After some serious time off the bike (twelve days in Hawaii followed by general work craziness) I was excited to get a semi-long endurance ride in this past Sunday. Per usual, my impromptu plan was to check the weather, decide on clothing (one layer or two), fill the tires, spend twenty minutes scrounging through cabinets and gear bags looking for stray PowerGels, recall the last known location of my spare tube and inflator kit, wash the film off the cycling glasses from the last adventure, and finally head out the door about an hour later than I had planned. So, at the crack of 12:45 PM I was on my bike (joy!), at the Golden Gate Bridge, descending down to Sausalito, and officially on my way, or so I thought.
The point of this post is that a certain cycling buddy of mine, Pieter Leezenberg, has often termed my core route “junk miles”, but I don’t think I really understood what he meant until this past weekend, about three years later. Perhaps it was the extended time off the bike, the influence of Tyler’s relentless Tuesday/Thursday morning spin classes I have become accustomed to, or even the two-day Webcor training camp I attended on the Peninsula just before leaving for vacation. I’m not sure which most influenced my perspective but I couldn’t help but notice how may times I was forced out of a decent cycling rhythm because of a stop sign or traffic light along the way. By the time I reached Larkspur the number of slowdowns seemed ridiculous and by Fairfax nothing short of absurd; over an hour of riding and I still couldn’t find an uninterrupted rhythm. (I used to count this route as training?) It wasn’t until I hit the infamous White’s Grade (a good friend’s little booboo spot) that I felt like I was really riding. At that point I decided to continue on to Rancho Nicasio and on the way back count the actual number of stoplights and stop signs along the route so…I could post about it. 😉
Upon reaching Rancho Nicasio, I was inspired by the new task at hand and quickly grabbed a Gatorade, Cliff Bar, and kept my conversation with the jolly, bearded shop owner (if you have stopped there, you know the one…nice guy) to the briefest I could still consider polite. “I have a friend coming in from Japan next weekend to enjoy a crab boil we’re hosting here. […] You like the Cliff Bars. […] There is a short Japanese cyclist who always stops here and has to have a muffin.” “Uh, Yuko?” “Yes, I think that’s it!!” (I kid you not.)
Refreshed, I was back on the road and counting the stops. Again, it’s pretty smooth riding until you hit the end of White’s Grade, then the fun starts. In all, I counted thirty-nine stops on the way back. Thirty-nine stops! (How many do you get? I’m hoping we can eventually agree on an exact number.) Of course you will add or subtract a few depending on the exact route you take through a few neighborhoods. This not withstanding, that’s approximately seventy-eight potential slowdowns or stops on a roundtrip ride from San Francisco to Nicasio and back or about one potential stop every three minutes of cycling time. Add in traffic and pedestrians into the figure and I believe you arrive at what Pieter has always deemed junk miles.
Now please don’t get me wrong. In no way do I mean to slight the route or lovely towns along the way. On the contrary, I think they would probably be even nicer without determined cyclists constantly trying to buck the system by blowing through stop signs and busy shopping areas. (BTW, I totally disagree with cyclists breaking traffic rules and believe local police are completely justified in handing out citations, in most cases anyhow). If you are a recreational cyclist or simply want to go for a ride to enjoy the weather you can hardly ask for nicer cycling territory. If however you are training for anything a bit more taxing (i.e. – bike racing, triathlon, or general endurance riding) where fitness is the result of sustained, even efforts then I think it’s worth racking the bike on the car and starting closer to where the cows roam.
Pieter was right – my standard endurance route was mostly junk miles. Beyond weekday Headlands hill climbs and the occasional “bang out a quick Paradise Loop” because it’s nice out and I’m short on time, I plan to make it a point to start my 2006 training rides at Lucas Valley Rd., the Peninsula, or perhaps learn some equivalent routes in the East Bay (looking for your help, Murph) and leave downtown Mill Valley to the Blazing Saddle riders.
good – but late – New Years resolution!
refreshed? by a Cliff Bar washed with Gatorade?
So true, which is why I’ll head right up to panoramic from Mill Valley and chop out 75% of those garbage miles (believe that’s the P3BL term)
Meowwwwwwwwwww! Mothership enjoyed the article but disagrees with this statement:
(BTW, I totally disagree with cyclists breaking traffic rules and believe local police are completely justified in handing out citations, in most cases anyhow).
That’s why I haven’t done this route in over a year. I usually drive to Lucas Valley or even Silverado Trail to get the long rides in.
Wow – someone from the Marina/Cow Hollow has woken up and
smelled the shit they were shoveling? From Mill Valley to Fairfax is
the dumbest place I’ve ridden a bike.
East Bay Baby. From Orinda BART there are basically zero junk miles
until you get going, and only 3-4 until you are in complete car free and
stop sign free bliss for miles on end.
Round trip on BART from the Embarcadero to Orinda – $7.30
GG Bridge Toll – $5
Gas to/from Lucas Valley Rd $4
BART to Orinda – 24 Mins each way – exact
Driving to Lucas Valley – 45 Mins
Packing your car – 15 minutes
Unpacking your car – 15 minutes
Getting to Lucas Valley and not having your shoes – @#%^!@#&$
Repacking your car – 15 minutes
Looking for parking in SF – 15 minutes
Unpacking car – 15 minutes
Bonking in Marshall and needing to get to Nicasio – big problem
Bonking in Lafayette and returning to SF from different BART – no problem.
Hiway 1 – Hairy Logging truck
Pinehurst Road – Hairpin Turns
so when do we go east bay? I’m ready.
set it up!
That’s exactly my problem with Marin rides. Unless you live in Marin, of course.
So the question I have is: what’s the better use of a saturday morning (say 4 hours):
1.) drive 2×30 minutes+10 minutes load/unload bike + 2:50 hours bike ride
2.) 2*45 Minutes garbage bike ride miles + 2:30 hours clean miles?
3.) sleep in (2.5 extra hours), have a long brunch at a cafe in the Marina (1.5 hours)
Good point. I guess it depends on how much time you have. I generally assume Saturday before 5pm is about riding. If you have less time than that, then it makes sense to get an extra early start or roll from your door.
One decent option from SF is to start by climbing Tam (follow bike path, turn left on E. Blithedale Ave., left on Throckmorton Ave., left on Ethel Ave., and CLIMB!). You can then descend down to Hwy 1., head north, climb Bolinas Rd. back over the seven sisters, head to the Mt. Tam lookout if you have the legs, then return back down Tam to Mill Valley. It’s climbers special to be sure but this way you avoid most of the stop signs. I would definitely recommend getting an early start before the hoards of tourists start the drive to the top of Tam.
just food for thought.
so really, you need to look at high traffic areas such as this ride with an open eye.
For example: Fernando, marshall and I have done this ride starting from the bridge at 7:30 AM on a sat morning. We only stopped once for a stop light, no cops or cars out so we rolled through all the stop signs.
early ride= no ‘junk’ miles!
Best yet, by the time we arrived in fairfax, the roasters still had every kind of muffin.
@Andreas
“So the question I have is: what’s the better use of a saturday morning (say 4 hours):
1.) drive 2×30 minutes+10 minutes load/unload bike + 2:50 hours bike ride
2.) 2*45 Minutes garbage bike ride miles + 2:30 hours clean miles?
3.) sleep in (2.5 extra hours), have a long brunch at a cafe in the Marina (1.5 hours)”
I believe the answer is #3. #2 I’m less sure about. Unless you start by climbing Mt. Tam near Mill Valley I think the first real uninterrupted riding starts at White’s Grade just north of downtown Fairfax. Last weekend it took me about an hour and a half to get to White’s Grade riding from home at a fairly decent pace. I don’t think I could get that time down to 45 minutes! If you are short on time, #2 does make sense. I guess I consider that most of my Saturday’s before 5pm are about riding, eating burritos, and napping. Perhaps this is why I’m still single. 😉
Hey boyz,
If I find myself riding from the city to Nicassio, I would continue on to Pt. Reyes, south on Highway 1, up Pantoll and home….It is perhaps THE most painful ride to head out to Nicassio then turn around and head BACK the same way as I counted at least a million stops…
Fun read…Oh, one last thing, I too love climbing right out of Mill Valley up to the four corners, Muir Woods, Stinson then head North. You completly cut out the junk miles. AND it’s Beautiful!!!