Nice day for a Saturday ride in Marin. I left the YMCA in San Raphael with 3 other
riders for a 55 mile ride to Petaluma and back, via Nicasio. Around 8:30 am we headed west out Lucas Valley Road. Traffic
was light and the temperature was perfect for the climb to Big Rock.
You may know that this is the
trail head for the Big Rock Trail, at multi-use trail that runs along the west
side of the Lucas Valley Open Space Preserve.
If you have a chance to hike the trail, which I did the next day, you
are treated to great views of the surrounding hills and valleys and an overlook
of Big Rock Ranch.
Searching the web, I found the pic below of the Big Rock Ranch – (note, the
trail is in the trees high up on the slope behind)
After the Big Rock summit, the road descends several miles
through woodlands and redwoods, eventually emerging in the grasslands near
Nicasio. After a brief stop we rolled past the eastern shore of the Nicasio
reservoir, and then turned East toward Petaluma on Red Hill Road, where we
encountered a bit of a climb. Fortunately, the road surface is great, and there is a bike lane, so I just kept the pedals moving. Once over the bump we cruised down to the Marin
French Cheese Factory (www.marinfrenchcheese.com/),
a popular stop for cyclists.
The cheese factory has a spacious, bright interior and
features excellent pastries from a bakery in Sonoma, as well as some good
looking pre-made sandwiches. Of course,
they also offer a wide variety of fine cheese (and crackers) with several cheese
selections out for tasting. Did I
mention the duck pond with picnic tables and a bathroom? You can see why it is popular with cyclists
From there we took Hicks Valley Road over to up over Wilson
Hill Road and did the climb/slog up Wilson Hill. This hill is
always a challenge, but there is very little traffic making it possible to ride along with someone and chat your way to the top. Looking closely in
the upper left corner of this pic, you can see the tree line at the top of the
climb.
After the climb, we had the fabulous and
FAST descent down toward Chileno Valley Road.
Once down onto the flatter ground, it was on to
Petaluma. Coming into Petaluma from the
West we rode through some very charming neighborhoods on our way to the
Tea Room Café (http://www.tearoomcafe.com/
).
We scored a table outside, and I had the Mascarpone toast. This was a thick piece of toasted
sourdough, slathered with Mascarpone, topped with sliced strawberries and
drizzled with honey. It was
scrumptious. Others had French toast,
Vegan Tofu Scramble and the Vegetable Frittata.
All were excellent. The Tofu
scramble comes with a bean side that looked great. This place can be a bit crowded, but is worth
the wait.
Here are a few examples of their wares.
The route back featured two musical episodes worthy of
mention. First, as we were climbing
above Mc Evoy Ranch on Red Hill Road, strains of ‘White Rabbit’ were drifting
up from an event at the ranch far below us.
It was live music and we speculated that they were holding Grace Slick
hostage down there.
After cresting that hill and a couple more, we were treated
to more rock and roll as we pedaled past the Nicasio Valley Farms Pumpkin Patch
set up just north of Nicasio (http://www.nicasiovalleyfarms.com/). This was a
major attraction with hay rides, inflatable slides, a band etc. all adjacent to
acres of pumpkins. What was really
amazing was that none of this was even set up we pedaled through Nicasio
earlier in the day (around 9:30 am). It
is ironic that this pumpkin patch event is located along the exact stretch of
road out of Nicasio that has signs posted asking cyclists to please refrain
from talking – as to not disturb the neighbors.
Hmmm…
All in all, a fantastic day on the bike.
