Cycling Sonoma, Marin, Napa counties: December 2004

Sunday morning rides in Petaluma

I ran into my friend Dusty a few weeks ago. As an avid biker himself, he noticed my well-used bike rack and "Share the Road" bumper sticker on my car. We started talking and he mentioned that he and a group of friends from Petaluma have been meeting for quite some time every Sunday morning at 8:30 AM for a weekly bike ride. It is a relatively small group with no more than 6 riding any one weekend . He assured me that riding abilities were varied and they ride for pleasure only at a modest speed. In Dusty's words "No rider left behind"...
He invited Gail & I to join them any Sunday so I took him up on his offer the next Sunday morning. It was VERY cold that morning - I started out with 4 layers of tops, 2 layers of gloves, & woolen socks. I had stripped down to only 2 layers by the end of the ride, however.
They took me on a very nice ride, which I had heard other bikers talk about, but never had the opportunity to ride before. Gail had other plans that morning so I look forward to taking her on that ride again this Winter.
The round trip route is approx. 15 miles starting and ending at Aram's Cafe in downtown Petaluma. It goes South on Kentucky Street to I Street.
Right on I Street and follow I St. for several miles to San Antonio Road. Right on San Antonio for a few miles to D Street. Right on D Street which brings you back into town. Since Gail wasn't with me, and she has the digital camera, I have no pix to share, however take my word for it, the scenery is lovely and there are plenty of neat shops in Petaluma to wittle away the rest of the afternoon (or morning).

Winter riding

Rob and I have gone a couple rides which I haven't posted. A couple rides out of Sebastopol. One ride was particularly productive. We started in Sebastopol, rode down the Joe Rodota Trail to downtown Santa Rosa. In Santa Rosa we stopped so I could talk to my hair dresser, then rode over to the bike shop where Robin bought her husband Barry a jacket as his Chanaka gift, then on our return we stopped at the Waldorf School on Willowside Road where they were having their Winter Fair, I bought some earrings which I intended as a gift but decided to keep as a gift. From there we headed down Guerneville Road and had lunch in Graton at the Willow wood Cafe (delicious) and then back to Sebastopol where we shopped at the house wares store and Whole Foods........we had a fun ride and accomplished something!!!

Another recent ride also started in Sebastopol. We took the Rodota Trail in the opposite direction picking it up across from Analy High and heading towards Gravenstein Hwy to Occidental Road, through Graton and then to the little town of Occidental. We've done this ride a month or so ago........Morelli Road is no less steep!!!!! We stopped briefly in Occidental then headed back to Sebastopol where we did some shopping and had lunch at the Whole Foods deli..........yummy soup!

Robin and I had plans to ride today but the wind kept us in and a good thing because we would have been caught in the rain had we gone out...........maybe next week!!

Hopland to Ukiah...aprox 30miles round trip

I believe this is one of our most beautiful rides. That's saying a lot!!!! We started our ride in Hopland. Went to a wonderful little cafe for breakfast...The Bluebird Cafe. It's a perfect, classic cafe, freshly painted, clean, inviting. The first thing you see when you enter (the first thing I saw) is a glass case with home made pastries......these are not Marie Callendar pies these are real!!! (not that I don't like Marie's pies) I had a great breakfast. On weekends they serve you a basket of pastries instead of toast.......yummmmm!!

Okay, after breakfast we headed east out of town and then north at Fetzer Winery. The road we took runs parrell to hwy 101. I loved this ride.....it was beautiful!!! In addition to the familar (and beloved) vineyards there were pear orchards and "wild" land. There was very little traffic.......there was no traffic, a few cars and trucks passed us. The ride was fairly flat and straight but again beautiful!! We made our way to Ukiah and rode through the Buddist University (don't recall the name). We didn't feel any need to stop so we turned around and headed back down the same road. I don't remember the name or number of the road but I do recall that there was some concern because there were no road signs to speak of. We continued south and stopped at Fetzers for a walk around the grounds. The gardens were pretty much dormant yet still lovely. I would like to go back in the spring and again in the summer or fall when the vegetable garden is producing.

If the ride is one of the most beautiful the food was some of the best too. I had the great breakfast at the Blue Bird Cafe (I think worth the drive just for breakfast and the scenery). Then, after our ride we went into the Pheonix Bakery. We went in out of curiousity.......it looked interesting; right across the street from the Blue Bird it was rustic........kind of a "hippie" place. Robin and I both bought Lemon chicken and roasted garlic turnovers to take home................oh my gawd!!!!!!! They were the most delicious things. After Brad and I ate the turnovers I got on the telephone to try to tell the folks at the bakery how much we enjoyed their goods and hoped maybe I'd get the inside scoop on how to duplicate the turnovers. I was never able to get through. I tried again but still no good.........the bakery has moved to Willits I believe..............darn

........

on our way to Ukiah out of Hopland...

pear orchard

yellow vineyard......

heading north to Ukiah

Wine country fall color......

shades of red........

more fall color!!

Robin riding through the gate at the Buddist University in Ukiah........who'd a known???

Fetzer Winery

beautiful country side

Fetzer Winery

Fun ride on Angle Island

Robin's nephew, Joseph had the day off from school so we took a drive to Tiburon with our bikes and ferried over to Angle Island. It was a fun ride; short but sweet with a few little hills and constant views of the bay,
San Francisco, Alcatraz, all the bridges, etc, etc,.......gorgeous! We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed it on the island before heading back to Tiburon. I must say that Joseph was a good sport. He rode hard and never complained..........he kept up with us and even passed us a few times!!!