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Muir Woods

Two brothers & a 50 km bike ride

By Michael Flarup

August 20^th, 2015

A series of events transpired to take me across The Atlantic once again. There was this conference I really wanted to attend and my brother had just moved from Copenhagen to California for work. I was also invited to visit Adobe headquarters and had a handful of other meetings and meetups arranged. It was perfect; I could crash at his place, attend the conference and meet all the people I needed to meet and be back in a week. It left us with a couple of late nights and a weekend of brother-time and we decided it would be great to ride up to Muir Woods just north of San Francisco. I mean– how far could that be, right?

In'n'out, Up'n'down.

We killed a hangover at In‘N‘Out and I rented a bike. My brother had brought his sleek self-built purple Peugeot all the way from Copenhagen and I got up on a tourist-red mountainbike beast and on we went. After a 25 km (mostly uphill) ride, we sloped into the valley that holds the Muir Woods National Monument. Exasperation gave way to sheer excitement as we freewheeled down the curvy mountain roads through a thick blanket of cooling fog– until it hit us; This was the only way in! We would have to bike our way back up the same mountain we had just conquered.

Choosing the mountain bike was not ideal and at more than one point i sorely missed my skinny silver Fuji Classic back in Copenhagen.

The national park itself was modest in size but gorgeous. Huge redwoods and a lush undergrowth hid curling streams and dried out riverbeds. Everywhere the sun was fighting to break through the canopy and it made each opening look like a theater of light.

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Advice

Cycling to Muir Woods from San Francisco is absolutely doable but I’m not gonna lie; it’s a long ride. Particularly the last couple of kilometers up, then down (then up and down again) of Mount Tamalpais will require stamina and a proper lightweight road-bike. Go early in the morning as you’ll have more time in the woods without the fear of not making it back before nightfall.