Some time ago I discovered Retro Bike forum after looking into retro mountain bikes. Around about the same time I managed to catch Rob Penn's Ride of My Life programme on BBC1. During the programme Rob Penn visits Fairfax and rides down the Repack. I had previously read about the Repack and the birth of mountain biking, at that time the Repack was added to my must do list in my head filled away for sometime when it would be possible for me to ride this iconic trail.
After watching Ride of My Life I was once again very keen to ride Repack. Its amazing how synchronicity in life sometimes steers us or puts us in positions to realise our dreams, see my girlfriend and I were already discussing a possible trip to America, I wanted to drive the entire lengh of route 66 but understandably two weeks in a car with me was not my girlfriend's ideal holiday so a compromise was made. I could do part of route 66 as long as Clare got to see San Francisco. Admittedly and naively so I had never really wanted to go to San Francisco but it was near enough to Fairfax, not only could I realise part of my route 66 dream but I could also ride the Repack. This holiday would tick a must do box's....
I posted a thread on on Retro Bike asking for details of the route. http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=133464&start=15
Luckily for me I got speaking to Pat Reddix aka Fairfax Pat. Pat offered to meet up with me when I arrived in Fairfax and said we could ride the Repack together. Initially I was planning on riding the Repack on my last day in San Francisco but luckily Clare suggested we extend our stay in San Francisco by a day so that I would not have to rush around.The only thing was we couldn't get another night at the same hotel so I would be leaving Clare to move our suitcases all on her own to another hotel while I was off having fun.
How to get to Fairfax? Pat had kindly sent me some bus route instructions and I had also received a response from the help full guys at the Golden Gate bus company. The only thing is 99% of the people I asked in San Francisco about getting to Fairfax had never actually heard of Fairfax, considering its only about 20 miles away my concerns grew about whether or not I would actually make the meet up, after asking around for two days I still couldn't find the bus stop! To add to my worries the day I planned to travel to Fairax was the annual Bay to Breakers Race, this is a bit like the London Marathon with regard to crowds, road closures etc.
Finally I found someone who knew where Fairfax was as he travelled by bus from the area to work at the hotel I was staying in, the only problem was I wasn't going to get to meet him until 7:00am the day I was due to meet Pat between 10 - 11am At dead on 7:00 I went for a small breakfast which I eat in about 3 minutes and then went to look for John the bell boy. As with many things John was nothing like I had imagined but he did know where the bus stop was so I asked him to arrange a cab for me as it was about a mile away and I didn't want to get lost. The bus stops in San Francisco are very very easy to miss trust me!
Although lots of things had gone right regarding this trip it did feel as though the universe was now trying to put a block on my dream bike ride. After the difficulty of finding the bus stop and the surprise of the annual race it was also raining. Not that much but it was raining and the forecast mentioned more rain.
After the cab dropped me off I boarded the number 70 bus and asked the driver to let me know when I had to change, same on the next bus and then onto the third and final bus which terminated in Fairfax. With a big smile on my face I asked the bus drive which way I had to walk to the bike shop to pick up my hire bike. The other two bus drivers had been really friendly so it was no surprise when this one pulled out his Iphone input the name of the bike shop then showed me where we were on the map and where I had to walk. Ten out of ten to all the bus drivers very very nice people.
I walked into the bike shop knowing that nothing would prevent me from riding Repack and meeting up with Pat and Charlie. Unfortunately Pat had told me he would not be riding with me as he was recovering from a broken arm but had arranged for Charlie Kelly to show me this famous mountain biking route. "Hi guys I'm Jamie and I am picking up a rental bike" I was quickly greeted with a bit of a harsh "not today I'm afraid its wet out there and we don't hire bikes in the wet as they get to dirty" I felt like I had been kicked in the nuts, seriously! I explained that I had flown all the way from England had been speaking to Martin (wasn't working Sunday) about the bike hire, got three buses etc etc and please please please could I have a bike? Another guy that I spoke to said lets see what we can do about getting you out.
After a few formalities I walked out of the changing room and was met by Pat, I was so glad to meet Pat, we had spoken a couple of times over PM on Retro Bike and were finally talking face to face in a bike shop in Fairfax, this was really happening. Within minutes I also had hold of a Turner Sultan. Now your have to excuse me I obviously don't get out much but I had never heard of a Turner let alone a Turner Sultan when I had arranged the hire bike over email but a quick Google search showed this was a expensive bike so therefore I hoped a good one and boy did it look good. It was also a lot lighter than my bike.
Pat walked me across the road and introduced me to Charlie Kelly, Sara McCullough and Jacquie Phelan. I sometimes find it difficult to make conversation with new people that I meet but felt that we all got on really well.
Hopefully Charlie can detail the route we took to reach the Repack, my memory is pretty bad at the best of times and with the amount of info its processed over the last couple of weeks I can only remember the School and of course the Repack. Luckily for us when we set off there was a big cloud but the rain never came. Well not on us any way. Riding through the streets of Fairfax on our way to the off road stuff I felt like I was in the film ET. This was my second time riding in America the first being the day before when I rode across the Golden Gate Bridge with Clare.
As we reached the trail I knew the Turner was going to be good but I still had to get use to the handling, this was my first outing ever on a full suspension bike and to add to the differences compared to my normal bike the brakes are around the wrong way on US bikes, I have read about people in a situation naturally going for the back break only to go flying over the handlebars as this is actually the front brake in America. I planned the bridge ride the day before to help me get use to this and also decided I would keep my right hand on the back brake so this would be my first grab should I need to. My left hand would have to move from the bars to the brake giving me enough time to think about what I was doing. Any way I had planned to take it very easy as I had almost another two week holiday ahead so any injuries were not on the agenda.
The trail up was mixed with hard packed dirt sections and some technical rocky sections. One of the things I enjoyed the most about the climb up was the history of the trail. Charlie explained that part of the way up use to be an old rail road track, explained that the old Ford cars had to reverse up part of the road we climbed past as the gravity feed fuel tanks never worked if they tried to go up the correct way due to the incline. The geology of the trail and surrounding area was also explained as well as the local plant life, both native and non native.
I must admit that normally when I go riding I just pass over and by the scenery without knowing what I am missing, if I see something out of the ordinary I will stop and look and I have previously Googled things to find more info but in future I am going to do this a lot more often. It certainly does make for a more interesting ride.
I explained to Charlie, Jacquie and Sara for me to get to a similar trail in the UK from Kent I likely have to go to Wales which is about 4 to 4.5 hours away. The South Downs is a lot closer but the scenery and track is to different. These guys are really really lucky to live in such a wonderful area. As Charlie said the guys who invented surfing lived by the sea the guys who invented mountain biking lived in Fairfax.
A few photo stops later one of which I had to be checked for ticks eeerr
and we were ready to ride down hill. After a fantastic journey up Charlie mentioned that he was going to ride the Repack at his normal speed which I said was fine. I was also told a story of someone who had tried to break the record on their first attempt and crashed. I took this as a gentle warning that this trail does still bite people. My plan to take things easy had not changed so I said to Charlie that I would see him at the bottom. I then turned to Jacquie and Sara and said to them to go before me. I would follow them down.
As I set off the adrenaline began to flow. Very quickly though I noticed Jacquie and Sara had stopped to get some pics, Jacquie mentioned for me to go ahead and that there was no need to wait for them. I felt a bit nervous about this as I didn't want to hold them up with me taking things easy.
As I set off again I looked over my should to see Jacquie following behind. Continuing on I managed to get the wheels into a bit of a rut, had a moment but managed to keep the Turner performing how it was designed to all be it a bit slower. All to soon Charlie came into view at the bottom of the trail talking to another biker. My hands were aching as I think I had been on the brakes a lot on the way down. Charlie had clearly been at the bottom a while, I felt lots of excitement as I dismounted the bike and said to Charlie how great the Repack is. I then went over to await Sara and Jacquie with the camera. The pics of them coming down the Repack didn't come out that well but they are posted here any way so you can see part of the trail. I do wish I had taken more pics.
Back in Fairfax I handed the bike back to the shop and headed to the local pub. We drunk some local beer with a quick snack, Pat joined us to hear what I thought and we all chatted for a while. I would loved to have stayed longer but I thought it was about time I made the journey back as I needed to get to the new hotel that I had left Clare to move into. I knew she would be fine but guess its natural to worry about her a bit.
I had such a great day that I will never forget, Jacquie managed to get me a lift to the bus station meaning that I would only need to get one bus back over the bridge instead of three, thank you.
I really want to say a big thank you to all you guys for taking the time to meet up with me and show me the trail I wanted to ride and welcoming me to Fairfax. Believe it or not I will be back in the next few years and next time I will make sure I can stay a bit longer for a few more beers.
I hope you like the photos, I really though that I had took more and regrettably I didn't get one with Pat. By the time Pat got to the bar I think the local brew was already effecting my head.
Although in theory I can tick the done box on my Repack dream as done there are now a few more that I need to add to the list:
Go Back and meet Pat, Charlie, Jacqui and Sara again.
Ride the Repack faster and tighter than before.
Buy a Turner Sultan.
Thanks guys, the memories of this ride will live with me forever.
Jamie
Picture 1179 by Jamie Belcher, on Flickr
Picture 1182 by Jamie Belcher, on Flickr
Picture 1181 by Jamie Belcher, on Flickr
Picture 1184 by Jamie Belcher, on Flickr
Picture 1177 by Jamie Belcher, on Flickr
There are some more pics on Flickr feel free to follow the links through.
After watching Ride of My Life I was once again very keen to ride Repack. Its amazing how synchronicity in life sometimes steers us or puts us in positions to realise our dreams, see my girlfriend and I were already discussing a possible trip to America, I wanted to drive the entire lengh of route 66 but understandably two weeks in a car with me was not my girlfriend's ideal holiday so a compromise was made. I could do part of route 66 as long as Clare got to see San Francisco. Admittedly and naively so I had never really wanted to go to San Francisco but it was near enough to Fairfax, not only could I realise part of my route 66 dream but I could also ride the Repack. This holiday would tick a must do box's....
I posted a thread on on Retro Bike asking for details of the route. http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=133464&start=15
Luckily for me I got speaking to Pat Reddix aka Fairfax Pat. Pat offered to meet up with me when I arrived in Fairfax and said we could ride the Repack together. Initially I was planning on riding the Repack on my last day in San Francisco but luckily Clare suggested we extend our stay in San Francisco by a day so that I would not have to rush around.The only thing was we couldn't get another night at the same hotel so I would be leaving Clare to move our suitcases all on her own to another hotel while I was off having fun.
How to get to Fairfax? Pat had kindly sent me some bus route instructions and I had also received a response from the help full guys at the Golden Gate bus company. The only thing is 99% of the people I asked in San Francisco about getting to Fairfax had never actually heard of Fairfax, considering its only about 20 miles away my concerns grew about whether or not I would actually make the meet up, after asking around for two days I still couldn't find the bus stop! To add to my worries the day I planned to travel to Fairax was the annual Bay to Breakers Race, this is a bit like the London Marathon with regard to crowds, road closures etc.
Finally I found someone who knew where Fairfax was as he travelled by bus from the area to work at the hotel I was staying in, the only problem was I wasn't going to get to meet him until 7:00am the day I was due to meet Pat between 10 - 11am At dead on 7:00 I went for a small breakfast which I eat in about 3 minutes and then went to look for John the bell boy. As with many things John was nothing like I had imagined but he did know where the bus stop was so I asked him to arrange a cab for me as it was about a mile away and I didn't want to get lost. The bus stops in San Francisco are very very easy to miss trust me!
Although lots of things had gone right regarding this trip it did feel as though the universe was now trying to put a block on my dream bike ride. After the difficulty of finding the bus stop and the surprise of the annual race it was also raining. Not that much but it was raining and the forecast mentioned more rain.
After the cab dropped me off I boarded the number 70 bus and asked the driver to let me know when I had to change, same on the next bus and then onto the third and final bus which terminated in Fairfax. With a big smile on my face I asked the bus drive which way I had to walk to the bike shop to pick up my hire bike. The other two bus drivers had been really friendly so it was no surprise when this one pulled out his Iphone input the name of the bike shop then showed me where we were on the map and where I had to walk. Ten out of ten to all the bus drivers very very nice people.
I walked into the bike shop knowing that nothing would prevent me from riding Repack and meeting up with Pat and Charlie. Unfortunately Pat had told me he would not be riding with me as he was recovering from a broken arm but had arranged for Charlie Kelly to show me this famous mountain biking route. "Hi guys I'm Jamie and I am picking up a rental bike" I was quickly greeted with a bit of a harsh "not today I'm afraid its wet out there and we don't hire bikes in the wet as they get to dirty" I felt like I had been kicked in the nuts, seriously! I explained that I had flown all the way from England had been speaking to Martin (wasn't working Sunday) about the bike hire, got three buses etc etc and please please please could I have a bike? Another guy that I spoke to said lets see what we can do about getting you out.
After a few formalities I walked out of the changing room and was met by Pat, I was so glad to meet Pat, we had spoken a couple of times over PM on Retro Bike and were finally talking face to face in a bike shop in Fairfax, this was really happening. Within minutes I also had hold of a Turner Sultan. Now your have to excuse me I obviously don't get out much but I had never heard of a Turner let alone a Turner Sultan when I had arranged the hire bike over email but a quick Google search showed this was a expensive bike so therefore I hoped a good one and boy did it look good. It was also a lot lighter than my bike.
Pat walked me across the road and introduced me to Charlie Kelly, Sara McCullough and Jacquie Phelan. I sometimes find it difficult to make conversation with new people that I meet but felt that we all got on really well.
Hopefully Charlie can detail the route we took to reach the Repack, my memory is pretty bad at the best of times and with the amount of info its processed over the last couple of weeks I can only remember the School and of course the Repack. Luckily for us when we set off there was a big cloud but the rain never came. Well not on us any way. Riding through the streets of Fairfax on our way to the off road stuff I felt like I was in the film ET. This was my second time riding in America the first being the day before when I rode across the Golden Gate Bridge with Clare.
As we reached the trail I knew the Turner was going to be good but I still had to get use to the handling, this was my first outing ever on a full suspension bike and to add to the differences compared to my normal bike the brakes are around the wrong way on US bikes, I have read about people in a situation naturally going for the back break only to go flying over the handlebars as this is actually the front brake in America. I planned the bridge ride the day before to help me get use to this and also decided I would keep my right hand on the back brake so this would be my first grab should I need to. My left hand would have to move from the bars to the brake giving me enough time to think about what I was doing. Any way I had planned to take it very easy as I had almost another two week holiday ahead so any injuries were not on the agenda.
The trail up was mixed with hard packed dirt sections and some technical rocky sections. One of the things I enjoyed the most about the climb up was the history of the trail. Charlie explained that part of the way up use to be an old rail road track, explained that the old Ford cars had to reverse up part of the road we climbed past as the gravity feed fuel tanks never worked if they tried to go up the correct way due to the incline. The geology of the trail and surrounding area was also explained as well as the local plant life, both native and non native.
I must admit that normally when I go riding I just pass over and by the scenery without knowing what I am missing, if I see something out of the ordinary I will stop and look and I have previously Googled things to find more info but in future I am going to do this a lot more often. It certainly does make for a more interesting ride.
I explained to Charlie, Jacquie and Sara for me to get to a similar trail in the UK from Kent I likely have to go to Wales which is about 4 to 4.5 hours away. The South Downs is a lot closer but the scenery and track is to different. These guys are really really lucky to live in such a wonderful area. As Charlie said the guys who invented surfing lived by the sea the guys who invented mountain biking lived in Fairfax.
A few photo stops later one of which I had to be checked for ticks eeerr
and we were ready to ride down hill. After a fantastic journey up Charlie mentioned that he was going to ride the Repack at his normal speed which I said was fine. I was also told a story of someone who had tried to break the record on their first attempt and crashed. I took this as a gentle warning that this trail does still bite people. My plan to take things easy had not changed so I said to Charlie that I would see him at the bottom. I then turned to Jacquie and Sara and said to them to go before me. I would follow them down.
As I set off the adrenaline began to flow. Very quickly though I noticed Jacquie and Sara had stopped to get some pics, Jacquie mentioned for me to go ahead and that there was no need to wait for them. I felt a bit nervous about this as I didn't want to hold them up with me taking things easy.
As I set off again I looked over my should to see Jacquie following behind. Continuing on I managed to get the wheels into a bit of a rut, had a moment but managed to keep the Turner performing how it was designed to all be it a bit slower. All to soon Charlie came into view at the bottom of the trail talking to another biker. My hands were aching as I think I had been on the brakes a lot on the way down. Charlie had clearly been at the bottom a while, I felt lots of excitement as I dismounted the bike and said to Charlie how great the Repack is. I then went over to await Sara and Jacquie with the camera. The pics of them coming down the Repack didn't come out that well but they are posted here any way so you can see part of the trail. I do wish I had taken more pics.
Back in Fairfax I handed the bike back to the shop and headed to the local pub. We drunk some local beer with a quick snack, Pat joined us to hear what I thought and we all chatted for a while. I would loved to have stayed longer but I thought it was about time I made the journey back as I needed to get to the new hotel that I had left Clare to move into. I knew she would be fine but guess its natural to worry about her a bit.
I had such a great day that I will never forget, Jacquie managed to get me a lift to the bus station meaning that I would only need to get one bus back over the bridge instead of three, thank you.
I really want to say a big thank you to all you guys for taking the time to meet up with me and show me the trail I wanted to ride and welcoming me to Fairfax. Believe it or not I will be back in the next few years and next time I will make sure I can stay a bit longer for a few more beers.
I hope you like the photos, I really though that I had took more and regrettably I didn't get one with Pat. By the time Pat got to the bar I think the local brew was already effecting my head.
Although in theory I can tick the done box on my Repack dream as done there are now a few more that I need to add to the list:
Go Back and meet Pat, Charlie, Jacqui and Sara again.
Ride the Repack faster and tighter than before.
Buy a Turner Sultan.
Thanks guys, the memories of this ride will live with me forever.
Jamie
Picture 1179 by Jamie Belcher, on Flickr
Picture 1182 by Jamie Belcher, on Flickr
Picture 1181 by Jamie Belcher, on Flickr
Picture 1184 by Jamie Belcher, on Flickr
Picture 1177 by Jamie Belcher, on Flickr
There are some more pics on Flickr feel free to follow the links through.
I want pics !!! 
