MILL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
I was in California for the Mount Shasta Summit Century ride. I flew into San Francisco and met my friend, Rodrigo Garcia at the Mill Valley Community Center parking lot. We met last year on America’s Most Beautiful Ride in Tahoe. I had asked him if he would be a mail stop for a group cycling across the country because they had very few mail drops that they had arranged. He agreed and got to be letter carrier today. We rode to Scout Hall where the group was staying. Upon arriving we asked if anyone wanted to go for a 40-mile tour of Marin Co. Only Peter Bai was willing to go with us.
It was cool if not cold. I wasn’t prepared for it expecting to ride in 90 degree weather each day. I should have remembered Mark Twain stating, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” 1Thankfully, I had brought along my base layer jacket which I would wear.
We rolled through the communities of Mill Valley, Corte Madera, Ross, and Fairfax; Rodrigo being the perfect host pointing out tidbits of information. When we turned to ride up to Alpine Dam, we all stopped and removed the outerwear we had on. Just a few miles north made all the difference in temperature. Thankfully, Peter had a bag on the back of his bike where he could stow my jacket.
I had rented a Trek 1.2 from Summit Bikes in San Rafael. It wasn’t set up for climbing, at least for my climbing, and I soon knew it. I followed Rodrigo’s wheel, and at times it seemed he was pedaling twice as fast, although we were going the same speed. He was spinning. I was mashing.
It was a very relaxing climb. The weather was perfect. The views were gorgeous. And the company was superb! And we stopped to take pictures. It really was a great day on the bike.
After having ridden about 25 miles, Peter asked how far we were planning to ride. I told him 40 miles and he said, “I thought you said four miles.” We laughed at him. A lot. He explained that he thought it would be four that turned into 10 so he never said a word. Now he was on the hook for 40.
After Alpine Dam we climbed up to Mt. Tam (Tamalpais) and that wasn’t so bad. Until we reached the summit or plateau. Then began a stretch known as the “Seven Sisters” and even Rodrigo thought there were more hills than seven. It was gorgeous here but the road dropped in manic undulations, each climb taking a bigger toll on me.
To our right was the Pacific Ocean but all we could see were clouds of fog below us. It was like flying above the clouds. Reaching the main intersection, we could continue to Mt. Tam State Park or start our descent. Here, Peter would extract his revenge. When Rodrigo asked if we should descend or go to the State Park, Peter said, “Let’s ride.”
I was hoping the road was simply a summit road but it wasn’t. More climbing. It featured some crazy sections of 18% grade. We were rewarded with a view of San Francisco – covered by fog. Couldn’t see a thing other than the tower on Pacific Heights sticking through the clouds.
We turned and headed back, mindful that we also had some screaming descents on the way to the park. We had to climb out of here before descending.
Once back to the intersection where it was still warm, we stopped and followed Rodrigo’s direction to put our warm clothes back on. That was backwards in that usually most mountains are cool and the valleys are warm, Mt. Tam was warm because it was above the clouds and fog. Once we started the descent, it got cold. The closer we got to Mill Valley the colder it got. The winds blew in from off the ocean making handling the bikes tricky.
I was disappointed I couldn’t go faster on that Trek – but I made it. Back at Scout Hall, we celebrated by going to In-N-Out Burger – a perfect way to end the day.
- This appears to be misattributed to Mark Twain, actual author unknown ↩︎
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