Phil's Point Reyes Fatbike Adventure

The sand dunes at the end of Limantour Spit provided plenty of panoramic views.

For the Thanksgiving weekend my family headed just north of San Francisco to Point Reyes National Seashore to do some hiking, explore the beach, and of course eat plenty of turkey among kin. Knowing that Point Reyes has mile upon mile of trails and coastline, I took my Pugsley with me to put it through its paces on a long beach ride. On Thanksgiving Day, after stuffing myself with stuffing and taking my requisite nap, I started scouring maps of the area to find the longest stretch of uninterrupted beach to ride without any cliffs blocking the way. I mapped out a decent 20-or-so mile ride and planned to set out the next day during the afternoon low tide.

This coastal fire road follows the coast south for a few miles.

The next day turned out to be beautiful – 63 degrees and perfectly sunny with not a trace of wind. As much fun as fatbiking in the snow is, I was in no way jealous of riders in most of the rest of the country for at least this weekend. California coastal living, for all its stereotypes, can not be beat!

I started the ride on a fireroad that fronted the coast line. After a few miles I found a break in the sea cliffs where a path lead down to the sand. The trail was a little tricky and technical, but it spit me out right on the shore. I headed south toward some tidepools I spotted down at the next beach, and on the way there had to crank over the sharp, jutted rocks that separated the two beaches.

These sharp and jutted rocks were fun
 to climb with the traction the Pugsley provided.

My bike of choice was a first generation Surly Pugsley with original Large Marge rims, painted white to match the frame. I set it up much like a conventional mountain bike, with a long stem and flat bars without much backsweep.  This is my preferred setup to keep the ride speedy and the handling quick. My drivetrain consisted of a low-end derailleur, which is just a temporary stand-in until I eventually convert to a Rohloff SPEEDHUB. I also used a Schlumpf Innovations Mountain Drive crankset, which features a planetary gear system that allows you to switch between two main gears by tapping a button in the middle of the crankset with your heel. 

I have found the Schlumpf is ideal for fatbikes because of the inherent issues with chain clearance and huge tires. With my old triple crankset, it was not uncommon for the front derailleur and sometimes even the chain to rub on the rear tire. This was especially common when I was cranking hard up a hill in the lowest gear and the tire would flex and rub on the derailleur cage. I have been very pleased with my decision to eliminate the front derailleur entirely and still be able to hit a low gear to chug through messy conditions, thanks the Schlumpf drive.

The Schlumpf Mountain Drive allows you to switch gears by tapping
the silver button in the middle of the crankset with your heel.

After having some fun with traction by climbing up some very sharp rocky sections of beach, I headed north out of the tidepools and onto the smooth section of beach. Most of Point Reyes’ seashore has a long, glassy section of beach right where the tide comes in, and I had plenty of room to stretch my legs and pedal along the flat surface for the next ten-odd miles. My destination was Limantour Spit, where the beach ends and a cliff-lined inlet starts that leads to the federally protected Drakes Estero, which has one of the most diverse bird populations in the nation. The sand proved surprisingly fast that day, and I even stopped to put some more air pressure in my tires so I could roll faster on the hard-packed beach.

The hard packed sand allowed for some pretty fast riding.

After a few hours of rambling up the beach, I reached Limantour Spit. The spit is a pretty desolate piece of land that is too far out from the beach’s main parking lot for many beachgoers to hike to, so I had most of the place to myself, minus a few shorebirds and sea lions off in the distance. The Spit is where the beach curves around and turns into the Estero, so there is an area the size of a few football fields that is nothing but hard packed wet sand. Luckily it was low tide, so I pedaled throughout this whole area, exploring the waterfront and doing more than my fair share of skids on the sand. I even pedaled through some hub-deep water crossings to explore a big sandbar a few hundred feet out from the shore.

With the sun starting to set, I hiked up the nearly 300 foot high dunes just above this section of beach to see if I could “ski” down them by fishtailing the Pugsley all the way to the bottom. I trudged up the steep dunes and took a few minutes at the top to eat some food and take in the view. The scenery was unbelievably expansive and spectacular, and the white cliffs make it look like I was on the coast of England rather than Northern California. In fact, the British explorer Sir Francis Drake landed in Point Reyes in 1597 and proclaimed the area “New England,” in part because of the white cliffs.

These dunes span for about a mile,
providing plenty of fun slopes to ride down.

I took my time on top of the dunes enjoying the view, watching the sea lions off across the Estero and listening to the shore birds squalking. As the sun went down and the light started to wane, I successfully surfed down the dunes a few times, slowly making my way back in the direction I’d come. When the dunes began to peter out, I headed back down to the beach and sped toward the fire road, reaching the main road just as the sun set and the cold crept in.

All in all, it was without a doubt the most adventurous Thanksgiving I have ever had.

-Phil

We'd love to hear stories and see pictures of your Rohloff and Schlumpf equipped bikes in action! Send them to adventures@cyclemonkey.com