Ladies and Gentlemen,
A number of us are planning an informal C&V gathering/ride the weekend before Eroica California and will ride more or less together through the verdant scenery and sublime bicycling routes of west Marin. Note that this is unsponsored, unsupported, and unorganized...basically a flash party with old bikes. You are on your own, so treat this as a solo ride and be prepared for whatever mishaps may befall you. Note that food and water stops are few and far between.
The plan is to start at the Marinwood Community Center, then ride up Lucas Valley Road, through Nicasio and northward, with return via several route options of varying difficulty. We will meet at the start location at 9:30 (where we can gather, chat and ogle bikes) and ride out from there at about 10:00. The start location will be in the vicinity of the Marinwood Community Center parking lot on Miller Creek Road just north of Lucas Valley Road here:
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/@38..../data=!3m1!1e3 . There should be plenty of street parking for cars. Do NOT park in the Community Center lot. We are just using the center as a landmark/gathering place.
For those of you there to do more than ogle bikes, head west on Lucas Valley Road which starts with a relatively flat warmup and then goes over Big Rock Hill after a couple of miles. At the end of Lucas Valley turn right and go through the town of Nicasio. Upon hitting the Petaluma-Pt Reyes Rd there are three main choices of ride:
1. Stronger riders could turn right and do the Marshall Wall loop, have lunch at Pt Reyes Station and head back via Nicasio for about a 60 mile, 3500 ft ride. Here's a map of this ride:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/8769290
2. Those wanting fewer miles and less climbing could instead turn left, go through Pt Reyes Station, south to Olema and then come back on the Fairfax-Olema Road, turning north at San Geronimo golf course to get back to Lucas Valley. The second choice is about 43 miles and probably about 3000 ft of climbing Here's a map of this ride:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/1132722.
3. For even fewer miles, take route 2 but turn left at Platform Bridge Road before getting to Pt Reyes Station, which will cut off about 7 miles and one big climb. Here's the route for this ride:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/326558. A slight alternative to this is to continue to Pt Reyes Station for a lunch stop then backtrack to Platform Bridge Road, thus avoiding the big Olema grade.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ROUTES 2 AND 3. I strongly recommend that you get off Sir Francis Drake Blvd and instead ride the Cross Marin Trail, which parallels Sir Francis Drake and involves some mild dirt and gravel, perfect Eroica training. However, it's easy to miss the start of it, so pay attention. It occurs at the intersection of Sir Francis Drake Blvd and Platform Bridge Road (24.4 mile turn on the route 2 map and the 20.5 mile turn on the route 3 map). From the intersection go north on Platform Bridge Road about 50 feet and turn left on the decrepit road across the bridge. Right after the bridge turn left and go through the tunnel under Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Voila, you're on the trail. About 2/3 the way along the trail you will hit the parking lots of the main Samuel P. Taylor park entrance. Stay to the right, away from the lots, go around the closed gates and continue on the Cross Marin Trail which turns to dirt at this point. It will cross a bridge and continue on the north side of Sir Francis Drake to the trail end, where you cross the creek on another bridge and rejoin Sir Francis Drake.
Food and drink:
There is a little store in Nicasio but no faucets for water.
The Cheese Factory on route 1 has food, faucets and toilets.
Marshall, Point Reyes Station and Olema have various restaurants and sandwich places. In Point Reyes Station the Cowgirl Creamery is good, as is Bovine Bakery and the deli at the south end of the main street. The small park at the north end of the main street is usually abuzz with bicyclists and is a good spot to eat your lunch.
There's a small store somewhere around Lagunitas as I recall.
Other than that, there are not many services along the way. Be prepared!
Who's coming?