main cliffs (CA-1)

i wanted to do a mellow ride where i could find a nice spot to relax, so i rode up highway one in marin county to halfway inbetween muir beach and stinson beach.. about 20 something miles in and 20 something out.. there was definately some climbing, but this is coastal northern california, and CA-1 is never a joke.

CA 1 > Stinson Beach > west peak mount tamalpias

beautiful winter day. nice and dry with plenty of sun! what better place is there to be but highway one? click for bigger pictures.

that city down there is my home!

in this one you can see highway one on that ridge down there in the foreground and my neighborhood of the city right there in the back ground with the santa cruz mountains rising above

the city and the headlands down there.

no trip is complete without some redwoods!

dutchman/limantour road (point reyes)

we rode shoreline highway to dutchman's point but it was a little bit flooded.. almost got caught on a little (soon to be) island out on tomales bay.. it was drizzling the whole time we were on point reyes, but luckily never started really pouring. we took bear valley road (back towards olema) just to check it out and ended up turning down limantour rd.. turned out to be a bit of a mountainous climb through some of the densest forrest i've seen.. very nice.. some great birds, beautiful views and pleasant smells later we turned around and headed back up and over olema hill and onto the cross marin trail (samuel p. taylor park) towards home.

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total Distance: 155.28 km (96.5 mi)
Total Time: 9:31:00
Moving Time: 6:55:46
Average Speed: 16.32 km/h (10.1 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 22.41 km/h (13.9 mi/h)
Max Speed: 68.40 km/h (42.5 mi/h)
Min Elevation: -36 m (-117 ft)
Max Elevation: 248 m (813 ft)
Elevation Gain: 2451 m (8043 ft)
Max Grade: 23 %
Min Grade: -21 %
Recorded: Sat Jan 30 07:29:35 PDT 2010

MarshallWall to BoFax > 7Sisters

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well the pics on this one are not quite as splendid.. the viewing screen on my camera got smashed in while i was rolling down a mountain trying to snowboard in tahoe (worth it).. anyhow, we decided to do marshall wall (100 miles) and climb mount tamalpias on the way back.. excellent winter ride.. i havn't been posting as much because i've been doing so many little presidio and headlands rides.. starts to get old posting the same thing over and over again.. one day this week i climbed up to the top of hawk 4 times in one day.. should've just rolled tam but oh well..  it's been raining/sleeting/snowing here quite a bit lately.. gotta love riding in "hurricane force winds".

up through nicasio and on to point reyes petaluma rd over to rouge et noir for some mario land cheese... up hicks valley rd. and a left on to marshall petaluma.. up and over marshall wall and back on highway 1 to bolinas fairfax road (up mount tamalpias) and a right on ridgecrest rd. (to the seven sisters) and then a baildown to mill valley.. epic. and freezing cold. winter means waterfalls!

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total Distance: 160.96 km (100.0 mi)
Total Time: 10:47:40
Moving Time: 6:35:47
Average Speed: 16.84 km/h (10.5 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 24.40 km/h (15.2 mi/h)
Max Speed: 64.80 km/h (40.3 mi/h)
Min Elevation: -44 m (-143 ft)
Max Elevation: 601 m (1971 ft)
Elevation Gain: 3258 m (10689 ft)
Max Grade: 58 %
Min Grade: -138 %
Recorded: Mon Jan 11 06:24:38 PDT 2010

king's mountain (tunitas creek climb)

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Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total Distance: 127.80 km (79.4 mi)
Total Time: 6:29:06
Moving Time: 5:16:27
Average Speed: 19.71 km/h (12.2 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 24.23 km/h (15.1 mi/h)
Max Speed: 69.30 km/h (43.1 mi/h)
Min Elevation: -27 m (-89 ft)
Max Elevation: 637 m (2089 ft)
Elevation Gain: 2293 m (7521 ft)
Max Grade: 24 %
Min Grade: -13 %
Recorded: Mon Nov 16 09:31:48 PDT 2009

santa cruz mountains!
finally went south instead of north.. there was some beautiful coastline, and devil's slide was fun, but other than that the first 20 miles or so (of highway one) were a little too gnar gnar if you ask me.. but you didn't.

this  is the tunnel they're building through the mountain because devils slide has been known to  crumble down the cliff (and in to the ocean) every once and a while.

finally! i turn (off cabrillo highway aka 1) onto verde rd. and onto tunitas creek rd (pictured)

i climbed-up (7 miles gaining 2000 feet) king's mountain and turned left onto skyline blvd
this is crystal springs reservoir and the later pictures are of san andreas lake. both of these bodies of water are filling the san andreas valley (created by the san andreas fault not unlike tomales bay!) the bail-down on skyline blvd from kings mountain rd/tunitas creek rd lasted for 9 miles and was probably one of the straightest (least winding) descents in the area.
stumbled upon an awesome path that went on for about 8 or nine miles along the fault line!

the san andreas valley (dry side of the dam)

back to the golden gate park.. "ahhh..."

bolinas loop

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total Distance: 102.92 km (64.0 mi)

Total Time: 5:51:37

Moving Time: 4:37:07

Average Speed: 17.56 km/h (10.9 mi/h)

Average Moving Speed: 22.28 km/h (13.8 mi/h)

Max Speed: 60.30 km/h (37.5 mi/h)

Min Elevation: -30 m (-98 ft)

Max Elevation: 602 m (1975 ft)

Elevation Gain: 1927 m (6323 ft)

Max Grade: 24 %

Min Grade: -21 %

Recorded: Sun Nov 08 11:43:03 PDT 2009

climbed up through the neighborhoods of mill valley to muir woods road, dropped down to highway one, then headed up the coast (one) to the (surfing/hippie/super-counterculture) town of bolinas (a favorite)!

laguna de bolinas! (san andreas fault)then i headed up the bolinas/fairfax rd (or bofax rd) climbing up mount tamalpias on a stretch of the road i had not yet been on.. on this climb you're in 100% middle of a mountain nature.. i think i saw one car.. basically a steep twisting climb through a redwood forest that's pitch silent other than animals and waterfalls. listen hard, there's not a roadway or unnatural sound to be heard here. through out this climb you see words spraypainted on the road that read things like "agony" and "doubt" etc. etc. when you get to the top (ridgecrest rd) it says "relief".. i took ridgecrest up to bolinas ridge (aka the seven sisters, sonic the hedgehog world).. having done the alpine dam loop clockwise, i always had heeps of fun on this ridge, the road is amazing, not to mention the views of the mountains and the ocean/stinson beach/point reyes... so this time i did that little section twice and stopped a lot to get some pictures.. this is where we "collect coins".. TONS of pictures.. i know..

a little sunset from the golden gate bridge.