This Morning I rode the Mt. Tam - Sea Otter Classic Training Ride, and it was an amazing ride. Beginning in Ross Common and riding up to Natalin Coffin Greene park, I picked up the bike trail and rode around Lake Phoenix. From there I banged a right up Shaver Grade towards Five Corners. Anytime it's rained within the past two days, expect this stretch of Shaver Grade to be muddy in places and sticky throughout -- it was like a random resistence trainer, where you'd be slogging up the hill and suddenly the dial was turned from "8" to "10". I continued up Shaver Grade from Five Corners and then headed down Sky Oaks and took a left on Bullfrog.
From Bullfrog take a left into the first parking lot and head up towards Bon Tempe Dam. This is one of the most beautiful places in the Mt. Tam watershed. Continue across the dam and ride your bike up Rocky Ridge. MAJOR WARNING -- About .3 miles up Rocky Ridge you will forgot the glory of riding across Bon Tempe Dam, rethink your sport, and wonder why you're not chasing a little white ball around a fairway. But continue on and about .6 miles from the dam, you'll hit a plateau and your life will get better. There's more climbing, but in shorter more gradual sections, with some rolling hills in between. I headed downhill on Rock Springs to Lake Lagunitas, and rode counterclockwise around the lake, crossing 3 wooden footbridges. Take a right on Lakeview which turns into Eldridge Grade and climb another 15oo feet of elevation gain up to the top of Mt. Tam. As detailed in other rides, the last 1.5 miles up to the road near the summit of Tam is challenging with lots of loose rocks, or "death cookies." Getting there covered 12.9 miles and roughly 3200' of elevation gain. Head back down Eldridge all the way, turning right on Eldridge (instead of straight on Lakeview) and back to Natalie Coffin Greene, which is 19.9 miles. Time yourself and see whether this loop ends up being a good indicator of your eventual time at Sea Otter Classic.
You can cool down on the mile back down Lagunitas Road to Ross Commons. For more detailed ride instructions, go to MarinFatTire.com, which is the best source for mountain bike trails on Mt. Tam and in Marin.
If you're so inclined, please post other training rides that you may be doing to train for Sea Otter Classic. Also, if you happen to do the Mt. Tam training ride, post your time and then come back and let us know how well that correlated with your Sea Otter Classic time. I'm not proud of this, but my time was 2 hours and 35 minutes of riding time, with another 15 minutes of stops to down some GU, catch my breath, talk to the varsity team riders on San Rafael Bull Dogs, a the champion high school mountain bike team (these guys blew by me on the final stretch up Mt. Tam, and were training for Otter Creek and their opening NorCal race), and note mileages along the way.
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