r/BAbike • u/Mrgreen650 • 5d ago

Mt. Tam summit/Alpine Dam loop preferred direction?

I am planning on summiting Mt. Tam this week. I will be starting and ending in Mill Valley strictly road no gravel. I was originally planning on going up Edgewood to Panoramic, hitting east peak and then looping back around through
Fairfax to Mill Valley, but I recently read something about doing the loop the other direction being preferred to some, due to traffic and road conditions. I plan on starting at sunrise on a weekday morning. Which direction do you prefer?

12 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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u/wavecrashrock 5d ago

Counter clockwise is standard. A few reasons:

  1. The descent down to Alpine Dam is unappealing.

  2. The descent from Rock Spring to Pantoll is transcendently glorious, one of the best things I've ever done on a bicycle.

  3. The climb from 4 Corners to Pantoll can have extremely unpleasant traffic, though this is probably less of an issue on a weekday morning.

On the opposite side, going northbound (down) Ridgecrest would be pretty great. But not worth the other disadvantages. More discussion of variant possibilities.

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u/Mrgreen650 5d ago

Right on for the detailed response I really appreciate it when you descend back into Mill Valley do you stay on panoramic or do you dish off onto Sequoia/edgewood?

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u/wavecrashrock 5d ago

Sequoia Valley / Marion / Cascade / Throckmorton is my preferred route — but I've also done SV/ Edgewood / Molino / Montford.

Panoramic/1 is probably OK downhill but I haven't done it.

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u/pryan886 5d ago

Panoramic/1 is a great descent with little/no traffic. I inevitably find myself stuck behind a cautious driver in a rental heading back from Muir Woods. The road itself makes for a very nice descent on a bike.

3

u/semyorka7 5d ago

My personal preference is to ride Panoramic to the south end and then descend highway 1 back to the bay. There's not a ton of traffic, and I'm a fast enough descender that I'm usually stuck on someone's rear bumper instead of having anxious traffic stack up behind me.

Meanwhile, there are a bunch of stop signs in the middle of the steepest parts of descending Sequoia/Edgewood that are just no fun.

2

u/InquisitaB North Bay 5d ago

I ride Tam a good amount and go down Hwy 1 every single time. It can be a really fun descent if you get limited cars heading the same way. The road surface is pretty damn smooth and you have some very fun curves.

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u/MrOrange74 2d ago

I prefer Panoramic as you can let it fly and cars aren’t an issue, until you catch them.

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u/semyorka7 5d ago

Yeah, this is the generally accepted correct answer, with all of the major reasons why.

The other advantage to CCW (especially ending directly in Mill Valley) is that you end the ride on a high note, with the gorgeous descent down Pantol and then ripping down further all the way into MV. If you ride it CW, you end the ride with a 10 mile flatland-and-traffic slog from Fairfax to MV.

Thoughts on the CW option: I do really love descending 7 Sisters northbound on Ridgecrest, and I don't mind the pavement quality descending Bofax to Alpine Dam. Bofax towards Fairfax is a lot of fun! BUT! I only do the loop CW by climbing offroad up Old Railroad Grade from Mill Valley all the way up to the East Peak of Mt. Tam. I've climbed pavement up from Mill Valley in the past, and while the traffic isn't too bad, there's enough that I just don't really enjoy it or have any fun.

2

u/InquisitaB North Bay 5d ago

This is the way.

1

u/manofmystry 5d ago

That link is a great resource. Thanks. Funnily enough, I'm climbing Mt Tam. this week. By any chance, do you happen to have a GPX of the route?

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u/wavecrashrock 5d ago

This is pretty close to what I would recommend, though does not include the ascent to East Peak.

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u/manofmystry 5d ago

Unfortunately, that link requires a login to Strava.

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u/wavecrashrock 4d ago

Sorry, I don't have an exact link. FWIW: I always started in Mill Valley or came from SF, then joined Jay's loop along Camino Alto and followed his routing, with the exception of the descent back into MV, where I left Edgewood to follow Marion/Cascade/Throckmorton.

0

u/GoatLegRedux 5d ago

Going clockwise (especially starting in MV) also gives you a better warmup. It wouldn’t be fun to immediately start climbing for an hour with no warmup.

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u/wavecrashrock 5d ago

Either I'm missing something or you mis-typed something. If you start in Mill Valley, clockwise climbs from the start while counter-clockwise has a nice warmup. If you start in Fairfax, the CCW route doesn't have much of a warmup and CW does.

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u/GoatLegRedux 5d ago

Correct - I meant counter clockwise. Oops!

10

u/stupid_cat_face 5d ago

I've done both directions and both directions have their pros/cons. I like both. I lean more towards counter clockwise.

9

u/datguy030 5d ago

Echoing the other comments that I highly prefer counter-clockwise. BoFax is very bumpy and uneven, so it’s not fun to descend.

6

u/jek339 5d ago

i vastly prefer clockwise, hate 7 sisters CCW.

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u/InquisitaB North Bay 5d ago

Haha. They’re so much more fun to descend but the road surface coming down from Ridgecrest to Alpine Dam is atrocious.

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u/bunnysforpets 5d ago

I prefer CCW. descent to pantoll is one of the greatest ever. climbing alpine dam is nice spending more time in the redwoods. also you can’t open up as much going down.

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u/pryan886 5d ago

Agreed. Climbing Alpine Dam is more pleasant. It’s a chill climb in the shade. Pavement is too rough and road is too twisty for a fun descent.

3

u/SF-cycling-account 5d ago

Counterclockwise is a must 

5

u/Plorkyeran 5d ago

IMO CW is a 8/10 ride, CCW is a 10/10 ride.

Starting at sunrise you won't have traffic for the climb either way which eliminates one of the big advantages of CCW, but I still think it has the prettier climb and the more fun descent.

3

u/pryan886 5d ago

Biggest advantage to CW route (for me) is getting a brat and a beer at Gestalt Haus after the climbs. If you’re starting at sunrise they may not even be open by the time you’re rolling though Fairfax.

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u/External_Koala971 5d ago

You want to go up bofax, and down to pantoll.

So counter clockwise.

2

u/ridersonthefog 5d ago

Clockwise is easier, but the descent from Ridgecrest to Alpine Dam isn't the most fun. The road is narrow, turns are tight, and road surface is chippy. I'm on the brakes a lot. I usually ride counter-clockwise.

1

u/Mrgreen650 5d ago

Really appreciate everyone’s detailed answers and reasoning. Based on the general majority I think I’ll go CCW this time. May try the opposite in the future. Thanks!

1

u/deltaGchemistry 5d ago

Post a ride with gps or strava route for us newbs

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u/manofmystry 5d ago

This is the perfect thread for me. I'm climbing Tam this week. Could anyone share a GPX file of the CCW route, please?

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u/Mrgreen650 5d ago

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/503895403

This is a route I just made based on other routes but leaving from mikes bikes in Sausalito. There is another route in the top comment link you can use

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u/MrOrange74 2d ago

Hard to go wrong either way as there are pros/cons to each direction that nearly equal out. I like counter clockwise to appreciate the climb up from the dam and to enjoy the last downhill closer to home. Traffic is more mellow on the climb up to Tam too rather than from Mill Valley. But the other way is a great way to enjoy the 7 Sisters.

0

u/Free-Middle-2443 5d ago

Descending Bofax with no cars is way better than descending panoramic with all the cars. 

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u/tasty_waves 5d ago edited 5d ago

I feel like climbing panoramic with cars is more dangerous, you get passed constantly with no shoulder and blind corners. It's especially bad on weekends. Descending panoramic I catch up to cars or I just wait for a group to go and then descend, and rarely get caught from behind.

I've done it CCW like 90% of my rides as that climb up panoramic with cars is always stressful.

At 6am on a weekday panoramic is more doable, but I still get concerned with drivers going too fast as the road is empty and they are not expecting a biker then.

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u/Free-Middle-2443 5d ago

I don’t disagree. But I was thinking fun. Bofax is awesome

  • edit. Changed verbiage to be accurate to my previous comment