Bart to Bart: Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail

Woke up this morning having just made it through a busy semester and I saw on the weather channel that the "area of organized moisture" was moving in fast.  Having not planned to do much of anything-aside from some stray Christmas shopping- I decided to cross another ride off the list; what better than a pleasant and simple ride along the Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail.  

The trail is pleasant and leaves one with an autumn in New England type feel.  Most of the straightaways look something like the picture below.  The trail winds through peaceful suburban neighborhoods and behind houses and through backyards.  At one point a toddler tumbled through the fence separating his yard from the trail.  He was wielding a lengthy stick and threatening to lodge it into  my front spoke.  It was a nice pre-winter scene.

Charming backyard view: creative birdhouse neighborhood.  No one seemed to be home at the time.  I suppose it was 1:30pm on a Tuesday.

The day ended at around 2:20 at the Lafeyette Bart station.  Having started at roughly 12:00pm this amounted to a 2ish hour leisurely ride.

Endurance: Marin Watershed

The ride began at noon.  Pine Mountain road pretty much the entire way.  Up and down and a lot of loose gravel.  I listened to late 70's love songs on Pandora the whole way, which made the ride go smoother.  However, my strength was tested on a number of occasions.  The ride was gorgeous though.  Since it was Monday there was almost not a sole in sight and I felt in awe of the fact that I was just a few minutes outside of a major city.  Panoramic views and a nice breeze kept me company throughout the adventure.

Bike assembles.  Disembark from car. 12:45pm

View from Pine Mountain.

After a frustrating ascent, the bike was thrown to the ground in anger.

A lovely meadow on the way out. Roughly 2:30pm

Finish with a very sore ass. 2:45pm.

A stop at a lovely cafe in Fairfax on the way home.  The caption to this photo reads: Men at Work.