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Can anyone recommend some good rides originating in Marshall? A friend has rented a cabin up there for her birthday, and I'd like to get some riding in while I'm there. Ideally, I'd find something about 60-65 miles w/ about 3000-3500 feet of climbing, but I'm flexible

Thanks in advance

[update at bottom!]

maillotpois

Get the North SF Bay and Wine Country Krebs map: https://www.krebscycleproducts.com/T1.html

There are SO many different options for rides starting from Marshall I can't even begin to describe them. Well, I'll start:

1. Go south and ride out the Pt Reyes Peninsula and back - do the little spur up Mt. Vision and/or to McClure beach;
2. Go North to Valley Ford, Occidental, Coleman Valley: I'd make a loop of the Coleman Valley/Occidental part;
3. Go east up Marshall wall and loop around by the Cheese Factory and back;
4. Go either north or south up Hwy 1 and back;
5. Go North to Tomales, then Tomales-Petaluma Rd/Chileno Valley and back over Marshall wall the other way.

Each of these rides would be in your mileage range, but they'll have a bit more climbing. The Hwy 1 out and backs would have the least amount of climbing, but the most traffic.

knotty

My favorite ride is from Marshall up hwy 1 to Jenner and along Russian River Rd. to Monte Rio and back down through Occidental, Freestone, Tomales to Marshall.

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Thanks for the ideas. I'll check out some of those routes in more details tonight.

I will gladly take more climbing if it means less traffic

ConstantRider

You will get cars on Highway One. Between Marshall and Tomales, there's often no shoulder, but the road is pretty twisty so cars generally can't get much speed up. (Motorcycles are a different story.) Around Bodega Bay on Highway, there's also a lot of traffic, especially RVs/trailers, etc., and again, not much shoulder.

A lot of the other roads out there are somewhat rough, but many have virtually no traffic on them.

I created a 75-mile loop at Bikely.com. I'd ride it clockwise, i.e head north at the start. The main issue with it, other than being ten miles longer than you're looking for, is that there'd be few if any services between Valley Ford (the second time you pass through it) and the end, which is about 33 miles.

There'd be three stretches of extended climbing: Bay Hill Rd., Coleman Valley Rd., and Marshall-Petaluma Rd. And a lot of rollers in between.

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Oh man, that's great. Thanks so much!

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On Saturday, I rode the first half of the route ConstantRider so kindly mapped out. What a ride! That is certainly one of the most beautiful places I've ever ridden! Lovely scenery, well-kept roads (for the most part), and lots and lots of roads that point up.

I was staying at the foot of the eastern side of the mountain that is the Marshall Wall, so my ride started out with my front wheel pointed at the sky. This would set the tone for the rest of the day, it turned out. The ride up the 1 was quite nice, the bay providing some great views to my left. Before long I came to the right turn onto Coleman Valley Road, which I recognized from the ATOC, which was pretty cool.

Coleman Valley Road kicked my butt, plain and simple. I'm not sure where the 'Valley' in the name comes from, it should be called 'Coleman Road That Goes Up and Up and Up Forever' But I'll be back to climb it again, there is no doubt about that. Riding over the names of some of the best cyclists of our time was quite a thrill, and the ridge at the top provides incredible rollers and scenery.

After a short break in Occidental, which included one of the most delicious cookies I've ever had from the store there, I enjoyed the long downhill on excellent roads into Freestone. I got lost a bit, and decided to cut short the ride at that point without doing the second half. This was probably a good idea, as the final miles up and over the Marshall Wall left me with absolutely nothing left in the tank.

End results, per my Garmin: 76 miles, 7400' feet of climbing (!). I'm not sure I believe that 7400' feet result though - I'd be interested to hear how much climbing other people have logged in this area.

All in all a fantastic ride. I'll be back for more.

I managed to take a couple of pics along the way (I gotta get better at remembering to take pictures!)

Beginning of Bay Hill Road:



The top (or one of the many 'tops') of Coleman Valley Road:



Thanks again for the route, ConstantRider - if you're ever in SF, let me know, beer is on me