Day 161: Happy Thanksgiving

The day started off really nicely. I had planned well the night before. I had all of my gear ready to head out the door. I had my bike in the car, cycling gear in my backpack, and my GPS and digital camera charged and ready for work. It was the only way that I could do what needed to be done before starting the Thanksgiving Day Ride out of Fairfax. I also planned on meeting “M” whose car blew up on him yesterday, and he needed a ride. So careful planning helped me stay on time, and all in all things went well, at least at the start. It was so cold this morning that we barely chatted after arriving at the Java Hut parking lot. Instead we were all eager to get onto our bikes as a way to warm up. It must have been in the upper 30’s or lower 40’s when we set off for our ride. We had to ride about a mile on the flats before we’d reach the first climb, and believe me, it was so cold that we were all happy to be huffing and puffing up the hill. The first climb out of Deer Park took us up to Four Corners where we stopped briefly for nature breaks at the Porta-potty. There we watched another mountain bike crew drinking from flasks. I didn’t ask what they were drinking, but it was certainly something that would keep them warm, and ease the pain of the next climb. Me (?), I had cold water. ;-) We later learned that one of our crew had brought along Glogg and either never offered us a bit of the ultra warming stew, or he had left it in the car. We’ll be doing a post-mortem about this over the weekend when we all reconvene at Rockville for more mountain biking fun. We rode from there up to the lakes, and then around the Meadow Country Club’s golf course before doing some more climbing up Bolinas/Fairfax Road up to the entrance of Pine Mountain. It was there that we were unfortunately greeted by what would become the theme of the day, Sheriffs and Rangers everywhere. It was not a warm welcome, and by the looks of it, they were there to intimidate us. It was the kind of a show of force that reminded me of the old military marches in Eastern Bloc countries. They had their large four wheel drive trucks on the trails, and then there were their smelly and noisy ATVs that had exhaust fumes pouring out the back, and which were polluting the trail to the extent that it was difficult to ride up the hills behind them. It had a real military feel, and for what? We’re just a bunch of mountain bikers that are gathering on Thanksgiving Day as we’ve done for at least two decades. It’s a day when our mountain biking families celebrate our community with a nice ride along with other like-minded people.

After our initial greeting by the Marin County Sheriff’s department, we moved on to do the various climbs that are difficult on a good day, but for me it even more difficult. I am still nursing my broken rib/s, and the baby's head rocks were really aggravating my injury. The climbs were also steep, many of them over 10 percent grades, so as I’d try to take in a full breath of air, my ribs would fight back in pain. I did about a dozen climbs today wherein I was in pain, oxygen deprived, and unable to get a full and deep breath. Some of the climbs went on for long periods of time. What a pleasant combo. Back to the military state.

As we climbed up the last hill up to what has been affectionately called “Smoker’s Knoll,” we were again greeted by Sheriffs and Rangers. One of the Sheriffs that was on an ATV, and he almost crashed into two of us as we descended through one section of the trail. I was almost knock sideways by this idiot’s ATV trailer that was pitching side to side across the trail. The rider in front of me read the Sheriff the riot act when he was almost knocked off the trail. I’ll tell you this, If I didn’t have years of technical riding experience, I would be licking my wounds right now. The rider that was in front of me was so angry that I thought he might even go to blows with the Sheriff. It was a very sketchy situation.

When we got up to Smoker’s Knoll, appropriately named for the pot smoking that typically happens there, the Sheriffs were already there making sure that on this day there would be none of that. Any other day of the year and these sheriffs would not be on the mountain…

After a quick break, and a few photos, including a few of legends in the bike industry like Charlie Kelly and John Castellano, we began to remount our steeds for the long descent down to the lake. Just as I was getting back on my bike, another Sheriff’s truck was crawling up the last hill to the knoll. These heavy trucks should not even be out there chewing up the trails like tractors, but they didn’t care. They're as wide as the trail, so cyclists can’t get around them, and they can’t pass, so why have a dozen of them out there today? This truck was big, just like the others, and the guy inside was one of the notorious Sheriffs that enjoys citing cyclists on Mount Tamalpais. He cited me once for walking my dog up on Mount Tamalpais. That’s another story. After seeing him coming, I left quickly in order to be in front of him, instead of behind his exhaust fumes and slow descent.

I rode down the next section as fast as my blown ribs would allow, all the while thinking that I need to be VERY CAREFUL not to have another fall. So I went fast, but not that fast, and I was always in full control of the bike. Once at the bottom I heard from my other riding partners that the Sheriff that was coming up the trail just as I had left, had literally run over the back of a beautiful tandem mountain bike that was parked right next to ours just minutes before! Some were asking if it was intentional. Let's hope not!

This sent another ripple of anger throughout the cycling community as we were riding along the loop. The combination wasn’t good. We had Sheriffs making it clear that they’re the ruling party, and then hundreds of mountain bikers with loads of testosterone pumping through their veins. The amazing thing to me is that the entire ride today IS LEGAL! So why in the world are we paying for dozens of Sheriffs, and all of their four wheel drive vehicles, to “patrol” a legal trail in Marin County. Just look at the photos. Tell me that we needed all of them to be there in order to protect us. Why were they really there? We have cell phones, GPS units, etc., so we could have easily called Search and Rescue if we needed them. I wonder what it costs to pay a county employee on Thanksgiving Day to be there monitoring a bicycle-legal fire road in Marin County? Double-time? Perhaps event riple-time? It was truly an obscene show of force by the Marin County Sheriff’s Department, and one that I hope they end up feeling embarrassed about in the end.

I look forward to hearing other people’s accounts from today’s ride, and I hope that as many riders as possible write our County Supervisors about the chaos that the Marin Sheriff’s department caused today, and with a focus on budget abuses like today’s. I'd much rather know that the money spent today was instead going to public education uses. We concluded the ride earlier than expected since we didn’t stop at the normal resting points where the Sheriffs were rather imposing. Instead we just kept on going. It was fun to be with old friends while on a ride that I haven’t done in many years. I had forgotten much of the Pine Mountain Loop’s trails, but now the memories will be crystal clear for a while. I’m going to go back out there soon in order to relive today’s ride. I went on to have Thanksgiving dinner that included one person that I know, and maybe ten that I've never even met. I didn't cook, and barely contributed to the festivities beyond plugging in my iPod in order shuffle-up some music. There were people there from several different ethnic backgrounds, and different countries, and we, as orphans, made the evening work. There's something about Thanksgiving that brings people together. I don't like it's origins, but I do like what it's turned into in terms of a celebration. I was lucky to have a place to go, and to be surrounded by such quality people. Tugboat even reaped the benefits of the night by receiving turkey, and also stuffing loaded with sausage. Happy Thanksgiving to all of my family, friends, and diehard readers and supporters! I couldn't do this without you...

Distance: 22.54 miles Calories burned: 2,263 Time: 2:38:58 hours Elevation gain: 3,585 Garmin Connect ride details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/19645578