Nicasio Cheese Factory Loop (80 miles)

Last weekend I had such a tough ride that I couldn't even muster the energy to blog about it. I did a 72+ mile ride down to Calaveras Road during what turned out to be a record-setting heat wave in the bay area. Temperatures were near 90 after being in the 60s to 70s for the past few weeks, and I ended the ride feeling nauseous and dehydrated.

Since last weekend the temperatures have dropped significantly below normal, so this weekend I was hoping to get some good mileage without the added weather conditions. As it turns out, I ran smack into a wind advisory this weekend, of all things. Just my luck.

This ride is from the Velogirls routesheet library, with the following modifications: my route started at Embarcadero BART station and ended on the return at the Sausalito ferry terminal. So, tacking on 5 miles at the beginning of the ride, but cutting off 5 miles and 300+ feet of climbing at the end.

The ride follows the standard route across the Golden Gate Bridge, through Sausalito, and over the hill in Corte Madera. From here the route takes you north/northwest through some nice little towns in Marin County, then through pasture land and redwood forests up to Nicasio and the Petaluma outskirts. I had ridden some of these roads during my 5 day wine country tour in 2005, but I had forgotten how surprising it is to find yourself deep in a shaded redwood forest all of a sudden, after riding through miles of flat grassland. At those moments it's hard to believe that you're just 30 miles outside of a major urban center; you might as well be hundreds of miles away from anything.

Just north of Nicasio is the Marin French Cheese Factory, also known as the Rouge et Noir cheese factory. (Whether this is in reference to Stendhal, or some veiled commentary on the army and religion, love and death, or fortune of the roulette wheel is unknown. The young girl manning the cash register seemed unlikely to have a strong opinion on the matter). The cheese factory has been in business since 1865 producing French-style cheese in the bay area, and they claim they are the oldest continually operating cheese factory in the U.S.

The 40 miles up to the cheese factory would have been more pleasant had it not been for the sustained headwinds. I found out later that there had been a wind advisory in effect the whole day, with winds from the north-northwest gusting up to 50 mph. Naturally the entire ride up to Nicasio was in the north/northwest direction.

Returning from the cheese factory, the route takes a nice jog along Point Reyes-Petaluma Road, past the Nicasio Reservoir, and then meets up with the Cross Marin Trail. This is a really nice multiuse paved trail that runs along Lagunitas Creek, parallel to Sir Francis Drake Blvd. The path goes through beautiful redwood forest and grassland, then passes through a state park, before intersecting with Sir Francis Drake.

The ride back to Sausalito was smooth sailing, heading south more or less, so the strong wind was at my back. Even taking the ferry back to the city, it was still a long day in the saddle.

Total distance: 78 miles
Total elevation gain: about 5000 feet