Final Training Ride - Mt. Tamalpais

One week to go for the ALC8 ride - we did our last group training ride on Saturday - climbing to the East Peak of "Mt. Tam" at an altitude of 8500 feet!! This is by far the most spectacular ride I have done in my training season. The day was perfect. Company - Dan, Geoff and Andy (training ride leader), some German tourists (in a Jeep) - was perfect.

Our approach to Mt. Tam, and the first 50-60 minutes of climb was through dense fog - with very little visibility. But, that just made the whole ride even more dramatic. This is when we hit the first ray of light about 1000 feet from the East Peak!



The views from the East peak were breathtaking! Even more so, when it took and hour and half to reach the top : )




The climb down Mt. Tam led us to the "Alpine Dam". This downhill was just one of the most exhilarating experiences - the speeds were approaching 35-40 mph, the roads were bad, windy, and many-many hair pin bends. Just perfect!