A Mini-Vacation To The Big City, or a country bumpkin's day out PT. 1

  Well, at long last I return to post another post! 

  Just before Christmas, I just couldn't wait any longer to go on the big ride I'd been wanting to do for some time, so I made a reservation at a hostel in the city, and set out with two full days of riding and general vacating in front of me.  I had been wanting to do a ride down to the city for months, but it never seemed to work with other people's schedules or fitness levels, and to go down and back in one day seemed like a lot to ask of my not-super-in-shape legs.  When I finally decided to go ahead with it, I settled on taking the scenic route both down and back up: I'd ride down Hwy. 1 by going out to Tomales, and then down through Point Reyes Station, Olema, Stinson Beach, and then, if I felt adventurous, I'd go over the headlands on dirt from Muir Beach to the Golden Gate Bridge, which involves a couple of pretty steep fireroads at the end of an already decent-length ride.  On the Way back, my grand plan(though I really thought it wouldn't be too hard, judging by the map's chevrons) took me over the bridge, through Sausalito, up Shoreline Hwy to Panoramic Hwy, on to Pantoll Rd, to West Ridgecrest, to Fairfax-Bolinas Rd. down into Fairfax, and then out on Sir Francis Drake, Nicasio Valley, and so on to Point Reyes-Petaluma Rd., through Petaluma, and back to Santa Rosa.  I might add that I had never ridden over Tam, except offroad, and so didn't really have much idea of what that would be like.  To these riding plans, I added a small amount of visiting with a buddy who lives down in the city, a stop at Box Dog Bikes, of which I had heard, yet never seen, and finally a stop at Ritual, to try a Clover coffee, of which I had also heard, and had wanted to try for some time.  All in all, quite a well rounded, but not overly ambitious itinerary for two days.

  The Morning of the 17th, I got started by 8:30am; which, though not as early as I had hoped, was fine by me.  It was fogging so heavily that I nearly mistook it for rain, but no matter, I had my fenders and a raincoat, and felt fine.  It's times like that–when visibility is almost nil, and it's pretty dark out–that I really appreciate my generator lights because they are always there, and I don't have to plan ahead by charging the batteries, which is why normal lights have never worked well for me, since I am horrible about planning that sort of thing.  Anyway, I used my lights on the busier roads, and turned them off for slightly less drag on the quieter ones, and all was, as they say, well with the world.  Upon arriving in Tomales in the usual 1.5 hours, I decided that never again would I carry a rain jacket on a foggy ride.  They simply don't breathe well enough!  I removed it, and hoped for sun to dry my clothes out, as I set out for Point Reyes Station.