Norcal Festive (The Plan)
Intro
This Christmas, a few friends and I are challenging ourselves to do the Festive 500, which involves riding 500km or more between Christmas Day and New Years Day. I actually did this challenge solo in Northern California when I was first getting into cycling back in 2020. Now in 2022, I’m coming back with friends with an ambitious list of routes and climbs to burn calories and kilometers and close out the holidays.
We’ll be hitting the major sights and also some of my hometown favorites. My hope is this list could serve anyone looking to dive deeper into cycling in Marin County.
With basically five days, we’re targeting 314 miles and 21k ft of climbing with different ways to adjust if needed.
I’ll be writing up another post to follow this one that with how this plan went, what I would change, and share all the content we capture along the way.
Coffee and Restaurants to Consider:
- Devil’s Teeth (OCEAN BEACH)
- La Hacienda (NOVATO)
- Comforts (SAN ANSELMO)
- Equator Prooflab (MILL VALLEY)
- Lagunitas Grocery & Deli (WOODACRE)
- Sol Food (SAN RAFAEL)
- Burma Superstar (MARINA)
- Tartine Bakery (SF)
- Breakfast Little (NOE)
- Half Day Cafe (KENTFIELD)
- Marvins (NOVATO)
💀 TOTALS 💀
| DAY | Route | Spots | Mileage (mi) | Elevation (ft) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 - 12/26 | BOXING DAY | Novato x Nicasio x Lucas Valley Rd. | 52.95 | 2,946 |
| 2 - 12/27 | BIG OPEN | Novato x Pt. Reyes x Sam P x Fairfax | 81.61 | 4,753 |
| 3 - 12/28 | NO CHILL PARADISE | Tiburon and Sausalito x Camino Alto x China Camp | 75.71 | 3,135 |
| 4 - 12/29 | KING TAM | Mt. Tam x Mill Valley | 48.02 | 6354 |
| 5 - 12/30 | HAWK EYES | Hawk Hill x Marin Headlands x Chrissy Fields | 29.14 | 2,267 |
| 6 - 12/31 | CITY TOUR | San Francisco x Golden Gate Park x Noe Valley | 26.77 | 1875 |
| TOTAL: | 314 MILES | 21,330 FEET |
Metrics x Totals
| mi | km | ft | m |
|---|---|---|---|
| 52.95 | 85.21 | 2946 | 898 |
| 81.61 | 131.34 | 4753 | 1449 |
| 75.71 | 121.84 | 3135 | 956 |
| 48.02 | 77.28 | 6354 | 1937 |
| 29.14 | 46.90 | 2267 | 691 |
| 26.77 | 43.08 | 1875 | 572 |
| TOTALS | |||
| 314.2 | 505.7 | 21330 | 6501 |
DECEMBER 26 – BOXING DAY
This is my go to loop while I’m home. It has some great punchy climbs to warm things up for all the climbing to come. There is a major descent into Nicasio (think 40mph+), and then you do a big climb up to the Big Rock (George Lucas’ Ranch) through a twisting redwood forest on Lucas Valley Rd. with a technical descent that will test your cornering skills to glide back into South Novato. To add some distance, it then loops up back into Bahia for a few more rollers and then a nice tour of the inner Novato neighborhoods.
🧠Mileage: 52.95 mi / 85.21 km
â›° Elevation: 2946 ft / 898 m
Route Link: https://www.strava.com/routes/3028721771444483978
DECEMBER 27 – THE BIG OPEN
With potentially the first full day with the squad together, this kicks things off right. This route starts from Novato and hits some of the best parts of yesterday’s ride for those who missed it, but then follows Tomales Bay through Marshall, Samuel P Taylor Park (more famous redwoods), Woodacre, a large climb up White Hill, and drops into Fairfax / San Anselmo / San Rafael which are all beautiful towns that have a lot of cycling focused spots. This ride mimics a Big Sur vibe minus the traffic and the more expansive ocean views, thats for Tam.
We can hit a coffee stop at Pt. Reyes Station roughly 30mi in: Bovine Bakery
For lunch depending how were feeling - there are amazing burritos/Sandwiches at Lagunitas Grocery & Deli roughly 10mi later, or the many options in Fairfax / San Anselmo including Half Day Cafe and Comfort’s
FYI: Comforts is one of my favorite restaurants/cafe’s in the entire world - it has the worlds greatest chinese chicken/tofu salad that I would have as my death row meal. I’ll likely push to bring us here at some point even if we don’t ride to it.
🧠Mileage: 81.61 mi / 131.34 km
â›° Elevation: 4753 ft / 1449 m
Route Link: https://www.strava.com/routes/3028726017861901322
DECEMBER 28 – NO CHILL PARADISE
~~I’m thinking the legs will be pretty beat up from yesterday, and we’re planning to ramp things up starting tomorrow. We’ll use today to spin out but still see some great stuff like one of the richest towns in the US and cruise by the water down in Sausalito and the Presidio Yacht Club down at the bottom of the Golden Gate Bridge. All the elevation comes from one climb called Camino Alto (it’s tame) ~~
So I thought this would be a chill recovery day hence the paragraph I originally wrote above, but not if we want to hit 500k. To add on the milage, we’ll actually start from Novato and make our way to the recovery ride locations, but in doing so we’ll have to climb through Marin. Sorry.
We can hit a local Marin coffee roaster (Equator) at their proof lab surf shop location.
🧠Mileage: 75.71 mi / 121.84 km
â›° Elevation: 3135 ft / 956 m
Route Link: https://www.strava.com/routes/3028734146736412680
DECEMBER 29 – KING TAM
Mt. Tam is the most prominent mountain in Marin. It’s a must do and something I’ve actually never done myself. The route is the Alpine Dam loop and one of the most popular ways of doing it. There also another famous route called the Col du Pantoll too. I mashed them up and now have us climb up Panoramic Hwy on the backside of Tam and then rip it back down to Stinson beach. This actually means we’ll climb Tam 2x which I’m not quite sure is the smartest thing but it sounds like a good challenge.
There’s plenty of places to celebrate the descent in Mill Valley/Larkspur or we can hit an amazing Puerto Rican place called Sol Food for Lunch on the way home in San Rafael. This will be some joint discovery for all of us and the hardest day of the trip.
🧠Mileage: 48.02 mi / 77.28 km
â›° Elevation: 6,354 ft / 1937 m
Route Link: https://www.strava.com/routes/3028747780895046664
DECEMBER 30 - HAWK EYES
Hawk Hill is the main gateway climb to the headlands. We can start this ride in Sausalito or in San Francisco from the Marina. We’ll climb our way out of there and then explore that area. There’s an amazing descent on the backside and some more good rolling climbs with scenic views the entire way. We’ll cross the Golden Gate Bridge no matter which location we start from (out and back if we start in Sausalito). A bit lighter distance, but still a lot of climbing because I feel like yesterday’s ride will warrant something a bit less intense (but still challenging).
🧠Mileage: 29.14 mi / 46.90 km
â›° Elevation: 2267 ft / 691 m
Route Link: https://www.strava.com/routes/3028751504016890890
DECEMBER 31 - CITY TOUR
This is the wrap up of all the rides. No more Marin and this ride will focus on operating in the city given its New Years Eve and proximity to the airport. The route starts and ends in Noe Valley at Tres place, but can be picked up from really anywhere along the way. It hits Lake Merced/Fort Funston, The Great Highway, Ocean Beach, The Cliff House, Lands End, Golden Gate Bridge, Presidio, Golden Gate Park (JFK), the Panhandle, and a finale with the Castro Hills. We’ll take this super easy and enjoy the likely foggy chill views and Golden Gate Park holiday crowds. Devil’s Teeth breakfast sandwich in Ocean Beach will be a must.
🧠Mileage: 26.77 mi / 43.08 km
â›° Elevation: 1875 ft / 572 m
Route Link: https://www.strava.com/routes/3028754376681757706