Tam

Tam

The last day of tour my route took me to the Golden Gate bridge through Marin County, following through Sausalito, Mill Valley, and other quaint little bayside towns just north of San Francisco. But sadly, since then I haven't made it back, until today. With Diablo under my belt I had to find the next challenge, that challenge is Mount Tamalpais, or Tam, as it is amicably referred to by local cyclists. A 2,571 triple summit mountain resting in it's own reserved State Park in Marin County.

But before the ride, some whining. The biggest reason so far why I haven't made it to Tam, or Marin for that matter, is the fact that I cannot ride to San Francisco, to cross the bridge into Marin. Hell, I can't even take the Richmond San Rafeal brdige to the north to get from the East Bay to Marin. It's a problem that thankfully people are working on (the new Bay Bridge to Treasure Island will have a dedicated cycle/ped lane and there was a recent resolution passed to use toll funds to build a way to connect the gap, but not soon enough, they can't just close one lane of traffic to let immense cycle traffic?), but nevertheless it makes getting to SF a rarity for me (this was my first time there since my last day of work over a week ago). So I took the two mile ride down to West Oakland and hopped on BART.

Waiting for BART with Oakland in the background.

I had to hit the library first, so I couldn't take Embarcadero to the Bridge, instead I had to cut through the busy Frisco streets. This is another reason why I'm glad to be an East Bay resident, less urban, less stoplights, less hassle. I stopped and go'd and stopped and go'd, and finally made it to the Golden Gate Bridge. The last time I saw this bridge this close was a foggy late August day, finishing my cross-country tour, but today, I go the other way first.

SF skyline from the Presidio.

The bridge.

Why I thought going through Sausalito/Golden Gate on a Sunday was a good idea, I don't know. The tourists on rental bikes clogged the pathways and bridges. I'm glad that these people are renting bikes and getting into it (and I hope they ride bikes at home, a digression I will pass on for now), but man, trying to get a serious ride in while dodging people who hardly know how to ride (or bike path manners!) is tough. I managed the traffic and cut off the bike paths to the climbs.

I somehow found myself turning down this narrow one way street, a horse carriage street, that because of the hill could never be widened. It felt like a bike path, except for the fact that it climbed. Sometimes getting lost can be the best thing possible, I was originally going to take 1, but I am sure glad I found this hidden gem to peacefully climb.

I believe it's called Jane Road? Whatever it's called it rules. 

Eventually, this narrow one lane road opened up to a moderately busy two way, where cars poked passed going to only one of three places, Tam, Muir Woods, or Stinson Beach. My guess is not many were going to Tam, because there were not many cars there on the way up. Which speaking of the way up, Tam is a deceptive one. Before actually entering into the park, Tam has a gentle climb that I pounded a nice 18+ MPH up,  all I could think of was, 'man I'll be up this in no time', and 'why is this so classic it's so gentle?' and 'Diablo is so much tougher'.

Beautiful pines. Hard to imagine I was spitting distance from the city.

Panorama of the road and looking West.

The ocean! I've been meaning to reacquaint myself with you.

Then Tam played her trick, the road veered up, and up I went. I pushed through it. I kept my cadence, stopped for many a pictures at the incredible views and before I knew it, it was West Peak. I didn't actually make it to the West Peak, but the road winds around West Peak, and drops before rising to Central peak, before dropping then rising one last, and tough time, to the East Peak, the highest peak. I'm not a fan of these drop and gain climbs (the Big Horns were infamous for this, making 8,000+ feel like 10,000+), but I got some good velocity into those series of climbs and eventually made it to the "summit".

A downhill? But I'm climbing!

I quote it like that because unfortunately, the road doesn't go all the way up. The firetower looms down over the visitor center, picnic area, and parking lot at a .3 mile hike up. I of course didn't bring my lock and fearing that Chicago moment (where I got my bike stolen), I decided this was good enough. Looked out, saw San Francisco, Oakland, Sausalito, the pine forests that cover the hills between, and tried to squint to see way off to San Jose, which is apparently visible on extremely clear days.

Surly on the summit, always looks good.

My bike matches the ocean, sorta.

And East, it's amazing how ugly East looks, so much brown!

At the summit some mountain bikes were kicking around. That's a tough way up, but got to be a fun way down. On my way down I peaked over to the fire road that carries those fat tires up, where a lycra'd out mountain biker was descending hard (and since when do mountain bikers where tight lycra?). Soon enough that will be me. If you're not familiar with Marin County, it, along with Boulder, CO, is the co-founder of mountain biking, and apparently harbors some of the best single track, so I'll have to get back out here.

On the descent it wasn't long before my Continental tire popped, again, there's another reason to get excited for those 40mm Schwalbes. I changed it quickly then bombed the descent. The descent was a good one, but not a great one. The beginning I found myself slamming the breaks a great deal, which isn't ideal on the downhill, it did eventually shallow out for some fun bends, but once those came I was nearly done. I passed cars on the left (something I'm hesitant about always, but hell, they always pass me when they shouldn't!) and took Highway 1 back out to Sausalito.

Back in San Francisco County.
Looking out beyond the bridge at the Golden Gate.

My buddies Sean and Christy on tour took beautiful photos from on top of that hill.
I need to get there sometime. 

I popped back over into SF, after hazardously avoiding tourists on the bridge, then had to climb more. By this point I was into my 60th mile and was shot, luckily I crossed quickly into the Mission, got my clips I needed to pick up and some Four Barrel Coffee, feeling yet another accomplished ride done. Now I need to find what the next "have to" ride is. Maybe Diablo without pavement? Maybe Mount Hamilton? Maybe an Oakland, San Francisco loop? Who knows!

Four Barrel Love.

Tam, you were tough, but I won.

For higher quality photos, plus some extras not posted go to my Flickr.