Fantastic ride report. I'm sure you've inspired lots of people to visit California and take your same route ... and hopefully encouraging others to post pictures and ride reports of their own local treasures to share with all.
Well done, and thank you for posting. Amit On Sunday, February 17, 2019 at 7:40:02 PM UTC-8, lambbo wrote: > > For years now I've been ogling the photos shared here of rides in the SF > area, and thinking about how I could make my way out there with a Rivendell > to do some climbing and have ocean views and not freeze to death...an > escape from Brooklyn was necessary. > In early December I asked the group for suggestions on a 3 day loop from > SF heading north... I was finally planning a trip out to see my brother and > have a little adventure. > There were lots of options, and we took a bit from a number of routes the > list shared; we started by taking the ferry to Vallejo and continuing up to > St.Helena, then heading up and over to Tomales, and finally back to SF > along rt. 1. > > A week before the ride I went around to some local bike shops and > eventually, at 718 Cycles, found a bike box to pack my Roadini into for the > flight. I've never done this, but I'm an artist and have packed a lot of > artwork, so I approached it like that...foam and zip-ties all around. I > also watched a Rinko video by Jan Heine, which was really useful. I have > the MKS Rinko pedal system on my Roadini, which made packing and setting > back up that much easier (being able to pop the pedals off without a wrench > is also great for saving space in the hallway to our apartment). Alaskan > Air took it as a checked bag for no extra fee! When I arrived, I pulled the > bike out of the box, put the bars, wheels, and seat back on, popped on my > pedals, and was off in under 10 minutes! > > My brother is in better shape than I am, and rides a delightfully light > weight Cad12 aluminum road machine, so I knew we would need to plan the > trip with days short enough that I could handle the climbing, and that he > could stay comfortable his plastic saddle. I only have a small saddlesac > for my Roadini, and my bro has a small RoadRunner bag, so we decided not to > camp. Short credit card tour; there are definitely folks who have ridden > this exact route, about 150 miles, in one day. But we wanted to have fun > and hang out, which we did! > > 1 <https://ridewithgps.com/trips/31056583> > We started with 48 easy, relatively flat, miles on day one, keeping a > comfortable 16 mph average and just enjoying the beautiful warmth and new > surroundings as we cruised up the not-so pretty Nappy-Vallejo Highway for > some less comfortable but still beautiful miles (lots of traffic, none of > it cyclists) before getting onto the Silverado Trail, which really was > incredible. Less traffic and many little side roads to explore, most > leading to spectacular vineyards. We stayed on this route until > 'Zinfendel', essentially the outskirts of St Helena, where we had our > little B&B. After chatting with the groundskeeper for a while, who gave us > a bottle of the owner's wine, we ditched our bikes and went into town, and > had one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had anywhere in the world > (Spaghetti with a parmesan-broth sauce over meatballs) and some stellar > wine. I understand now why people go to Napa. > > 2 <https://ridewithgps.com/trips/31085825> > The next day it was raining, but we were prepared with rain-kit. I should > point out that I'm a wool-sweater, cotton t-shirt kind of rider, I don't > usually go for 'kit', but my brother is into it and, partly in excitement > about this trip, got me a Rapha winter jacket, and I got myself a Rapha > rain jacket (both on 60% off), and combined with my Rapha bib shorts which > I always wear on long rides, I was really comfortable through many showers > and even what felt like some hail, and everything fit easily into my jersey > pocket for the next weather change. I still prefer a sweater for > breathability, but wouldn't it be nice if it fit in your back pocket, and > had it's own back pockets? ...thus I've been convinced of some 'kit'. > Especially the rain jacket - it's made for biking in the rain, and, thus, > is well suited for biking in the rain. Anyways, we set out of St. Helena > to tackle our first real climb, and one of the biggest climbs I've done in > a long long time, over Spring Mountain road. According to my altimeter, we > climbed about 2000 ft in 5 miles. I know for you Californians that > probably just sounds like a normal 'hill', but here NYC we have the > Williamsburg Bridge and Bear Mountain, and that's about it, so my average > long ride doesn't have more than 3500ft climbing total. I really enjoyed > the long climb in the rain, with huge evergreens coming up from below the > side of the road, so we could only see them from the center up, and > vineyards along the the way, everything dripping in viridian and chromium > and bright pthalo greens, the saturation amplified by the grey of the day. > On the harrowingly fast winding and long descent I was thankful for the > stability of my Roadini and the cushion of my Jack Browns, but wished I had > the ability to keep my eyes open in the spitting rain. It was SOOOO fun! > This is what I flew to Cali for. > We had more beautiful descending from there, practicing my fast corners, > until we got to Santa Rosa. We were happy to find a bike path, and were > charmed by the little city at first, but after encountering some very > sketchy groups of dudes on isolated paths, specifically blocking us in on > either side of a walking bridge until we just sped past them, we changed > our tune. After a certain point we just sped way up to get out of the long > stretches of isolated path. We had our first flat just after emerging > from the train tracks, and hungry and grumpy with our hackles up, we fixed > it quickly and went to Subway to cheer up. > As soon as we were out of Santa Rosa the mood improved, the view improved, > and we were back in a state of wonder and awe as we rolled over farmland on > our way to Tomales. At this point it was kind of freezing rain, which was > weird considering it was a warm-ish 45, but we were happy. I did wish I > hadn't taken off my fenders at that point. > > Tomales. > Tomales is...my new favorite place in the world. We stayed at AppleGarden > Farm Cottage, which I cannot recommend more. It was dark with the rain > clouds when we arrived around 5, and our host was surprised that we were on > bikes, soaked to the bone, and not entirely sure what to do. We put our > bikes on the porch and undressed outside as much as we could while being > decent, and ran in to take hot showers. When we were done, she knocked on > the door to offer us some snacks from her own fridge, thinking we were > crazy to have biked there. She recommended we walk 1/2 mile to the > main-street and get dinner at the local in, so we set out on foot into the > sparkling dusk, passing by first a field of grazing cows, then a church and > graveyard, before coming to the inn. It felt somewhat as if we were in an > earlier time, to me, with everything so peaceful and clear. The inn was > crowded with locals of all stripes watching the Super Bowl playoffs and > drinking, and I was ready to call a mover and have my wife come out to stay > there forever...not that I follow football but the whole scene was so warm. > And the beers on tap were really good too! > > 3 <https://ridewithgps.com/trips/31106885> > The next day we set out for SF and descended from Tomales shortly after > sunrise , the brisk air heavier than the night before, and salty - I > suddenly realized we were on the coast! That might have been my favorite > part of the trip, cruising down to the beach with fresh legs, shaggy golden > Scottish Highland cattle munching away on bright green grass, fresh blue > sky above and smooth tarmac below, with the wonderful company of my > brother. We had also switched bikes, so I had the pleasure of taking in > the sights with my Roadini in the mix, adding a lot to the scene in my > opinion. From there we continued down RT 1 on perfect rollers, gaining > eye-watering speed and then smashing up the other side in perfect > proportion, with the pacific on our right. That was incredible, the whole > rest of the ride was, in my opinion, as perfect as you could get. > > After lots of rollers, and two kind of long steep climbs coming back down > to SF from Tomales, we arrived at the Golden Gate and decided we had some > more legs left and climbed up Hawk Hill. Right when I thought the ride > couldn't get any better, it did, and I so envy those of you who can just > cross the bridge and climb Hawk Hill and be home within 3 hours. > Incredible!!!! > > All in all it was incredible, and I'd love to do it again. Having such a > great riding buddy was the best part, but riding through some of the most > beautiful parts of the bay area on a Rivendell was unforgettable and set a > high bar for the next trip. > > > > [image: IMG_0042.jpeg][image: IMG_0040.jpeg] > > > > [image: IMG_0030.jpeg][image: IMG_0046.jpeg] > > > > [image: IMG_0744.jpg][image: IMG_0767.jpg] > > > [image: IMG_0811.jpg][image: IMG_0801.jpg] > > > > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
