Mt. Tam Triple Crown, Road Stage

[Jim Hewett]

I'm starting to feel more fit and thought the Mt. Tam Triple Crown would be some good fun and training.  I did the dirt section of this a couple of years ago, but this year I'm doing all 3 stages:  road bike, mountain bike, and run.

We met early in Mill Valley and I was happy to see a couple of familiar faces from mountain bike racing.  Mark Weir, Taylor Smith, and Den Satake were there, as well as many people I don't ride with much.  I'm not the fastest guy around on a road bike, but I wanted to do well in this stage and get in a good position to put some time into the competition on the mountain bike stage.

It was quite cool and foggy as we started out of Old Mill Park in Mill Valley.  The pace was not so bad, and I sat 5th or 6th wheel and kind of warmed into the effort as we climbed the switchbacks on Marion.  We turned right on the main road and soon came to the shortcut at Walsh.  I got into the dirt section in 4th and was a little worried that Taylor and Weir might open a gap as the third place guy almost forced me to dismount a couple of times.  I got around him and we three started climbing Bayview and took a right on Panoramic.  Taylor was doing a good bit of the work as we pedalled into a foggy wind.

We passed the Mountain Home Inn and traded the lead a few times across the slight uphill curves.  Taylor started to fall off a little and Weir and I slowly opened a gap.  I had been in the big ring, but as we started the climbs to Pantoll, I shifted to the small and dropped my chain.  I quickly jumped off and replaced it, but I lost about 10 seconds and had to dig a little to catch up to Weir just after the turn at Pantoll.  We rode along at a decent pace.  I tested a little and felt I could maybe open a gap, but with my fitness still lacking the high end, I was happy enough to stay together.  It was much sunnier up high, and we rode along talking through the Rock Springs intersection.  We stayed together to the military base and Weir kicked it in a little on the following climb.  He opened a small gap and increased it on the long fast descent, as I had to touch the brakes a few times.  That would do it, as we both sprinted up the final climb to the top and he finished about 20 seconds ahead of me.  I think Weir finished in about 44:25 and I was around 44:45.

Everyone hung out at the top as we waited for the whole group to finish.  It was a beautiful day on East Peak, but we soon headed back into the fog to Mill Valley.  Tomorrow, Eldridge Grade!