Today I rode Miwok, Bobcat, Marincello, Tennessee Valley, and Old Springs Trails in the Marin Headlands. I also detoured to Haypress campground, but given the sogginess after the all-day rain, I opted to go over the big hill back to the warmth and excellent coffee of the Marin Headlands Hostel. I'm glad I did, because the climb up the stair-stepped Old Spring Trail and the Miwok hillside descent were incredible.
The bike I'm riding is a Surly Disc Trucker with hydraulic disc brakes and Rohloff. It has some non-Rivish attributes, of course, but it's steel and traditional geometry and has ample clearance for my 26x2.0 Schwalbe Mondials and fenders. Anyway, after coming down the long descent of the Marincello trail, which is basically a narrow, fairly smooth gravel road, not single track, I took shelter from the downpour under a big tree. A couple minutes later a man and a woman on full-suspension MTBs came down the same trail. They carried on for several minutes in the parking lot, punctuated by hoots and hollers and repetitive use of a new word for me "crazeballs", about how "intense" their descent had been. Grant has written about how extreme equipment tends to make mundane experiences seem more extreme - like the high adventure of driving a Land Rover to pick up the groceries. I thought the Marincello descent was fun and beautiful, but never for a second did I feel that I was having an extreme experience or pushing the limits of my old-fashioned, unsuspended steel bike. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/zn49ohM0yuoJ. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
