A few days before the start our RBA (Regional Brevet Administrator) Rob H., told me we had 20 registered riders for the event. That was twice as many as the previous year. By June 14 we had 27 registered riders but after last minute changes to people's plans and new additions to the roster we had 25 starters.

At 5:30 I meet Brad our Start Control volunteer at the parking lot in front of the Beach Hut Cafe in Crissy Field and slowly riders made their way to us to pick up their Brevet Cards. After a few comments on my part we left at 6:00am.

Perfect weather. With such a large turnout, for this event, we split early into smaller groups and by the first descend into the Marin Headlands I was riding with John P. and a few riders I did not recognized. The first dirt part which is a narrow trail created a small congestion as faster off road descenders were blocked by slower riders new to mixed terrain group riding but after a few yards, things cleared out an we all felt onto our comfortable pace. Going up Miwok trail I heard heavy breathing behind me, when I turned around I saw Grant H. who was doing his first La Ruta and remind him this was a looong day with plenty of climbing, "take it easy and steady"

By the time we got to the first control our small group checked the answer to the Informational control and rolled down towards the valley. This segment has plenty of erosion control washboards that form steps on the trail and make it for very interesting riding. At the bottom, we all walked our bikes for a few yards as indicated by the sign at Tennessee Valley Stables and continued on to Coastal Trail, a mean short climb that further broke the group...

After receiving input from many San Francisco Randonneurs riders it was clear to me many felt intimidated by the amount of climbing and general difficulty of La Ruta Loca Randonnee and other Mixed Terrain Brevets in the SFR calendar. Most comments were along the lines "I would love to do it but i think it is too hard" or "I don't have a bike for that" my response has always been "you won't know until you try it, I bet you would have a great time and if you feel it is too much, there are plenty of places to bail out"

I threw the idea of a Mixed Terrain Populaire and got, as usual, mixed reactions. However Ms Populaire Tsarina herself Kimber G. was very interested on the idea. I decided I would first create a route and offer it as a Permanent and then if that worked submit it as a SFR 100k Populaire.

I started working on a more mellow, less climbing, shorter Mixed Terrain route for the basis of the Permanent and after a couple of days I had a draft. El Paseito Mixto was born. 103km, about 5300ft of elevation and approximately 20% of the total distance are fire roads. I rode most of the route by myself on a Saturday and a few weeks later Invited some riders to come along, they liked it. Submitted my route to RUSA and it was approved right away.

A month or more went by and finally I had the time to test the route. This time it was only Jesse M. and I. We rode at a conservative pace and even did a 20 minute stop for food in Tiburon. We finish in 6:07 hrs

As with La Ruta Loca I try to take riders to places not visited by the other SFR brevets. The Populaire version of El Paseito Mixto will be exactly the same route, the only difference is...

After many years La Ruta Loca Randonee was finally part of the San Francisco Randonneurs schedule. The night before the event 16 riders were signed in. JimG was going to help a hand starting at 5:30am with checking in riders.

I had been trying to go to bed early all this week in order to get used to sleep early wake up early. By 9pm on Friday I was in bed and when I woke up next morning at 4:30am I felt very rested. I also try not to drink wine during the week except on Thursday I have a few glasses of Nigori Sake. Anyhow Saturday morning I felt fine before the brevet, a rare thing lately.

Ever since 2011 when I ran a marathon per month (never completed all writeups) starting from my garage and headed to the Marin Headlands my cycling has been noticeably affected by the lack of depth..

The first pre-rides I had organized this year to help familiarize riders with most sections of La Ruta Loca Randonnee had been very well attended, but the later ones, where we started touching the Bolinas Ridge, saw a drop in attendance; this was not a surprise. The terrain and distance start deserving a more serious adjective to describe them.

There were a few confirmations and at 5:45am on July 21st, 2012 just John P. and Bryan C. where there. Soon after Andrea S. and Henry showed up but just to let me know they were planing on riding off the back and we should not wait for them to start. I gave them their brevet cards and they went on to park the car. Brian K. showed up within minutes so we left pretty much on time at 6:00am. We never saw Andrea and Henry again, but the next day they let me know they had ridden the route to Bolinas Ridge and then bailed near Randall Trail.

Near the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge we picked up another rider new to this whole route, Larry S. but soon after he disappeared at the toilets at Conzelman and Coastal trail. Next day I learned from him he did get lost and cut the ride short at the Pantoll Ranger Station.

Brian K, Brian C., and I rode up together most of the way to Pantoll. John P. was always a few minutes behind. We were doing good time but the temperature was rising and I started to worry about having cramps later...

So I had decided to cancel the original July 3rd date for La Ruta Loca Randonnee 200k mixed terrain as most riders (including me) had expressed concern they where not ready for it. Yes this is a ride you need to be commited to in order to even start. This year has been a hard one for me and deciding to embark on a big ride required a lot of determinacion, something I felt was lacking from most riders at the beginning of the summer. My goal with this ride has always been to provide a fun and challenging ride to all, one that most of us want to finish, not a ride that is a drag. La Ruta Local Randonnee must be fun to do.

After a hard summer that did not see much long or difficult rides, I started thinking it was time to get this thing going again. After a few emails sent to the San Francisco Randonneurs most riders agreed the first week of October was the best time to do it. Many loved the idea and were almost sure they were gonna do the ride, October 3rd was the final date.

At 6 am, as usual, we meet at the Marina Safeway in San Francisco, only Brian C. had confirmed the night before, he was there with Ricardo M whom I had met/ridden with during...