at Samuel P Taylor. However, we decided we needed to get to Pt. Reyes Station to buy food sooner rather than later so we just headed up there before claiming a campsite. Error in planning, I'm sure, because perhaps a store in nearby Lagunitas would have served us better. But our bumbling ways ended up being more fun in the end. It certainly lead to a lot more climbing than we would have done if we had planned for more efficiency.

We climbed on Sir Francis Drake to get back over to Hwy 1. There we saw Olema Campground and decided to settle for it. And there we found Dustin and Esteban near the end of their 8-day tour. Cool!

Day 3 we rode with Dustin and Esteban on the last day of their tour. The route went over Mount Tam via Bolinas Fairfax, West Ridgecrest, Old Stage, and Railroad grade. Having a great lunch in Mill Valley at Punjabi Burrito with Dustin, Esteban, and Joe was a highlight of an already great trip. From Mill Valley, Dustin and Esteban rode fast to the city, while Joe and I took it easy. We visited the Bay Model in Sausalito and had some ice cream. Then we rode over the bridge and back to Caltrain.

Outstanding 48-hour ride in Marin, and our bikes worked well for us. Atlantis for me, rear Hoss and front basket with net. Trek 7.2FX for Joe with rear panniers and stuff on top of the rear rack.

The Atlantis with a lot of weight on it performed well on the hills. I was able to climb and descend in dirt without feeling like this is a crazy thing to do with so much stuff attached. I was happy with how much dirt riding we could put into our tour and how easy that is to do in Marin. But for me, low gears are a must for that. Also, I'm still liking the V-brakes.

-Jim W.

p.s. Pictures prove that I was too tired to document the last half of the ride:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46035786@N07/sets/72157630614961962/with/7587348830/

[Mike]

I haven't looked at the pictures yet as I have to go run an errand but just reading a description of your route it appears you hit all the great roads in the area. I'm from SF and logged thousands of miles in Marin County on and off road and yet feel like I missed out as I wasn't into bike camping then. Hopefully next year I'll be able to get back down there with my Hilsen and revisit old haunts on it.

My wife and I got married in Olema and I got married in Olema so that area is that much more special.

--mike