Day 30-One For the Books

San Francisco, CA (Greenbrae, CA) to Tomales, CA
Distance: 58.92 miles
Time: 4:09:09
Max Speed: 40.3 mph
Average Speed 14.2 mph


A day like today is impossible to describe without being incredibly cliche, and even then, I do not believe that would accurately convey what an amazing ride we had today. To begin, Mike Glass got Safeway to donate all their day-old baked goods, which was enough to fill the backseat and trunk of the Matrix to the roof with bread, baguettes, muffins, cakes, an garbage bag full of assorted donuts, and other assorted baked goods and pastries. When he showed up, it was definitely a sight to be seen, everyone crowding around and stuffing their faces. We will be set for a while on all the goodies he got us, assuming they do not spoil before we can eat them all.

It was sad leaving San Francisco and our hosts. The city treated us incredibly well and the people were amazing, and I will miss it there very much. However, the ride out of the Bay Area was the most incredible, awe-inspiring ride I have ever done on a bike, mountain or road. After some riding through the suburbs of beautiful Marin County, we began to climb what seemed to be a short hill. We had been joined by many local cyclists as we approached, so we figured it was a popular route, which made us excited. Oleg and and I were riding together and there was another, older cyclist behind us on a nice old Bianchi, so Oleg and I wanted to beat him and were climbing pretty hard to stay ahead of him. Eventually, we began to run out of steam as the climb was much longer and much more challenging than we had anticipated, and the other cyclist passed us with ease, exchanging a few words as we tried to huff out a greeting.

We finally reached a flat strip, after a couple heart-racing descents, which was atop a dam over-looking a beautiful reservoir surrounded by trees. We were no more than 50 miles out of downtown San Francisco, and here we were in what seemed to be the middle of the woods. There were no cars, there was no noise; there was only us, the local cyclists, the road, and the beauty that surrounded us. Could this have been heaven? We paused here to chat with some of the local cyclists and they were all very nice and impressed by what we were doing. We caught up with the guy on the Bianchi who had passed us, and he gave us a tip for an alternative, much better route than the one we had planned. He told us there would be more climbing involved, but it was completely worth it. When we told him how amazing the ride was, he told us we hadn't reached the "fun part" yet, and that the climbing got more intense too. Oh boy!

These cyclists were certainly right. Just after the dam, we encountered an even steeper climb, with some killer switchbacks thrown in. Mike Glass was driving the trailer, and we came up to him at one point, with a flat tire, trying to pump it up with a bike pump. He did not seem too happy about that, but there was not much we could do to help, so we rode on. What we had thought would be a nice, relaxing ride along the beach had turned out to be one hell of a climb, but the scenery was almost as breath-taking as the climbing, and soon the ride would get even better.

We reached the fork in the road that we had been told about, and found out that the left fork that we had been told to take was apparently the stretch of road where the most car commercials in America have been filmed because it is a winding, hilly stretch along a hill-top ridge with a view of the ocean to the side, San Francisco to the other, and rolling hills all around. So, Oleg and I continued on with the left fork as planned. That was the best decision I have ever made. The road was incredible! It was the best experience I have ever had on a road, by any means, and will probably remain that way for a while, though who knows what this trip has in store for us ahead.

We did some more climbing, somewhat up and down for a little wide, with some incredible views where we just had to stop to take pictures and could not believe what we were seeing. The weather was gorgeous for us all day as well, right around 75-80 degrees, mostly sunny, and completely fog free. Absolutely perfect! Oleg and I could only guess that this must have been close to, if not the area where Gary Fisher and his friends basically invented the sport of mountain biking. We came to a parking lot full of cars with bike racks, which seemed to be a good sign as people probably parked at the top to ride down the descent, or somewhere around there. Needless to say, this was a bit of an ego boost as we had just climbed what many people chose to drive instead.

From there, the road hugged the hills, winding in and out, descending all the way to the little beach town of Stinson Beach, somewhat of a sleepy beach getaway on Highway 1. Oleg and I probably averaged around 38-40 mph on this stretch, as we were passing cars in turns marked 20 mph going 30-35 mph, having the time of our lives. Even on the straight stretches, the cars could not keep up with us as we had so much more speed in the corners. I was yelling at the top of my lungs with joy and excitement as if I were on the most amazing roller coaster ever. I told Oleg at one point that if I died on that road, I would be ok with that. As we pulled into town, a car pulled up next to us and exclaimed "Wow, you guys were really flying back there!" All I could do was smile because I think my face was stuck in the biggest grin ever for quite a while.

And, as if the ride was not spectacular enough already, we were rewarded at the bottom with the beach! This was really our first time on the trip to be on the beach of the Pacific Ocean (we only really saw the bay in San Fran, and the Pacific from the Golden Gate). We made it to the West Coast! We went to the first beach we saw and took off our shoes and carried our bikes through the sand trails out to the beach, lounging on the beach and putting our feet in the water for a while. After not too long, Elyse, Peyton, and Estrin found the some beach, and we were all frolicking and taking pictures on the beach together in celebration. We had not yet had a rest stop yet, and after all the climbing and playing on the beach for a while, we found we were hungry, so we headed back to town and found a little snack stand and had some burgers, clam chowder, fries, and such and laid around, debating whether or not to take a nap. We eventually decided against it and got back to riding.

The remainder of the ride was fairly uneventful, but beautiful as we rode on Highway 1, the famous Pacific Coast Highway, hugging the hills and flirting with the ocean the entire way. I am assuming this will continue for at least a week, if not two, and I could not be more excited! The weather is so much cooler here because of the ocean, and I hope we are finished with the heat for the summer. We did not have any rest stops the rest of the day as the drivers had lost track of most of the riders because everyone had gone off to do their own thing. Oleg and I began to hurt pretty bad and had to stop once or twice as we were bonking pretty hard. By the time we reached the church here in Tomales, we were completely beat. But, our hosts had a wonderful spread of food laid out for us, and lasagna was to come later. Most everyone who had beaten us there was already asleep, so Oleg and I had a snack and promptly fell asleep. It was wonderful.

Later, we enjoyed the lasagna for dinner with synthesizer-themed music selections to aid the digestion. Northern California is incredibly beautiful. I honestly do not really know where we are going for the next few days, but I do not really care. I will just follow the coastline until it stops. Hopefully traffic, and especially wind will not be too bad.

Peace and Love,
Descending Miggy