Jersey! Jersey! Jersey!

Roger and I decided to add the East Bay Tiburon Loop to the usual second Saturday madness this month, i.e. the August Jersey Ride and the Short & Sassy Tiburon Loop. Although any member can volunteer to lead the Jersey Ride or the Short & Sassy Tiburon Loop, which is a shortened version of the venerable Jersey Ride, it usually devolves onto board members to do so. I’d like to say that club enthusiasm is so unconstrained on the board that we love leading those rides. But the reality is something else. A few of us have had enough near-crashes on the Golden Gate Bridge coming back on the Jersey Ride that it has become a line we won’t cross anymore. That is one of the reasons the Short & Sassy Tib Loop came into being too. Not only was it no longer relaxing to ride the bridge on a weekend afternoon but it’s also a long schlep for a lot of cyclists. After we decided we weren’t going to lead the JR anymore we came up with the East Bay Tiburon Loop, a thing that wouldn’t have been possible before the Richmond San Rafael Bridge opened a bike lane in November 2019. So this month we decided to lead it again—I guess as penance for refusing to partake in the GGB madness but also because “it was time”.

The East Bay Tiburon Loop starts in Point Richmond and hops over the bridge to Marin and thanks to the reconstruction of the previously horrible and dangerous bypass path on 101 it’s now a dream to cruise over and enjoy Paradise Drive. It’s certainly no worse or better than coming from San Francisco to Tiburon and is better in that the RSR is not crowded with bikes, pedestrians, and construction furniture.

Unfortunately, perhaps because we listed it so late, no one else deigned to join us. No matter! We were set to enjoy the day anyway. This month the Jersey Ride, led by Ginny, hooked just two other participants. But the S&S had five. So altogether we were nine at Woodlands Market.

It was chilly and overcast in Point Richmond and the RSR despite the climb up the span we barely warmed up. By Larkspur the sun was out and we soon warmed up. This was supposed to be an easy day for us as Roger hadn’t been riding much after tweaking his back and I already had had a couple of days of harder than usual riding. The good weather was bringing out the cycling masses as we soon joined the other lemmings heading around Paradise Drive. Perhaps the weather was responsible for the car traffic as well: it was packed and backed up by the Larkspur Ferry terminal and it was still a moshpit of metal when we returned in the afternoon. But once we were on Paradise the car traffic eased off. But not the bikes! Paradise is still paradise for cyclists: little traffic and a seemingly natural setting despite the housing, which is mostly hidden behind trees. It didn’t take long before we were careening at speed trying to keep up with the fitter folk. Two cyclists blasted past us like we were stationary; an older gent on a classic blue Gios with Campy Super Record and toeclips—and a hairnet “helmet”!—passed by us. I love old school cyclists! Everybody was out for a great ride.

One of the problems with three different club rides is trying to synch meeting up on the road. In the past we’ve met the JR at the Corte Madera shopping center or somewhere along Paradise. But not today. We got to Woodlands early and had to wait for both the JR and the S&S riders to arrive. Eventually everyone arrived and we had a convivial lunch. The main topics of discussion were Will Bir’s sudden death and the various upcoming cycling trips some members had in the works. There was a time when it seemed only Roger and I were heading overseas for a cycling trip. But that’s no longer the case as people were taking Backroads, Womantours, Bicycle Adventure Club, and even self-supported (!) tours.

A long lunch finally ended and Ginny did a great job of herding all of us cats into a group photo and then making sure each group got on their respective routes. We split off from the others and headed north by Horse Hill back to Larkspur. Unlike the last time we did the RSR the headwind was only mild and we made it back to the East Bay feeling comfortable rather than wasted. If they shut down the bike path on the RSR that may be the end of this ride, which would be a real disappointment. So ride it while you can. While there are plenty of places we like to ride in the East Bay, it is a great break to head over to Marin to escape the summer heat and hang out with fellow Spokers!