300km Saitama/Ibaraki early season brevet -- dry weather, relatively easy course, some headwinds but a decent ride

Shortly after getting back to Japan in February, I joined a February 22 Saitama Audax 300k brevet from Iruma to Oarai Kaigan and back. 

There is not really too much to say about this one.  It was a mostly boring, flat, North Kanto winter course, on relatively busy roads until after dark. The weather was dry, not too cold, and the main difficulties were a headwind on the first third of the return trip, and some exhaustion and stomach/foot pain also during that leg. Once the wind and traffic died down, I could easily roll it home.

I saw a few familiar riders, and chatted with some I would see again on the 1000km (Tomatsuri-san) during Golden Week. But it was mostly just a training exercise.  I finished in 17 hrs 15 min, so with 2 hours and 45 minutes to spare ... but it was not a fast time given the easy course and dry conditions. Still, I can live with it.

Start briefing under the bridge at Iruma - standard for Saitama Audax

Stopped at a train crossing -- ruined my record attempt!

A winter's day at the beach - Oarai

Lunch.

On the return now, but still low lying areas of Ibaraki.

 

I could not hang on the back for long ... I was fading.

The road continues after sunset.

Beautiful 200km ride through Marin County and back -- a bit of a change for a Winter Brevet!

I spent much of this winter based out of Palo Alto, California, where my wife was on a half-year sabbatical.  The area is full of cyclists, and Palo Alto is a great place to ride especially if you get into the hills between Silicon Valley and the Pacific.

If you head southwest past the vast Stanford campus and I-280, into Woodside/Portola Valley/Los Altos Hills foothill areas, there are 3 great climbs up to Skyline Blvd -- Old La Honda Road, Kings Mountain Road, and Page Mill Road. These three top out at around 550~750m elevation, and include lovely vistas and low traffic volume. Good exercise! Once up, you can head down the opposite side of the ridge to the Pacific through redwood forests, you can mix and match your return route, and easily find plenty of options.  Skyline Blvd itself is okay for short stretches, but there is traffic and occasionally some tech bro in a speeding sports car or SUV carelessly hits and kills a cyclist or pedestrian, so I did not spend too much time on it.

Heading SW from Stanford campus.

Just past Skyline at the beginning of the descent to La Honda.

Lots of dappled sunshine. Lots.

Just a bit further toward La Honda where it opens up.

On the Coast Highway heading north.

San Gregorio general store (not to be confused with San Geronimo, up in Marin)

The Tunitas Creek Road climb back to Skyline.

Descending a major road toward Silicon Valley

I completed the year-end "Festive 500" with a series of mostly relatively easy rides on flatter terrain, and a slightly bigger (90km, 1700m elev gain) ride to the coast and back. And I did a couple rides with former colleagues and one of the Palo Alto Bicycles monthly Sunday AM "foothill ride" with a good group. 

But the highlight of my riding in the Bay Area was probably a late January 200km brevet with the San Francisco Randonneurs, from the Crisey Field area of the Presidio in San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, to Dillon Beach on the Pacific Ocean in NW Marin County, and back again.

I had ridden much of this route on the final hours of Seattle-San Francisco the previous September. But on that ride I enjoyed sunset and a dinner sandwich at Bodega Bay and had ridden this entire stretch in the dark, wrapping up 1700km+ at 3AM. This time, I would see the area in daylight. I also had been enjoying Peter Curley's "Bike Every Hood" youtube videos, some of which feature these roads in Marin.  (I was pleasantly surprised, after discovering the videos in my feed, to learn that he rides with the SF Randonneurs). 

Anyway, I took the (rental) car for the day and drove early from Palo Alto to Crisey Field/East Beach. It was January, but a beautiful early morning. A large group assembled, and the briefing included recognition of the SF group's organizer and a former head of RUSA, Rob Hawkes, who had just been given the American Randonneur Award for 2025.

Award Winner

Selfie time!

Then we were off, at 7AM, riding on the flat road and then a climb toward the SF terminus of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Now that I have been across the bridge by bike a few times, it does not terrify me as it did the first time. I could even enjoy the views a bit. 

We took what I now know is the "recommended" bike route down to Sausalito's waterfront, then north eventually onto a short climb through a forested park just east of Mill Valley. We descended back to the flatlands and passed Corte Madera, Larkspur, Ross, San Anselmo, then Fairfax (home to the Mountain Bike museum and what remains of counter-culture in this part of suburban Marin).  From Fairfax we climbed a bit over the "hump" and descended through San Geronimo and Lagunitas along the north edge of Samuel P Taylor state park, then one more smaller "hump" and down to Olema.

Sausalito waterfront

I remembered Olema from my late night ride in September. As I passed, having burned nearly all my matches, the Due West Tavern had pulsed with energy, a large group of girls dancing in unison to live music. I thought about going in to try and get a bite to eat sitting down ... but could not imagine disturbing the vibe, or that it was not a "sold out" event. 

From Olema we veered onto Bear Valley Road, which became Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, and headed up the west side of the Tomales Bay. Our checkpoint was at around 67km, a stop sign at Pierce Point Road ... up a nasty 100m elev climb. I could see the faster riders coming back down the road as I got within 15-20 minutes of the checkpoint. And after I turned around, I could see plenty of slower riders bringing up the rear. 

At the base of Tomales Bay, we made two left turns and were in Point Reyes Station. From here we headed up the east side of the bay. I remembered this as well from September, for a painful series of dips in the road -- short up and downs, not more than 10-15 meters each, but not easy with 1650kms in my legs. It was easier in the beautiful sun after only 80kms. There were plenty of other cyclists around, including a large women's team that was going fast in the opposite direction. 

A short climb just north of Point Reyes Station

Tomales Bay

Where the road left the edge of the bay and headed due North toward the town of Tomales, we had done 100kms in 4 hrs 32 mins.  Nice weather, no major headwinds, *only* 2464m of elevation -- this was shaping up to be a reasonably fast 200k, so far.

Our detour up and back on the west side of the bay meant the our Dillon Beach turn around was at around 110km. The climb from Tomales before Dillon Beach again felt nasty and steep. 

View at Dillon Beach turnaround point

After the steepest climb back out of Dillon Beach

At the turn around, I rested briefly, chatted with other rides, ate an energy bar, took photos, and headed in the opposite direction. 10 mins off the bike. I had seen some food options in Tomales and wanted to get back there rather than dawdle at Dillon Beach.  At Tomales I ordered a delicious take-out burrito, used the facilities, and continued on. 20 min off the bike.

I was slowing a bit but still made decent time to Point Reyes Station. As I approached the town, I felt something odd with my right pedal/crank. My foot was no longer at a right angle, perpendicular to the crank. In town, there was a small park with picnic benches and lots of weekend visitors resting.  There were some of the randonneurs, and many other cyclists too, including the women's team.  I inspected my pedal/crank, and saw a large crack across the entire crank arm, shown below. 

Hmmm. If I kept going, would I break the crank completely?  Was there any option other than continuing?

Anyway, I was not giving up! I had only 60km to go and lots of time to spare. 

I knew if I stood up and put my weight on the pedal, I was risking disaster. So I would remain seated the entire ride, and try to just rest my right foot on top of the pedal without pressure, the left food doing all the work. Fortunately, the "bump" after Olema was not as steep heading east as it had been going west, and to second, longer climb from Samuel P Taylor Park/Lagunitas up over the crest before descending to Fairfax, was only a 1-2% grade until the last few hundred meters, where it stepped up to 7-8%. 

I was going slower than normal, and stopped for an ice cream bar at a local convenience store in Larkspur. From there, I could almost coast the last 20kms, except the short climb between Ross and Mill Valley, and the final climb up to the Golden Gate Bridge.  

It was dark by now, the January day short, and it had been 11 hours and 10 minutes by the time I reached the goal.  In recent years my typical winter 200km brevet runs 10~11 hours, so this was not far off despite limping home the last 60kms. Of course, most riders did the event in 9~10 hours or a bit more.

At the north end of the bridge ... glad not to be sitting in traffic.

Just one more short downhill and done!

This was a beautiful brevet course, and one I would leap at the opportunity to ride again. On the other hand, I realized that, riding so much of the same route as I had that night the previous September, there probably were only a few alternatives if you want to travel between Dillon Beach/Tomales and the Golden Gate by bicycle without some significant detours. Next time I want to experiment with those detours, in the area around Mt. Tam.