Training Ride 9/5: Marin Loop

This is the traditional final group training ride before taking off for the Arthritis Foundation bike tour.  It is a beautiful route and we had great weather this year!  In my first year we were rained out.

Here we are, ready to start.  Some will do the California Coast Classic, others the People's Coast Classic in Oregon, and a few others were just along for the ride.

We started at the very far eastern end of Lucas Valley Road at McInnis Park Golf Center, a public golf course and ball field.  Actually, the street is called Smith Ranch Road at this location.  It changes its name to Lucas Valley after it passes 101.  We continued west all the way to the other end Lucas Valley Rd.  The sun was shining and it was fairly warm in the sun, but on the latter part of the road, which is mostly in the shade, it was still cold at that time of the morning. The road winds up and down for about 10 miles.  Much of it doesn't have any shoulder, but as a major cycling route, cars and bikes manage pretty well together.  Lots of lovely scenery, especially after passing the the mostly residential areas.

We regrouped in Nicasio.  I took my leg warmers off there and never missed them. We headed out together to the Pt. Reyes-Petaluma Highway.  Those doing the shorter route went left.  The rest of us went right to Hicks Valley Road.  Hicks Valley Rd. is a fairly quiet place with mostly dairy farms and a very small elementary school.  From there, we got even more rural on Petaluma-Marshall Road.  

The Marshall Road is one of my favorite sections of this ride, which has many great parts.  The condition of the road isn't great, but it is very quiet and restful.  It rolls up and down for about 8 miles with cows here and there and some sheep, too if you know where to look.  

At the base of the Marshall grade I waited for some of the others to join me.  While I was waiting a couple of guys drove up on an ATV pulling a small trailer with hay for the cows in the field behind me.  They heard or smelled them coming before I did.  They started mooing like crazy before I could tell what the fuss was about.  When the men entered the far side of the gated area, those cows high-tailed it over there for lunch.

Mailboxes on Marshall-Petaluma Road.

We headed up the climb.  It isn't that high, but the grade can be challenging, some of it is 10%.  I coughed most of the way up.  Something must have been blooming that affected my allergies.  I was rewarded with a great view at the top.  Almost no clouds at all.

View of Tamales Bay from atop the Marshall grade.

I headed down the other side to highway 1.  The ocean influenced air helped to get rid of that itchy feeling in my throat, but it didn't go away completely until the end of the ride.  

We headed south on highway 1, Tomales Bay sparkling beside us.  Despite being a holiday weekend, the car traffic wasn't too heavy.  We rolled up and down the highway to Pt. Reyes Station for our lunch stop.

After lunch we took Pt. Reyes-Petaluma highway to Platform Bridge Road so that we could connect with Cross-Marin trail and into Samuel P. Taylor park.   We took a lovely path that had been converted from a defunct railroad line.  We rode through a forested area amongst redwoods, ferns and many other flora. When the paved trail ended, half of us continued on the unpaved trail and half got on Sir Francis Drake Blvd.  The unpaved trail was about 3 miles.  It intersected with Sir Francis Drake again and we got back on the pavement.  A few miles down we turned on to Nicasio Valley Road where we met the half who took the paved road the whole way.

On the unpaved trail with Mary Arnone.

We went another 8 miles or so to Lucas Valley Road and took that all the way back to the starting point.

Stats:
72.29 miles
3,240 feet of elevation gain