Summer in February on Mt. Tamalpais

I'm as worried as everyone else about the inevitable drought we'll experience this year, but the best way to assuage my sorrow is to hit the dusty Mt. Tam bike trails on my mountain bike when the sun is bringing the mercury north of 70. Today I broke away for an hour and did my standard loop on Mt. Tam that I call the Eldridge-Fish Gulch Quick Loop, and I began from Ross Common in the center of Ross.

The trailhead actually begins at Natalie Coffin Greene Park about 1 mile away, but parking always fills up fast there. Instead, park in Ross, warm-up with a mile ride up Lagunitas road where you can ogle the Ross mansions, and then head up the fireroad once you're in the park. The loop has you ride past and around the right side of Lake Phoenix, heading back towards a four-way intersection where you take a Left on Eldridge Grade and climb up to 980' (963' according to my new (refurbished) Garmin 305 Edge, but that's another post). Take a Right down Lakeview trail (BUT FIRST, take a Left and ride up a few hundred feet and take in the incredible views of the Bay and the Richmond Bridge and beyond). Hang a Left into the redwoods and enjoy a flat fast lap around the West side of Lake Lagunitas, crossing 3 footbridges and then hanging a Right across Lagunitas dam. From there you have to head down Sky Oaks Rd for a few hundred yards and then bang a right down a paved trail/road, and then take a left on Fish Gulch trail. This is a seriously fast harrowing trail and you must watch your speed. In no time you'll see the odometer approaching 30 (I'm told) and then you have a 90 degree right hand turn in your face. It's a great test of seeing how quickly you can bring your bike down to a reasonable speed without locking up the disc brakes. The .6 miles of sheer downhill fun is over in seconds and you wonder why it took you so much longer to climb up Eldridge. Fish Gulch heads straight through the 4-way intersection back towards Phoenix Lake and the park entrance. Round trip was only 8.97 miles with 1,284 feet of elevation gain. I'll soon have exact ride details/mileage on Marin Fat Tire.

Here's the link to the motionbased.com data for Eldridge-FishGulch Quick Loop.