MudNCrud Forums
Out'n about... just not Climbing => Biking => Topic started by: mudworm on November 17, 2008, 10:02:01 AM
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The original trip report (http://www.mxi2000.net/mudworm/2008/11/mtb-tour-of-san-francisco-dirt) is posted on my blog. Here is a cross post:
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It’s 5 o’clock this morning. I am waken up by Erik’s coughs. Poor guy, he has been sick for a few days. He has look forward to this Sunday to go climbing at Pinnacles. It does not look like it’s going to happen. I pat him gently and fall back to sleep. When I wake up again, it is 7 am. Although sneezing badly last night after the Metcalf climb, I’m feeling fine now — almost as good as new. Suddenly I realize that I need to come up with some other plan now that my dear playmate is sick. Derek is riding Coe, but there is no way I can make it there by 9 am. ROMP is riding Skeggs close to home. I can consider that. Then I see Becky’s email. She is going to San Francisco to ride SF Flow / Epic Dirt Ride. Now, think about it. How often do I get to ride dirt in the City? Never! I call her up and I’m in.
I pick her up in Belmont and we drive up to the city together. After parking at her friends, Dan and Nicole’s house, we ride towards the start at Golden Gate Park, where riders have started to gather. I grab a map and a number plate (with letter M). Who knows, I might join the race. But Nicole and Becky want to avoid the critical mass and plan to get on the route before the racers set off. It takes me 2 seconds to decide I’ll just ride with the two ladies and throw the idea of racing out of the picture. That sets a very relaxing tone for our tour of the SF dirt. I call it a tour simply because we have a tour guide. Nicole has lived in the city for many years and she and Dan are closely involved in trail building projects around the city, so she knows her way around very well; so well that she leads us riding into a 5-6 story building and after we take the elevator to the top, we are right at the bottom of Mt. Sutro. We are not lazy; we are just smart. But obviously, we are not fast either, because at the stairs leading up Mt. Sutro is where the fast riders catch us. I take a bunch of pictures there and am happy to see Krishna, whom I have known through Water Dog rides. J is another Water Dog regular. We ride along side briefly before he stops to wait for his friend. I never see him again, even at the finish. I wonder if it had anything to do with the whiskey he was sharing at Mt. Davidson. Hmm…
Knowing the trails well, Nicole convinced us that Glen Canyon and San Bruno are two places we should skip. Although I usually prefer longer rides, the choice between riding with two fun companions and getting lost in the city looking for two patches of dirt by myself was quite easy to make. At one point, we were able to see across Glen Canyon and we actually saw some riders on the trails. And some of them were walking. I heard that the trails there are steep and off-camber and some riders went down. At San Bruno, it’s mainly just a grind up a gravel road. It’s more than okay that we skipped those.
It is a big gathering at the finish. People hang out, drink beer, and eat burgers. After socializing, Dan, Nicole, Becky, and I with our four bikes all get in Dan and Nicole’s van and our post-ride food is had at a nice Mexican place new Mt Sutro.
How often do you get a beautiful sunny day like this in the City? That’s certainly a good day to spend outside.
My photos (with captions) are posted to Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/mudncrud/MTBSFDirt#). If Picasa is blocked for you, you can also see the same photos (without captions) at our gallery (http://www.mudncrud.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=19360).
The GPS data for the ride we did has been posted to MTBguru . 19 miles / 2500-2800′ elevation gain.
(http://www.mudncrud.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=19735&g2_serialNumber=2) I rode down these stairs! :D