Giving Blood at Camp Tamarancho

Nothing is certain but death, taxes, and mountain bike crashes. I was long overdue to hit the ground hard, and I had an unpleasant reminder of how painful that can be at Camp Tamarancho last weekend. I was getting into a rocky section of Wagon Wheel trail, missed my target, and did a side flip onto my back, landing about 3 feet below the trail onto some basketball sized rocks. My camelbak completely saved me from a more severe injury, my shins are badly battered and ripped from the rocks, and my chest has a now-yellowish welt that's still sore to the touch. There was a certain calm for a few seconds as I lay face up on a bed of boulders with my bike resting atop my bloody body, watching some birds circling above, and appreciating the stillness of the morning and the fact that nothing felt broken. Once I muddled through the physical comedy of getting unstuck from the rocks with a bike on top of me, I cautiously finished that stretch of Wagon Wheel and enjoyed a great ride.

Camp Tamarancho has some of the best (and maybe the only true) legal singletrack in Marin. The trails are on property owed and maintained by the Boy Scouts, and the main loop, including a .6 mile out and back access trail, is about 8.5 miles, and takes around an hour (more if you ride it the way I did). You can ride the loop clockwise or counterclockwise; last week, I went clockwise around the following trails - Goldman, Serpentine, Wagon Wheel (curse you!), B-17 , Broken Dam, and back to the Goldman Trail. You access the loop from the Alchemist Trail off of Iron Springs Road. Since there's no parking on Iron Springs Road, it's best to Park in downtown Fairfax next to Java Hut. From there you head West on Center/Broadway for several blocks, and then follow the Bike Route signs for several blocks (with some turns) until you take a left on Rockridge which becomes Iron Springs. You get to climb several hundred feet of elevation over a mile up Iron Springs until you see a sweet singletrack trail - Alchemist - on your left. Overall, roundtrip from downtown Fairfax will cover 12.5 miles and just over 1700' of elevation gain.

If you ride Mt. Tam or fireroads all the time, then it's great to hone your technical skills on some singletrack trails. If you're new to singletrack, then I'd definitely tackle something like China Camp before trying out Camp Tamarancho. Here's a link to a great loop at China Camp: Bayview-Shoreline Loop.

To ride Camp Tamarancho, you need to have either a season pass ($45) or a day pass ($5) which you can get through Sunshine Bicycles in Fairfax or buy online through the Boy Scouts website. I'd also recommend bringing a Camp Tamarancho Map, which you can print from the above link, and, if you plan to give blood, riding with a friend!

For more great trails and mountain biking resources, check out http://www.marinfattire.com/.