Bikepacking, TheCommute, Travel - October 28, 2014

Epic Rides: TheCommute Day 7

Popping a wheelie in 30mph crosswinds ain’t easy. Photo by James Adamson – dropmedia.tv

Starting last Sunday, a group of three intrepid mountain bike explorers lit out from North Lake Tahoe heading west through hundreds of miles of known and unknown singletrack, double track and the occasional bike lane on their way to the ultimate destination of San Francisco on a ride dubbed simply “TheCommute.” Our very own Angry Singlespeeder (AKA Kurt Gensheimer) is one of those explorers and we will be posting mostly visual updates throughout the week as the group makes their way west with the towns of Nevada City, Auburn, Folsom, Davis, Cache Creek, Calistoga, Novato and finally San Francisco pencilled in on the route.

Below are photos and descriptions of Day 7’s segment from Marin to San Francisco, Calif. You can look at their Day 7 Strava Tracks here.

Mt. Sutro Open Space, San Francisco. Photo by James Adamson – dropmedia.tv

The Commute Day 7

The final day of TheCommute took us from Justin’s parents house in Marin to the top of Sutro Peak in San Francisco, covering 42 miles and a leg crushing 7,200 feet of climbing. The ride started right out of the gates with a painful hike-a-bike. Once on the ridge, a fresh rainfall made the already steep terrain even more power sucking thanks to soft mud that completely clogged our tires. Eventually we were rewarded with a ripping descent on Solstice Trail, with the wet making the final two chutes rather sketchy.

Summing up the mountain biking environment in Marin with one photograph. Photo by James Adamson – dropmedia.tv

Along the way our friends Celeste, Ezra and Austin joined us on the slopes of Mount Tam, where for the first time on our journey we encountered a park ranger at the trailhead of a popular illegal trail – a harsh reminder of how anti-mountain bike the birthplace of mountain biking really is. Reaching the Golden Gate Bridge was an incredible feeling so euphoric that I paid no mind to the thousands of tourists all around us. Once over the bridge, we refueled at a cafe in the Haight and tackled our final climb to Sutro Peak, much to my surprise on singletrack.

After 400+ miles and 50,000+ feet of climbing, The Commute is officially in the books. It will take days to truly absorb all the great memories that happened along the way, and in a few months we’ll have a book rich with words and photography. Thanks for following us, it’s been an amazing ride. – Kurt Gensheimer