The Alpine Dam Loop last weekend is my favorite ride in California to date– I highly recommend it. It was scenic enough to make me swear out loud in amazement on several occasions (a crystal clear day with views of SF and the Farallones didn’t hurt).
It was also a moderately challenging 65 miles door to door, with a fair amount of climbing (about 4500’ ascent total) and fast twisty downhills. Here’s a route map based on CC’s GPS track.
The six of us stopped for some beer and food at the Iron Springs Brewpub in Fairfax to cap it off (and then rode 20 mostly-flat miles back to SF, though the hill between Sausalito and the Golden Gate Bridge is never fun to do at the end of a long ride).
I’ll probably do this again later in the summer.
The 20-ish mile loop from bay to breakers the next day was a little more tiring than usual. But Trouble Coffee continues to have some of the best espresso I’ve had in SF.