woke up this morning feeling refreshed from a good night’s rest and an intense muscle/knee rolling session yesterday. I mentioned before my right knee was giving me problems on muir woods, well today those pains were gone for the most part so I rode to meet justin and travis at velo rouge for a ride. 2 other guys showed up, both of them race cat2 for godspeed (I think, don’t count on it though). we introduced ourselves at the beginning, but as not to butcher their names, or get them wrong, I don’t even want to write them out. we’ll call them pac bikes and godspeed, as those were the kits they were wearing.
anyway, we took the bike path out from sausalito, turned towards mill valley and started heading towards the coast. travis kept a blistering pace with mr. godspeed and I was in no man’s land in the middle. mr. pac bikes and justin were in the back. we got to 4 corners and travis decided to keep climbing towards the ranger station, panoramic highway. I’ve never climbed down the front side of mt. tam before, I’ve always come from 7 sisters down, back towards mill valley. doing it in reverse was nothing short of painful. the trio was way in front of me, I couldn’t even see them anymore. travis and the other guys were waiting at the top for us. they didn’t look phased at all, which was a bit worrying. justin and I refilled our bottles and started the descent towards stinson beach. 2 two guys took off, travis and I got stuck behind some cars, so we lost them on the technical turns. we caught back up to them on highway 1, and decided to head towards point reyes.
travis pushed justin and I to learn how to pace line with the group. it definitely saves a lot of energy, but it’s a skill I have yet to master. the close quarters of the pace line mean you have to have your full attention to the person in front of you, their position, your speed…where everything on the road is. pot holes, the ever present shoulder, cars that pass you at insane speeds, insanely close. I was just trying to keep up with their pace, a very brisk 26-27mph along the coast. the road curved up, and the mr.’s took off. travis went back to tow justin to the front. and I was in no man’s land again. I must’ve rode for at least 10 miles not seeing anyone in front or behind me. travis flew by me and said, “there he is!”. justin and I hopped on travis’ wheel and were hauled back to the other 2 guys.
we made it to point reyes, and took a short break for water and some bananas. it’s where I took the picture. I can’t speak for the others, but at this point, I was feeling pretty beat. I haven’t done a ride longer than 65 miles, round trip, in months. at the pace these guys kept, I was well over my head. I just wanted to hold it together long enough to make it home. we bounced out of pt. reyes and started heading towards nicasio. travis led us through this technical gravel section and took off. I was riding besides mr. godspeed and we chatted for a second about racing and my riding background. I was just trying to steer my bike straight on the rocks. apparently, earlier in the season, this section is a bit wet. pair this with some 25c tires and you’re golden, or so he said.
somehow from this gravel section we wiggled back towards nicasio, where it was grueling flat…and I was just trying to catch the 2 guys. travis was in the back with justin, I had no idea where they were. I spent an amazingly long time trying to catch the mr.’s, and was a bit disappointed in myself, that I couldn’t. the godspeed rider slowed up after a while, and let me tag his wheel while he brought me back to the front. that effort in itself, for me, took even more out of me. I was exhausted to say the least. we made it out of the valley and started the descent, followed by a short turn off, where we stopped for a second to let travis and justin catch back up. we headed towards fairfax from the top, and did another short, steep climb. descended and we were back in downtown fairfax. the 2 others decided to climb the section again, so travis, justin and I waited at a corner. we all regrouped and stopped at the market for more food/drink. I didn’t have much of an appetite…I honestly just wanted to go home. WRONG THINKING. because we were far from home, and I had no idea what they had in store back in sausalito. fairfax photo, taken by justin, while waiting for the other 2:
the route back through fairfax towards sausalito was standard, and we took all the normal roads. unfortunately, there was one collision involving the godspeed and pac bikes rider. it happened so fast, I’m still not completely sure what happened, but from the little bit I did see, it seemed like the godspeed rider’s pedal caught the pedal of the pac bikes guy, who ended up going down pretty hard. he smashed his tailbone into the ground and was in a bit of pain initially. justin was to my left when the accident happened, and was headed straight towards the collision, he jammed his brakes, and skidded in front of me. I freaked out and hit my brakes, and pulled towards the shoulder of the road. I put my bike on the ground and signaled to cars to go around. we stopped for a second, to let everyone get their bearings. mr. pac bikes said he was okay to ride home, and his bike was a bit scuffed, but otherwise, fine.
we all took it easy climbing camino alto, and back towards sausalito. accidents happen…and sometimes to the best of riders. I’ve been in a handful of accidents, some by my own hand, others that I couldn’t have controlled. I felt for both parties. it was an unfortunate move by the godspeed rider, since he moved left towards the pac bikes rider. but it happened, and none of us could’ve done anything about it. we were in sausalito when travis abruptly turned right onto a steep section of road that ran parallel to the main bike path through downtown. it was by far the steepest thing I’ve ever seen and climbed. on a 23t rear, nonetheless…we stopped at one point to let pac bikes and justin catch up, but they never did, and we figured they took a different route, so we kept going. oh, and this is when I found out my front tire had a sidewall tear. the tube was bubbling out of the tire, and I asked travis what he thought. bottom line, the tire is dead. it made it through some rough roads over the past couple months, and there were already multiple cuts on it. so I guess it was time…
the road touched the highway, and headed back towards sausalito, where there was more technical residential descents that eventually led back onto the main road out of sausalito. I found godspeed and travis waiting for me on the newly paved off-chute. we headed down, and under the golden gate, back around towards the bike side. I lost them on the bridge, and headed my own way back towards downtown. I didn’t see justin or pac bikes, either.
longest, most grueling ride. so many technical climbs and descents. I’ve never ridden with such strong riders.
I’ve got work to do!
