Hello everyone,

For those who were interested I have found a Saturday I can get out
of work to lead a great ride in the North Bay, July 2. The ride
will begin in Golden Gate Park taking us through the Presido and
over the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito. From Sausalito we will
take a a fairly flat route with one small climb that takes us
through Mill Valley and many other small towns in Marin County until
we reach Fairfax. Once we arrive in Fairfax we will take a left and
head up the back side of Mt Tamalpais, home to the early Miwok
Indians many years ago. The Climb takes us through a mountian
residitial area until we reach Meadow Country Club and then into one
of the most epic spots in the bay area. After a little more
climbing we will decend to a lake surounded by Alpine trees. After
crossing the damn that forms the lake we will acsend the famous
Alpine Damn Climb. It is a pretty steep climb with many swithbacks
the entire way on a tight road through the Alpines. Sections of
this climb are very steep but should be managable for those who have
completed some of the recent long Saturday rides. Three years ago I
met Lance Armstrong on this climb as he was filming a comercial for
Comcast. The same footage was used in that great nike comerical we
all saw time after time last year.

Once we reach the top the fun is not over yet. After a short decent
we break out of the forrest onto the ridge. On a clear day the
ridge provides fantastic views of the Ocean, Tomalis Bay, Stinson
Beach, and the Farralon Islands. It really hurts after climbing
Alpine but you are so distracted by the views that you hardly
notice. OK that's a lie.

The decent off Tam is a lot of fun but their is a fair amount of
traffic on the weekends. It is easy to keep the same pace as the
traffic. The Alpine acsent has almost no cars. At the bottom we
will be in Mill Valley and head back into the city.

This is my favorite ride in the Bay Area and would love to share it
with those who are wiling to make the trip. The mileage is approx
60 miles and I won't lie, it hurts! But, if you have acsended Mt.
Diablo you should have no trouble finishing.

After we see who wants to go I will get back to everyone with
details on carpooling etc...

Jason