|   Microclimates and Mud in Marin | parkmeister
Jan 19, 2003 10:16 PM | | Marin, despite the dearth of singletrack, is still a place that I really enjoy riding. There are lots of trails (OK, fireroads), lots of climbing, and lots of varied scenery. So when I got an email from Joe Steel to hookup for a ride, I jumped at the chance. Joe, his friend Jeff, and I met up at the Deer Park School in Fairfax. The plan was to climb the paved Bolinas-Fairfax road out of town, do the Pine Mountain loop, and drop into the Boyscout ranch for some singletrack fun.
As a matter of principle, I try to minimize pavement segments while on my mtn bike, so I suggested and Joe and Jeff agreed to climb up to Pine Mountain via dirt. That meant climbing Repack: roughly speaking, it's 1,200 vertical feet in 2.3 miles at an average grade of 10.2% . I love these kinds of challenging climbs. The cool, dense fog helped to keep us from overheating as we each found our own climbing rhythm.
Joe climbing out of the fog at the top of Repack: |
| Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited | parkmeister
Jan 19, 2003 10:19 PM | | From the top of Repack, it's about 500 vertical feet in a mile to the top of Pine Mountain. Yeah, yeah, yeah, more fireroad, but it's steep, technical, rutted, muddy, and lots of fun. At the top of the climb, the dense fog quickly clears and the flat, white light is replaced with piercing blue skies and bright sunshine.
Joe and Jeff at the top of Pine Mtn: |
| Handsom fellers (nm) | Bkrgrl
Jan 19, 2003 10:41 PM | | |
| Pine Mountain | parkmeister
Jan 19, 2003 10:23 PM | | From the top of Pine Mountain, the trail rolls up and down for a bit before diving down towards the shores of Kent Lake.
Looking back at the trail we just climbed with Pine Mountain steaming in the background: |
| Beautiful Marin | parkmeister
Jan 19, 2003 10:27 PM | | It's views like this that keep me coming back to Marin again and again.
Jeff speeding down the backside of Pine Mountain: |
| Into the Trees | parkmeister
Jan 19, 2003 10:31 PM | | On the way to Kent Lake, we spotted a half eaten fox corpse in the middle of the trail. We milled about for a while, hoping to see the vultures circling overhead resume their Sunday brunch. But the carrion feeders were camera shy, so we saddled up and hit the road. The warm sunshine on the grassy hillsides became shrouded as we descended down under the canopy of the forest. |
| Bike Wash | parkmeister
Jan 19, 2003 10:38 PM | | We splashed through a few water crossings and basked in the sun before climbing up towards the cold and fog on San Geronimo Ridge and on towards the muddy singletrack at Tamarancho. No pictures in the redwood forest because we were having too much fun riding and I got tired and lazy. So sue me. All in all, it was a damn good day on the mountain.
Buenos noches, my friends,
Gary
Here's Joe washing his bike, only to have it drenched it mud later on at Tamarancho. |
| umm nice shot! | fc
Jan 19, 2003 10:47 PM | | Dood, when did you get photo skillz? You should charge Joe for the hi-res of that shot!!
francis |
| Nice Recap Gary... | Joe Steel
Jan 20, 2003 6:13 AM | | Thanks for posting.
As usual - my pics look like crap but I may throw a few up here anyway.
Glad you made it.
Joe |
| Excellent Post Gary............. | Battman42
Jan 20, 2003 7:53 AM | | Great pics as always....
I'm lookin' to ride Marin with JohnnyB. I'm drawn by the views and the Memories.
John said there is some Buzz about shutting down Tamarancho due to Enviro. survey costs. I hope it stays open.
I haven't ridden there yet, but I know I would miss it if it was gone.
E-me your new Sched. so I can hook up with you.
Tim |
| Great pix! (nm) | Kitchenware
Jan 20, 2003 9:02 AM | | |
| Missn that dirt | Zaphod
Jan 20, 2003 12:16 PM | | While Bolinas certainly isn't singletrack, I love the huge redwoods and views of the Pacific. Hard to complain when there are plenty of in-town trails/dirt roads and sweet riding inside of an hour's drive. With our current drought, trails usually covered in snow & ice are dry dry dry.
How you been mang? Heard through the grapevine thatyou got to taxi a plane around. Cool yo.
-Zaphod |
| Missn that dirt | Ebo
Jan 20, 2003 8:35 PM | | Hi Zaphod. Noticed one of your rigs a while back was a Mikkelsen steel hardtail. Have you been satisfied with it. Live somewhat close to Alameda and seriously interested in Bernie's mtn frames. Thanks for any help. |
| heh, heh, heh, climbing ol repack...(great pics) | johnnyb
Jan 20, 2003 11:17 PM | | Thats a real huffer, glad to see that Joe and all took the suggestion. I'm sure you would go anyway. This is definitley my fave area on the weekend. Most of the flatlanders do tam and clog up Eldridge and the lakes. It is sometimes just a traffic jam. But a weekday ride can be great with very few peeps. Check out the new XL waterbars.
But Pine is the fun area. I guess you went down the San Geronimo Froad instead of up that gravelly river. I haven't cleaned that since fall!
Like climbs? Like downhills? Try Willow camp off hwy 1 then up Coastal or Lone tree by Muir woods.
Great pics!
See you out there.
Johnnyb |
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