Date with Mt Tam...

Getting excited now...

Hi CK and TS,

I have all day Tuesday 19th (week after next) set aside for retro-riding and socialising - although I'm staying near Union Square in SF, I have a hire car and hope to be able to get to the Fairfax area by mid-morning to meet up with any and everyone that can come out during the day or meet after work for a beer!

If I can borrow a bike it will save me time finding a hire shop - would love to try a klunker too!

More anon!

Neil (Mr K)

Re: Getting excited now...

mrkawasaki":203ip002 said:

Hi CK and TS,

I have all day Tuesday 19th (week after next) set aside for retro-riding and socialising - although I'm staying near Union Square in SF, I have a hire car and hope to be able to get to the Fairfax area by mid-morning to meet up with any and everyone that can come out during the day or meet after work for a beer!

Click to expand...

Tuesday is the 18th, not the 19th.

Get your beer in Fairfax at the Iron Spring Brewery. A wide selection of local ale and beer. I think they still sell Repack Ale.

Check out The Scoop for handmade ice cream in cones they make in front of you.

I rode through Fairfax this morning, and the overwhelming majority of people I saw on the streets were wearing bike jerseys. That doesn't include those riding bikes but more casually dressed.

Fairfax is the bike capital of the West Coast, and on the weekend you can usually see a dozen riders from any point in the downtown area at any time of day. Mountain bikers come there to start their rides from the parking lot next to the coffee kiosk, and it is a convenient distance from San Francisco for a turn around on a road ride.

I will be there on the 18th, hopefully E-Rumfy can make it but if not I know how to get ahold of Alan. I have most of the week free and hoping to hit the film fest in SF for the klunkerz showing.

email me when you can I will send you my contact info ericb@lilien.com

Shadow,

Say you have one day to take a guy on a ride out of Fairfax. Where do you go? I won't be there, so someone else will get to make that decision.

The two places I would want to show a tourist are Repack for the awesome descent and a sense of why this was the ideal place to learn about downhill, and Tamarancho for the killer singletrack. Hitting both those places in the same day is a pretty ambitious ride, so you might only get to do one.

Whichever route you choose, you should go up on the Underpass trail from White Hill School.

Wow, there are a lot of people in the bay area around september! I'll be there from Sept 29 - Oct 10.

I definitely need to rent a bike and go riding!

Countdown...

-6 days and counting...

Mr K

"Use the Force of Gravity, Luke!"

Went up to Repack the other day to see what condition it is in (excellent), and I was thinking of Neil while I'm riding down. No way (I was thinking) do I want to do this any more on antique equipment.

And just as I got to the bottom, I smoked my newfangled, Juicy Seven hydraulic disc brake.

Some things never change.

Alan Bonds has a gimpy knee that may keep him from going on a ride with you, but my friend Pat is unemployed, which is why he rides six days a week and kicks my ass on the one day I get to ride. Gary Fisher just showed up from wherever in the world they send him (Portugal this time) and said he'll show you some cool old bikes (Ritchey #1) and go on a ride if he has the time.

This should rate at least two pages in your diary.

Mr K - all your christmases are rolling into one...

Bump.

Neil's in da house!

Got a call from him, and in order to return it I had to make an international call even though he's maybe ten miles away. He was boarding the ferry for Alcatraz, although if you want my opinion, the time would have been better spent on local singletrack, which is cheaper too.

Left my bike with a friend, who has instructions to take him on a good local ride, including Repack if he wants to do the work it takes to get there.