Five of us set off to ride dirt roads up to the top of Mt Tam, along the former route of the ‘Crookest Railroad in the World’.
Starting with a little dirt warm-up on paths through the Presidio:
New off-road dirt shortcut to the bridge, past old concrete batteries (involved some flights of stairs):
Stop at the new Sol Food in Mill Valley (quite possibly my favorite place to eat on a ride) for a plantain-and-hot-sauce-heavy lunch:
And after a scenic ride past Mill Valley and into the dark, shadowy woods, we branched off onto Old Railroad Grade, the remarkably consistent 6% grade dirt path that switchbacks all the way up Mt Tam:
It was rough and rocky at points, with attention needed to plan a line and stay alert (especially for the bold among us doing it on narrow-tires road bikes), but rewarding. Stopping earlier to bleed some pressure off our tires helped smooth the ride, and we only had one flat all day.
A short snack break at the historic West Point Inn:
And after a few more miles, we were at East Peak, with no-picture-can-capture amazing panoramic views of the Bay Area. We could see Benicia and Carquinez Strait, the Bay and the ocean, downtown SF and Sutro tower, the Richmond and Martinez refineries, all the major bridges, and the winding dirt trail we’d taken up the mountain:
Back down:
Crossing the golden gate bridge in good light before sunset, tired and happy:
And the GPS recording of the route, switchbacks, steady grade, and all. About 50 miles round trip and 4000’ feet of elevation gain (about 2500’ in that one Mt Tam ascent):
