In 2009, I went on a Marin County exploration ride (2 days by myself, first time up there), and while having a great time, I happened to run into the Farewell 2009 ride organized by Esteban. We had never met in person but knew each other and each other's bikes from the Internet, so I joined their ride and had an indescribably great time. Esteban's been doing a Farewell To The Year ride every December since then, and these are some photos from the 2014 edition. The usual thing to do is to ride the loop clockwise, meaning you go down the 7 Sisters on West Ridgecrest Blvd with a beautiful north-facing coastal view. Fairfax ends up being an ideal lunch stop. To initially get to the top of the mountain, Railroad Grade is a favorite way to go, and we did that this year. Joe, Carlos, Esteban, and I started the ride at the Golden Gate Bridge. Carlos left us at the West Point Inn and continued his ride through the Marin Headlands. Soon after his departure, Lee joined us for a short but great time before he had to head home to his family. Esteban, Joe, and I continued the ride with a hunger-filled climb to Fairfax where we feasted at Iron Springs Pub and Brewery. From there we still had a lot of riding left to get back to SF, trying (but failing) to do it with as little in-the-dark riding as possible. And riding through the city, it would have been a crime to not have another beer. Joe led us to a really nice German Bierhaus (Schroeder's), but unfortunately, Joe couldn't stay to enjoy the place; had to get home, as eventually we all did. Another phenomenally good day of hanging out with some of the best people you could ever meet.
Route and highlights: Met at Golden Gate Bridge Across the bridge and through Sausalito Bike path trek up to Railroad Grade via Mill Valley Rocky, deceptively tricky at times ride up Railroad Grade (lots of teens on mountain bikes, awesome!) Scenic rest stop at West Point Inn Cold As Crap descent down Old Stage Road along which we learned from a silent hiker carrying a sign that "9/11 Was An Inside Job" Climb up Pantoll where Lee joined us! (He's seen in one photo on Pantoll) One of the best times you can have on a bike descending the 7 Sisters Fairfax-Bolinas Road where we had to stop and peacock the bikes for a minute on the Alpine Dam Fairfax for late lunch - Beer, chips and salsa and guacamole, tacos, burgers Overheard a mother in Fairfax telling her young son about the history of mountain bikes while they walked on the sidewalk Dusk-fighting fast ride back through San Anselmo, Larkspur, etc. to get to Sausalito and the bridge Stimulating city-traffic ride to the German bar - great Brezeln While drinking German beer, Esteban and I were talking about next year maybe doing what Carlos did for this ride: climb Railroad grade but then instead of looping Tam via Fairfax, drop south from Railroad Grade and go down Coastal View Trail and do a Marin Headlands dirt ride back to the bridge and then having our festivities down in the city somewhere. A dozen photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/46035786@N07/sets/72157649564790559/ -Jim W. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
