Thanks Joe for a spot on accounting of this past weekend...like you I'm still processing what a magical time I had with all of you. Need to do this again.
Here are my photo's <https://www.flickr.com/photos/pedalpusher61/albums/72157667566772593> sorry it's a huge dump and kinda out of order. ~Hugh “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ― Albert Einstein http://velocipeedemusings.com/ On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 2:07 PM, Joe Bunik <jbu...@gmail.com> wrote: > https://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_bunik/sets/72157667527929894 > > I don't think there could have been a weekend any better - my mind > will be replaying this one on repeat for the foreseeable future! What > a GREAT time and particular thanks go out to the Jacquie P. / David E. > / Jim W. / Hugh S. quad-fecta for making this thing happen in the > first place. > > I thought I'd only be able to swing up there for a short visit > sometime Saturday at best but, thanks to both my fabulous wife's > enablement and Esteban's encouragement, I knocked off early Friday, > got my bag together, and hit the road for Marin. > > The West Point Inn is a 1904-era alpine lodge high up Mt. Tamalpais > and only accessible by trail. Individual accommodations can be > arranged, but thanks to incomparable WPI member Jacquie Phelan, we had > the entire facility at our disposal. As the gang drifted into camp on > Friday night, we enjoyed a great feed, good imbibement, and fine > company. > > I dare say if the evening ended warm, Saturday dawned HOT - and, early > - most of the cabins and the main building are eastward-oriented > facing the SF Bay and thus little shelter from a 5:30am sunrise. Where > was the fog, and why had it been replaced with a breeze that felt like > a hot hair dryer? > > The best thing about having 25-30 people ready to go, a quiver of > bikes available, and no hard agendas whatsoever was that splintering > into 4 or 5 different riding groups felt totally fine. I had brought > my Legolas, which I am always happy with on fire roads but a bit less > sure of on technical/MTB-level descents (x42 Conti "Cross" tires just > grazing the chainstays when the frame flexes) - so, I will need come > back on something else to test the run-out on Eldridge Grade (though I > heard afterwards it may have recently been leveled out some). > > Jim W., Esteban, Joe #2, and myself (all of us mid-size tire riders) > opted for the ridgeline, ocean views of the Seven Sisters / BoFax > pavement descent to Alpine Dam, where we branched onto the old flume > road in the Lagunitas Creek canyon heading down towards Kent Lake. > This fine track had some major mojo, and we agreed we'd made the right > choice! The bill for all that descending came due upon arrival at the > junction w/ Old Vee Rd., which was a triple chevron death march > up-and-out to the next ridge. Throw in some stretches of blasting sun > and those goddam biting horse flies only adding to the fun. > > Finally, we reached the open roads which would take us north into a > more rolling hilltop and valley terrain, with several stretches of > exposed boulder gardens for good measure. We left a decision of > whether or not to pursue the Pine Mountain Truck Rd. loop TBD upon > arrival. Far off across the valley, we spotted at least 3 suspicious > characters (isn't that Manny wearing his red onesie?) climbing - or > wait, are they walking? - up the grade we surmised must be PMTR. Dang, > they'd beaten us to the next crossroads - and hence our paths wouldn't > cross until later on in Fairfax. It was only getting later and hotter, > so we decided to forego this latter half of Hugh's "Dirty Middle > Route" and instead explore the northern San Geronimo Ridge fireroads > that lead up to nice singletrack on White's Hill. > > Passing Repack Rd., a cryptic chalk mark was placed in hopes of > greeting/baffling Hugh's Rough Riders when they eventually made their > way around the loop. Moving northward out of MMWD lands, more rocks > encountered until finally we were back in the woods and the soil. We > could almost smell lunch cooking at the brewery just over the ridge. > Skirting Tamarancho on a nicely groomed, steep trail descending > through redwoods closed out the first half of the day as we rolled > into Fairfax. While Jim Warren intercepted Doug P. @ the Mountain Bike > museum, Esteban and I quaffed multiple iced espressos where I hear it > was pinging 95° in the shade of town. > > Lunch! A mighty lunch it was!!! Right on queue, Hugh's Rough Riders > appeared fresh off their Repack Rd. descent just as the beers were > served. It all becomes hazy until I awoke in the air-conditioned > recovery room of the MMB/MBHOF where the Breeze family hosted our > filthy mob for quite some time. An amazing collection which I will > definitely return to and peruse even closer. And then, Phil Williamson > rolled in the door... > > I won the underdog vote for leading a B-route return to camp, going > back via Bolinas-Fairfax Rd. to Lake Alpine, closing the balloon we > began earlier. Heading west on BoFax makes for a long steady climb, > but hey- it's closed to cars (for now), is in the shade, and is just > totally beautiful the whole way up. Back past all the famous locations > we finally made it to Pantoll camp where the trail back to WPI breaks > off. This now-familiar, flowy homestretch was the icing on the cake to > a great day in the saddle. > > Dinner and refreshment were had and then it was quick to bed - much > earlier than the previous night. Unfortunately I was completely wired > (those goddam coffees!) and my room upstairs in the main lodge was > insufferably hot and still. At 2am I relocated to the couch in the > grand room downstairs where finally some sleep was found. > > Sunday offered another early repeat to the fine company and > conversations, with reflections on the nature of the event and what > had brought us all together in this unique place. Decampment time > arrived far too soon, and as we each rode off in our own directions I > was already checking my calendar for the next window of opportunity. > > Until we meet again folks, > =- Joe Bunik > Walnut Creek, CA > > On 6/26/16, dstein <davecst...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Awesome photos, they tell plenty! > > > > Good times, can't wait to do it again. > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/3oRKIvBKEMk/unsubscribe > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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