Bay to Breakers

Is it a race? To most of us it is a social event, however there ARE racers there. Somewhere. You just have to search for them at the beginning of the 60,000 pack of foot-aching humanity.

d
d
d

If You're a Zeppelin Fan

Then, you must view this. Click Here.

If you like Stephen Hawking, then it's double-good.
z
z
z

Skeggs over easy?

From the parking lot at Skeggs Point, I crossed Hwy 35 to enter El Corte de Madera @ Open Space Preserve. Skeggs. Reading the map, I notice that all trails are open to cyclists. Every single one of them. Some trails allow horses and hikers. All cycling trails.

conditions and equipment
Just a fantastic day, a little windy, a little too cool out for the Fox Jersey and shorts I had w/o any of my great windbreakers, vests, amber lensed glasses... what a maroon! I left the best glasses I have for canopy riding --- in the truck. Wore the polarized Ray-Bans. They're nearly perfect performance for Fit, UVA/B protection, Fashion, Polarized. All great things except, when under the forest canopy the lenses are too dark. 2.55 LT WeirWolf in the front and 2.35 Rampage in the rear, reverse direction. 100oz Camelbak with water, a whistle/compass/thermometer clipped on the left shoulder strap, and the zipped storage contains : tube, pump, patches, Crank Bros multi tool, cell phone, wallet, aromatherapy, complete set of keys. That's it.

I take a quick spin around the top of the mtn (to check out the bike) on Fir and turned up Tafoni, then retuned down Fir Trail and then dropped in on Resolution to the right. Niiiice singletrack and some rooty, sandstone technical on that there Resolution. Didn't see any airplane sheet metal this time -- was adjacent to the trail on my last visit.

Cut left into ECDM Creek Trail until I rode the mini-bridge over a dry creek without the usual rusty caramel colored salamanders. Made a note of that. Pickup North Leaf Trail here. Saweeet narrow line cut into the side, below the peak, following a meandering path with little room for error. Rare rocks, log crossings, generally : it's leaves over hardpack.

A brutal cross-training foot climb on parts of Methuselah to catch up with South Leaf Trail. Once again, trail excellence.

Connect on down with Virginia Mill trail, which includes fireroad action and some areas not maintained for vehicle travel. Think : ungraded, random, anything goes fireroad. Paused on the green fiberglass bridge 45 feet over the crystal creek to hear only to the water. That's rare. Connected with Lawrence Creek Trail which has pretty nice ST in some sections. Some more fireroads.

salamanders on the prowwwl
Counted seven salamanders at different points of the ride, beginning here. They're crossing the trails to find mates? These are salamanders on the prowwwl for some mating season ritual, I'm sure. There must be 1,000s of them, because I am noticing just the ones on the trails. Consider how many are camoflagued and unseen in the rest of the forest? Consider how many are run over on the trails, unseen...
I also saw a pair of bananas getting their slug on. Told'em to "Get a Room!" They gave me some weird looks in return.

Blue Blossom is a kick in the ass ST run! Why had I not been here before? Mostly because there were connecter trails that were closed during rainy times. But - holy shit, this is another 10/10 trail like Resolution.

Steam Donkey was the steepest and quickest way out of the forest as I was watching my horizontal shadows in the golden light filtered by countless redwoods -- many at 420 feet tall and perfectly cylindrical. There were two huge redwoods felled across the trail with room to pass beneath sitting upright. Great close-up view of the middle of a monster redwood tree trunk. Never seen that before.

epilogue
There's a lot of rock landslides and trees that have visible roots 10 - 20 feet above the trails, cantilevered precariously. Soon, they will fall -- or be pulled down by forest maintenance peeps. Anyway, I exited onto Skyline/35 and saw Bear Gulch Road signs and began my fight against the headwind to return to Skeggs Point. For this ride, I wish I had taken my fenders, amber lenses, and my wool sleeves by SWOBO. I'm told they're not for sale any more. I got mine on eBay, naturally.

Time 3:45:00
Distance 14.8 miles
X Factor 9/10
.