Mt. Tam Reconnaissance

So our friend Jim called us up and asked if we would pre-ride the Mt. Tam Hillclimb course with him, since he had never done it before and Devon and I are such awesome climbers. Ha. But we do know the course and that was the important thing. For those of you who know those roads: we started in Fairfax, rode Bolinas Fairfax Rd. to the dam and up to the ridge then down to the coast, turned along Highway 1 to Stinson, where the race actually starts, then turned around and did the course (back along 1, up Bolinas Fairfax, then right on Ridgecrest along the 7 sisters), then we turned around at the end and rode back on ridgecrest to Bolinas Fairfax Rd., past the dam again, back to Fairfax. It was about 6,000 ft of climbing which for a couple of crit racers is pretty daunting. I forgot what the mileage was but it actually wasn't that high.

Here we are at the dam:

Here I am with Jim in tow heading down to Highway 1, making a face because the weather is suddenly not so beautiful:

See? Ew:

But by the time we left the coast the weather cleared and moods improved:

"So my plan is to attack on the 1st sister and take it from there...":

"It is so good to be back in California!":

"Look at me, I am a climber!":

Me: Please can we go back through Mill Valley? Then we will only have to climb for like 5 more minutes this whole ride?
Devon: No! We are taking the scenic route!
Me: Hmph. I am not talking to you.
Devon: Hmph.

To the conversation above, Jim was like "Can you guys, like, stand next to each other for the photo?" So we did and then I decided to stop being a brat: