Saturday was not an easy ride.

Six of us (Mike P., Joshua, Travis, Courtney, Buck and I) suited up and hit the road early, Marshall Wall in our sights. The forecast called for partly sun and 70’s. What we got was gray and 50’s.

It was a brisk pace through Sausalito, up Camino Alto and out to Fairfax. White’s Grade was predictably painful, but the descent down the other side was blazing fast. We mixed it up with a few other riders on the rollers into Nicasio and I could definitely feel the lactate burn when we circled the wagons at the Cheese Factory.

Courtney and Buck turned for home, but we picked up a newcomer, Quintin, during the stop. Six became five and we continued on. From there, it was north and west to Marshall Wall, a treeless, wind-whipped bluff on the coast, before dropping down into the town of Marshall itself. No rest for the weary: we pushed right on through to Pt. Reyes, where we paused for a nice, long lunch.

From there, it was due-south to Stinson. Somewhere near mile 75, the handlebar mount that keeps my Garmin GPS attached to my bike decided to fail. The unit went skittering across the road. We paused so I could retreive it and I resolved to “write those people an angry letter!”

We pulled into Stinson and took a few deep breaths before tackling the day’s toughest climb – Panoramic. I don’t typically like to squeeze three-mile, 1,700-foot climbs into the last 20 miles of a 100-mile ride, but it was the best way over the ridge and back to the city. Mike and I paced each other up, but it was a long slog. At the top, I was seeing stars.

The sun peaked through the clouds for a few moments during our descent, but that didn’t last long… and then the wind settled in. Those last five miles out of Sausalito and over the Golden Gate Bridge would have been difficult on fresh legs and ours were anything but.

Fortunately, we made it – and with that, I logged my most difficult ride ever. 109 miles with 7,100 feet of climbing and 6,800 calories burned. Awesome.