Northern California - Marshall Wall: Ride Report 3/28

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Whoopie Pie's!

Oh how they saved me today. I didn't quite have the "mojo" working at all. My legs and general overall energy is at an all time low...but it was a really fun ride and hanging out all day with the gang made it all worthwhile.
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We had a bit of a late start, but still made pretty good time from the start to The Wall. The weather was just amazing. I think everyone in the world took their bikes out and decided to head for the bridge. I felt like I was in a grand tour peloton as we cranked across the puddle and down to Sausalito. We took precautions and stopped at almost every stoplight and stop sign. The cops have been out for blood lately.
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The "Wall" seemed a little more grueling then usual. The guys were waiting for me a lot today. Ron, Michael and I were starting to bonk a bit along Tomales, so Pt. Reyes was a welcome sight and a visit to the "Sandwich Nazi" was well worth his spiteful scorn...You'd have to meet the Sandwich Nazi to understand.
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After lunch we headed south along route 1 and at Olema we split up where Ramon, Chris and Ben took the southerly route to climb Mt. Tam. The rest of us headed through S.P. Park where Alan and Ron got flats at the same time...very odd and I had some strange semi-puncture marks on my tires.

Soon after we ended up in Fairfax where we all decided to get some coffee and snacks. It was the right move for myself. Coffee and a "Whoopie pie and I was revitalized!
I started to bonk out a little at the Corte Madera climb and getting out of Sausalito was pure torture. Ron and I stopped and hung out on the bridge for a bit and enjoyed the setting sun and trading "dork shots" with our cameras.
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Right after we started riding and my bike started making sounds that were like it was farting, which made us laugh our butts off. Never did figure that out.

All and all it was a great day and a very enjoyable ride with some great friends. It's seems as thought the guys that did Tam beat us back...must have been out coffee break that really slowed us down.

Donnie, Ramon and Chris were in their usual rocket pace mode. I feel slower and slower riding with them now. Alan was setting some tremendous paces too! He was killing everyone along Tomales Bay.
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Great ride guys!

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Thanks for leading the ride, Pete. It was great to get out with the BF group. It's been a long while for me. Great to meet some new faces. Got 96 miles in, close enough to call it a century :)

Great day, great ride. I'm calling it a century, so first one of the year. Cool.

I was really laboring after finishing Marshall Wall. Started to bonk just before getting into Pt. Reyes ... Mocha Frappacino at lunch felt really good. I was a bit worried I wouldn't be able to finish, as I had no energy in my legs ... I was even fearing I would be out there in darkness, but luckily I gutted it out.

Here are some pics:

Ramon, beardless!
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Chris, the Incredible Hulk
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Rest Stop at Nicasio
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On the way to the Cheese Factory
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Start of the climb up Marshall Wall
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Regrouping at top of Marshall Wall
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Descent of Marshall Wall
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Chris with a fashion statement
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Pete with a fashion statement of his own, donning the Amgen Tour of California T-shirt
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Nice pictures, everyone. Hopefully I'll be in shape for this one the next time it comes around.


Ramon, beardless!S****y! Almost didn't recognize him in earlier pictures. :)

[edit: Umm, that word is s-w-a-n-k-y. :rolleyes:]

I can check-off another cycling-related accomplishment from my "to-do" list: my first-ever century. :)

Rolling through the first 45-50 miles was the easy part, and then my body started to let me know that it thought I was a little bit crazy when I hit The Wall @ Marshall. The rest of the ride was good: hooray for Hammer gels and coffee!

I got home, promptly ate like a horse, and then slept like a baby.

Thanks, gang, for another great BF ride.

I can check-off another cycling-related accomplishment from my "to-do" list: my first-ever century. :)



Congrats ... you are really turning into a strong rider ... lot stronger than me at least. That's the way to HTFU ... I had to try to work that phrase in on this ride.

What happened to Ramon??? He's gone totally corporate!

What happened to Ramon??? He's gone totally corporate!

I think some pro teams are shopping him...Just a guess:innocent:

Thanks for organizing the ride, Ron and Pete. It was a perfect day. It was hot up Fairfax Bolinas Rd but the other exposed climbs (Marshall, 7 Sisters) had a cool breeze to keep things alright.

For the alternate route that Ramon, Ben and I took, I measured 100 miles exactly. We did beat you guys back but then we had no flats or coffee:)

I did not get many photos, here they are:
dl33 and taxi777
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mellum76 over the Marshall wall
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I followed these guys home
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Back route to the bridge
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dl33 and taxi777
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/chrisoco/a007-5.jpgThere are people in that picture? All I see is a None More Black Orca. :eek:

That was a really fun ride. Perfect weather and an EXCELLENT sandwich for lunch (even if they did give me the wrong bread). I think it was much nicer riding up by the Marshall Wall at this time of year rather than August when the Marin Century happens.

Big thanks to Michael and Alan who each brought an extra helmet so that I wouldn't have to buy one :thumb:

So I took BART across the bay from Oakland and then rode to the start from the Embarcadero station. As I was cruising down Mason St I saw a familiar figure in a familiar blue and white checkered kit ahead of me and it was Pete. I had to pull a stealth move on him and sneak up while taking pictures since he had done that to me on a previous ride :lol:

Perhaps the most striking part of the day was the transformation of the whole Fisherman's wharf area. The first time I went through at 8:30am it was dead. No cars, no pedestrians, nothing. Coming back around 5pm I was very glad to be on a bike and cut through the bumper to bumper cars :D

I got about 108 miles for the day and felt pretty strong after having not been on the bike much for the first part of this month.

3/1 to 3/23: 189 miles
3/24 to 3/28: 182 miles :)

Will post a couple pics later on

I got about 108 miles for the day and felt pretty strong after having not been on the bike much for the first part of this month.

Hey Ben, the fit feels much better I take it??

looks like you guys had a great ride!

I didn't get a ride in this weekend, but ended up in Sausalito as a pedestrian - and it was like a continuous parade of cyclists riding by, wow...

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Riding to the start

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The golf course has its very own bridge that crosses Nicasio Valley Road

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Cheese Factory lake complete with weird plastic water bottle sculpture in the middle

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Just turned onto Hicks Valley road. 10 or so miles until the wall!

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A little farther along Hicks Valley road

Didn't get any pictures after the descent from the Marshall Wall as I was too busy trying to keep up with 27mph Alan :)

Marco, yeah the fit is a lot better. Amazing what a couple cm in seat height will do. I think the seat was originally setup like this when I got the bike but then I gradually adjusted it lower over the last couple years whenever I would take it out and put it back in. I will mark the height this time for sure! My neck was more sore after Saturday's ride though but I'm hoping that work itself out after another hundred miles.

Ben: That camera takes some niiiice quality pictures too! Now I want one :(

Did anyone get a gps trace of this ride? Ron? I want to map it out for my records but I'm having trouble reconstructing the route we took through Ross, San Anselmo, etc.

Back route to the bridge
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Ah the bike path up from Ft. Baker. Always fun at the end of a long hard ride (just when you think you're done :innocent:). Last time I rode up it a tourist on a rented bike with no helmet wiped out hard coming down that very turn in the picture. She hit her head hard, and they couldn't get the emergency vehicles down to her because of all the anti-terrorist barriers. Not so fun.

JB

Ah the bike path up from Ft. Baker. Always fun at the end of a long hard ride (just when you think you're done :innocent:). Last time I rode up it a tourist on a rented bike with no helmet wiped out hard coming down that very turn in the picture. She hit her head hard, and they couldn't get the emergency vehicles down to her because of all the anti-terrorist barriers. Not so fun.

JB

I always shudder when I see those rental bikes coming down that hill, you can get up uncontrollable speeds quick. No helmet? doesn't Blazing Saddles (I guess it was Blazing Saddles) stress helmets?

I always shudder when I see those rental bikes coming down that hill, you can get up uncontrollable speeds quick. No helmet? doesn't Blazing Saddles (I guess it was Blazing Saddles) stress helmets?
I love the ones you see with the helmets clipped to the handle bars!:lol:

If I were to guess, I'd say 40% of the riders on those rental Blazing Saddles bikes have helmets.