Okey dokey; we’re off to California for our summer holiday and I thought that seeing as Mount Tam is one of the places credited with the birth of mountain biking, it would be rude not to see about riding there. However, my initial searches for info has me confused with some sites suggesting that riding there is frowned upon, whilst others indicate an abundance of routes.

So, over to the STW massive; has anyone one ridden around Mount Tam? Are there any must do routes? I even like the idea of riding a descent the old boys did on their klunkerz.

Let’s hear your ideas\thoughts…..

cheers.

Yes I’ve ridden there and your search results aren’t a shock. You certainly can ride around Marin and it’s worth the trip just to say you went, there are a lot of trails but watch out for locals and rangers with speed guns. I didn’t see a soul when I went but the rumours are plenty that conflicts happen. The best advice I can offer is go and see Chris at roaring mouse cycles in San fran. An Englishman who owns a bike shop. He’ll gladly give you local advice and Alford point you to done better trails as there are a few around, try and check out the route called “boyscout”, not as dubious as is sounds, lol.

There are a number of routes in the area up and down Mt Tam. I’ve had a couple of bikes from Casar’s Cyclery in San Anselmo, talk to Josh he’ll mark up a map for you. And you can ride from the store. There’s also the Tamarancho trail just up in Fairfax, well worth a blast. Also China Camp a short drive away. Wherever you ride be prepared to go up.

the last guy who posted that on here got to ride down it with Charlie Kelly and Joe Breeze.

I used to live there.

Mt. Tam is worth either riding up, or just hiking around, just to say you’ve been there and ‘taken it all in’. But, there has been a lot of conflict between riders, walkers, and Forest Rangers with speed guns issuing speeding tickets/citations (yes, really!).

There’s much better riding to be had further south – my old stomping grounds were Skeggs Point on Skyline Boulevard (an awesome spot) which is approx to the West of Woodside, and Soquel Demonstration State Forest south of Los Gatos.

I hear the riding around Aptos in Santa Cruz has developed immensely too.

If you do go to Mt Tam (and you should), nearby things well worth seeing are the Muirwoods, where you’ll see the most ginormous Redwood trees and it’s a fascinating park to see/experience, plus Sausalito – go and shop for sun dried tomatoes with the 1960’s San Francisco hippies all now in their 60s and 70s and driving their BMW 7 Series and Lexus’ etc… plus there is of course everything that San Francisco itself has to offer.Do see Alcatraz while you’re there – but MAKE SURE you book in advance. You will not be able to get tickets on the day.

I lived there for 5 years, so if you want any more gen, gimme an email via address in profile.

A route i used to take when i lived in SF, would be to take the railroad grade up to West Point Inn. You get there from Mill Valley. The West Point Inn has great views over the bay area and out to sea.

From West Point Inn car park we used to take the main route down to Muir Beach, and have a pint at the Pub there (Pelican Inn) before looping back up and over to route 101 and back up the bike path to Mill Valley again. We used to take a slightly ‘cheeky’ trail through the Green Gulch Farm which allowed access to singletrack over to 101.

Has to be said tho’, there are many better rides than Mt Tam.

East Bay area has Mt Diablo, which you can shuttle and get a 30 min descent on good trails. Also there are lots of state park reservoirs in the Easy Bay which have great little routes around them.

Again, as Digger said, i have spent many years there and can direct you to a good spot.

It has to be said tho’, if you are going within a few hours drive of Downieville…. you’d be a fool not to go. It’s truly ace, and has all the elements of wilderness/shuttled/singletrack/brilliance.

Lee.

Hired a bike while over there on a work thing some 10 years ago now. Went to Mike’s Bikes in Berkeley, only remember that as I still have one of their water bottles. Also recall that a stumpy hardtail for a day was more expensive than the hire car!

They had lots of route guides and after chatting to one of the chaps there I drove out to Mt Diablo for the day. Some good riding, though dry and dusty, very different to that photo of Mt Tam.

I’ve ridden what sounds like a similar route to lardman, but went up to the top of Mount Tam – the views from there on a clear day are fantastic. Also rode down to Muir beach for lunch/pint in the Pelican!

Definitely go down to the peninsular if you want better riding, Tam is worth it say you’ve been and take in the views etc (not sure if you can still ride repack road?) but further south is great. I rode a fair bit round Los Gatos and along Skyline Blvd, some great trails there and any decent LBS will have trail maps. You should be able to hook up with some locals easily enough at the trail head.

Mt Diablo – not ridden it but I did (foolishly) think it would be a good idea to go for a run up it(!). Stopped at the top ranger station on the way back down and he asked me if I’d seen any spiders (I hadn’t) as apparently the tarantulas sunbathe on the trails so you might want to watch out for them 🙂

Hey, thanks for the replies, really good info. We’re going to be in San Fran for 3 days, doing all the usual stuff, but your comments have confirmed that I should seriously look into this properly.

I’ll probably have half a day at most, and as this isn’t a biking holiday for me I think I’ll try and get the best out of Mount Tam, mainly to say I’ve done it – soppy maybe.

So for those offering to help I’ll be in touch once I’ve a thought a bit more about it, we’re not going until end of june so I have a wee bit of time.

2retro4u
Marin County, Cali

the last guy who posted that on here got to ride down it with Charlie Kelly and Joe Breeze.

So will this one, if he plays his cards right. Gifts of UK bike jerseys go a long way toward encouraging my participation.

Just sayin’…

Whoa, hadn’t expected that….. anyway,

So will this one, if he plays his cards right. Gifts of UK bike jerseys go a long way toward encouraging my participation.

Just sayin’…

This sort of thing:

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plus waymarkers from some trails I look after:

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quite excited if this can happen

Hey buddy – if I can help, just fire me an email….

I rode there last year and am riding there again this year in September.

You will need to get a Day Pass to ride Tamarancho from Fairfax Cyclery ($5), but if Charlie is around he will certainly show you where to go etc. to get this, but it is pretty easy to find on the main road.

This is the link showing some of the Tamarancho stuff we did – LINKY!

^^^ Sorry the link takes you to page 2, so make sure you click to see page 1 and then read down the post as there is a post from Charlie describing the ride we did.

Agree with most of the above. I lived in SF for a few years and never went riding in Marin. Used to go surfing and windsurfing down the coast at Davenport Landing but if conditions weren’t good we would take the bikes and ride in Santa Cruz mountains as well – much better than Marin.

Some nice video here http://vidi.vu/NhfOyg/ brought back the memories.

Different to the Roman Lakes in Marple……

I was there a good few years ago and an ex-pat Englishman I had met on a tour of the Dales took me out on the local club midweek run up Tam, which may still take place so worth enquiring. I just missed seeing a mountain lion apparently.

As I didn’t have a bike he kindly lent me his old one which turned out to be one of the Joe Breeze originals, carrying the ID number from the first batch. The handling was far superior to my Diamond Back of the time. The younger local riders couldn’t figure out what this wierd skinny bike was though.

Hey All, thanks for all the offers of help and the info provided so far. I’m now busy checking all this stuff out and working when I might be able to get a ride in.

Defo be in touch later 😆