Bikes & Beans' Bike Shop New Location

Bikes & Beans, formerly located by the Seven Eleven near China Camp, has moved to a brand new and bigger location while still close to China Camp thus being very convenient to stop by before or after riding China Camp. In particular if you like coffee, bike talk with knowledgeable people, and good deals on bikes and parts.

Bike & Beans new location is:
292 North San Pedro Road
San Rafael, CA 94903-2857
415-507-1992.

Check them out!

I like stopping by to get my coffee fix since I am not drinking beer these days. The stores offers a cozy place to hang and yummy coffee and I keep hearing great reviews about the Commencal and Jamis bikes Justin (the owner) sells in his this store.

I also like the selection of cool hip bike clothing... I have gotten a pair of cool shorts that made me feel like a hot shot :-)

And the best of all, I like it that Justin kept decorating the shop with local artist work (some of his own work!). This mural is next to the bike mechanic shop area!

Check out my previous blog about Bikes & beans to get a better sense of what this bike shops brings to Marin county.

Upcoming Tour Treats Mountain Bike Enthusiasts to an Unforgettable Vacation in the Bay Area

Summary: For the ultimate bike adventure, ride the trails where the sport was founded and join Mountain Biking Marin on a guided tour of the area from May 27-31. This vacation includes airport pickup, transportation, deluxe accommodations, daily breakfast, daily light gourmet lunch for the rides and more in addition to the best daily bike rides around scenic Marin County and beyond.

(Marin County, CA) February 8, 2010 – Mountain bike enthusiasts around the country are invited to hit the trails in and around the birthplace of the sport for a four-day cross-country mountain bike tour of Marin County and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Mountain Biking Marin has organized an unforgettable tour taking place from May 27-31, combining daily bike rides with the exploration of popular local tourist attractions.

Founder and CEO of Mountain Biking Marin, Celia Graterol, warns this event is not intended for beginners. She states, "To enjoy this tour, riders should have an intermediate to advanced technical level and the ability to handle a moderate to strenuous climbing level."

Graterol and her team of fun experienced guides will expertly lead riders through the Redwood forests, lakes, rock gardens and rolling hills of trails through Marin County, Mt. Tamalpais, the Marin Headlands and West Marin. Bikers will enjoy panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay and the mountains of Marin.

After a tough day on the trails (lots of singletracks!!!), enjoy the optional excursions including world-class wine tasting in the Napa Valley and exploring the world famous streets of San Francisco.

This is an all-inclusive mountain biking adventure that includes airport pickup, deluxe accommodations, transportation, breakfast and lunch daily (dinner not provided) and the professional guiding services of 2006 Downhill US National Champion, Celia Graterol.

For this ultimate bike adventure, much care went into the choosing of the hotel. Guest are sure to enjoy their stay at the new remodeled Larkspur Hotel Mill Valley with a core focus on health, sustainability and getting people outside to connect with nature. Each morning of the tour, they’ll be serving healthy, sustainable breakfasts such as whole grains, healthy proteins and good carbs.

"We knew this was the right hotel to choose because they even provide bike parking," remarks Graterol.

This mountain biking adventure is limited to only 15 participants so anyone interested is strongly encouraged to register early. Early Bird Prices are in effect until April 15 with the cost of this inclusive mountain biking vacation at $1,150 per person ($1,350 if adding a bike rental). After April 15 the price will be $1,300 ($1,500 if bike is needed).

For more information, visit MountainBikingMarin.com

About Mountain Biking Marin
Owned and operated by 2006 Downhill US National Champion, Celia Graterol, Mountain Biking Marin offers fun, guided tours and clinics on the best mountain bike trails in the San Francisco Bay area. Celia’s experience and training give her the skills needed to lead and teach all levels of bike tours and clinics (cross country, freeride and downhill racing).

Contact: Celia Graterol
celiag@mountainbikingmarin.com
www.mountainbikingmarin.com
P 415-717-2263
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Mountain Biking in the Headlands, Marin County

I love to mountain bike in the Marin Headlands, especially during the fall season because it is usually sunny and warm. Also, in my opinion, the Headlands offer the most visually impressive views in the whole County. I went on an awesome ride in the headlands with Alan last week.

News: I have a new column on the MoreMarin blog which has a section in SFGate. You can read more about my Marin headlands ride here.

Special Mountain Bike Cross Country & Downhill Skill Clinic Event

Mountain Biking Marin Presents:
Special Cross Country (XC) & Downhill (DH) Skill Clinic Event
Saturday October 17th & Sunday October 18th
Event Powered by Mike's Bikes
Visit www.mountainbikingmarin.com more information!

Women's Downhill/Freeride Clinic - Fernie, Canada

Attention downhill, freeride and cross country women riders!!!!

There is an awesome week-long clinic at Fernie, Canada organized by Sacred Rides taught by women for women coming up the first week of August. This is a call to all intermediate and advance women riders that would like to improve their downhill/freeride skills including technical descend, dirt jumping, launching techniques, and elevated trails riding among other skills like teeter totters!!!! And your cross country skills will also improve! Downhill riding makes you a faster cross country rider!!!!

Shanti and Celia already signed up.

Friday July 31, 09 to Friday August 7, 2009. Click here for more information.

Let's get the Bay Area contingency together and have girl fun while improving our biking skills.
When you register be sure to tell them Celia referred you.

Bikes & Beans: more than a bike shop, more than a coffee shop

Are you looking for a cool place to hang out and meet other riders, drink coffee while talking about the ride you just did or are planning to do, talk about riding in general, purchase bikes and bike products? I suggest that you visit Bikes & Beans.

I think Justin’s words capture perfectly the spirit of Bikes & Beans: “It is not about what [bike] you ride, is about the experience of where you ride. It doesn’t matter how expensive or cheap your bike is, because what really matters is the experience of the ride.”

Founder and owner, Justin, born and raised in Marin County, a real Marinite! has been in the bike business for over 15 years. Besides a business owner he is a savvy and skillful bike mechanic. Justin raced cross country for two years in the Pro category and currently coaches the Terralinda High School XC Bike Team. As well, Justin is a very creative artist. You can check out some of his art pieces at the store in between bike stands and counters.

On April 2008, Justin opened up Bikes & Beans located on North San Pedro Road near China Camp State Park. Bikes & Beans is not just about buying bike stuff; it is also about spreading the culture of riding and sharing the experience before, during and after the ride.

Bikes & Beans, a life saver, a convenient place for a quick fix. Just 5 minutes away from China Camp State Park, Bikes & Beans is a perfect place to get those last minute things you forgot at home just before your ride: a spare tube to fix your flat, a water bottle, your helmet or gloves.

A great place to get bike staples, including nutrition bars, energy shots, helmets, bike shoes, pedals, tubes, tires, water bottles, cool clothing (cool Sombrio shorts, T-shirts, jerseys), body armors and gloves (661, Specialized), maps, backpacks, bike CD videos, bike books.

Bikes & Beans carries Commencal, Black Market, Surly and Salsa bikes. It supports local bike companies like WTB, Cliffbar, Mountain Biking Marin, and others. The coffee beans are from De La Paz Coffee, a local organic free trade company.

Services. Bikes & Beans offers full bike service including general bike overhauling, brake bleeds, fork and shocks rebuilding, wheel building, etc. You can also place customized bikes and bike parts orders and get your stuff with a guaranteed 2-day turn around.

Park, Rent & Bike. Bikes & Beans is an easy and convenient place to rent bikes. Because of its proximity to China Camp State Park, you can just park, rent & bike, you don’t even need to have a bike rack on your car. Bikes & Beans rents Trek and Marin hardtail, full suspension, and single speed bikes with flat or SPD compatible clip in pedals.

Green building. 90% of the materials used to build and decorate the store are recycled architectural materials. This picture shows a recycled log now used to hold handlebars:

The store has an industrial funky style enriched by art paintings and sculptures of local artists, including Justin’s own work! The first picture at the top you can admire a wall spray paint of Mt. Tam done by local artist John. And here are a couple of Justin's art pieces:

Bikes & Beans

292 N. San Pedro Road

San Rafael, CA 94903

415-507-1992

Thanksgiving Ride 2008 - The Spirit of Giving in Action!

This ride called the Appetite Seminar, Turkey or Thanksgiving Ride is a tradition that started in 1975 (click here for some history and click here for last year's ride story/pictures).

There are several popular social gatherings spots along the route of this ride, and I decided to document what happens on three of them:

1) At the start, by the Java Hut parking lot in Fairfax, Marin County. And the spirit of giving starts right here with Java Hut offering free coffee, bagels and cream cheese to the riders.

2) The second popular gathering spot is Horse Shoe Junction, where the spirit of giving is also in action!At Horse Shoe Junction, Josh (a great mechanic from Fairfax Cyclery) and Dave, offer pancakes, hot chocolate, and hot coffee to any rider wanting to taste their goodies. They start carrying their cooking equipment and ingredients days before using their bike trailer.
and the pancakes are quite yummy!!!! Kristy really liked them!
3) And this the third popular stop spot I would like to talk about, at the top of the hardest climb of this loop, by Green Hill where Danny, Jim, Shrek and others were giving out GUs and Tamarancho applications. Based on Danny's estimate, about 900 riders went by this year.

Here is Danny giving out GUs
Jim giving out GUs Shrek giving out GUs
And here are more celebrities I found along the route...
Tom who decided to bail due to the climbing and went home without partying.
Mike, who probably should have bailed too since he was sick like a dog... but he did the whole loop!

Julia was also out on her single speed
Marty sticking his tongue at the camera and missing Nancy
Mary Lynn visiting from Tahoe, I miss her!
Nick probably done with the worst climb



Randy and Barbara looking good after the climb

even my neighbor Nick was there with a friend!

Gravy all happy after eating pancakes at Horse Shoe Junction
Jeff also quite happy since the climb is over!
Kristy and John who I decided to join to start heading back to Fairfax
Charlie with a friend said hello to the camera
And this is me all covered up in many winter layers, the only way I can survive for more than 5 minutes in the cold.

And when I though I was done with pictures I found Ricardo at the Java Hut parking lot putting his' and his girlfriend's bikes on his motorcycle rack! A home made bike rack with old Wilderness Trail Bikes Ti hardtail frames.
The End! Until Next Year!

My Second Weekend Riding in Laguna Beach

Some weeks ago, I got in touch with my Southern Californian friend, Geof, to let him know I was going to a wedding (my friends Tracy and Eric) and a lovely and yummy pre-Thanksgiving Dinner with Sally's family. In between events, I wanted to do some downhill and technical cross country riding. And last weekend I had two perfect days doing so!.

On Saturday, we did the "downhill thing". From left to ride: Celia, Daniel, Rob, Bill, Geof and Brian. These are the name of the riders and you will have to believe me since it is a little hard to recognize anybody with those sexy full head helmets!

As I said before, we did the "downhill thing", meaning the car shuttling coordination thing with all of our vehicles. Look at these hot bikes on the hot truck:We were shuttling to descend on the Telonics (awesome DH trail, click here if you want to see pictures and descriptions). But back to the "downhill thing", it takes some brains to efficiently implement it, it could be challenging to design the car shutles order so you get as many downhill runs as possible with the least amount of driving. And Geof was seriously thinking all the time how the next shuttle was going to be!

Here are some action pictures I took on the Telonics.

This is Geof

This is Brian

And this is Rob On Sunday, we did a technical cross country ride that included steep fire road climbing and sweet downhill technical singletracks: T&A, Old Emerald, Rattle Snake, Nothing Better to Do (heritage trail), Marie Calender's (heritage trail), and Lizzards (heritage trail).

Here are the cross country riders: Brian, Natalie, Dave K., Rob, Geof and Daniel (from left to right).
Here is Geof showing some class going down on T&A
Here we are in one of the rest stops

I am glad I didn't crash on one of these cactus!

It would have been painful!!!!!

And here is a picture of the Telonics and the Laguna Beach Canyon (You can click on the picture for a bigger format):

And this is me with my dorky biker look after the ride....

To read about my first time riding around Laguna Beach Canyon, click here, read about and see pictures about a DH trail called Telonics.