I woke up from sleeping under the stars feeling pretty good. My biggest concern was the nasty little thorns scattered throughout the area where I was at. My concern was mainly for my sleeping pad as opposed to my tires. Time will tell. I’ll remind you that I slept on the hill above the veteran’s center. I mention this because as I got up I began to hear a lot of voices from below. Now, based on what I had seen the evening before, I just didn’t think there’d be that many up and around being as boisterous as they seemed to be. I got things loaded up and began riding down the dirt trail. Boy was I surprised when I saw hundreds of cyclists on the road below me. The following photos don’t do what I saw justice;
I had run right into the starting point of the annual “Tour of Napa”. You should have seen the looks I got as I dropped down out of the hills on the dirt trail…perhaps as good as the look I gave the spandex clad riders. For the majority of the day I had these guys and gals blowing past me (oddly enough I never did pass any of them).
As I got into downtown Yountville I started looking for a cup of coffee and asked this lady where she had gotten hers. She asked if I’d like her husbands cup as he didn’t wait around for and took off for the ride. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed his latte and conversation with her.
It had been years since I had been in the wine country and I forgot how absolutely beautiful the area is.
This may not be the most beautiful photo, but it is appropriate…
Earlier in the week I had been in contact with a Warmshowers.org host in Lower Lake, CA. He had given me directions from the Silverado Trail to get up the mountain without having to deal with all the traffic on Hwy 29, the main commuter route. For reasons I don’t quite recall I elected to continue on the Silverado Trail (perhaps because it’s so damn pretty). For nibbles I stopped by this roadside stand and made friends with the owners who put together a pint of blackberries, strawberries and blueberries.
I ended up riding up to Calistoga before calling it a day. I spotted a bicycle shop and stopped in for a bit to look around. I was told the least expensive hotel was the Calistoga Inn just up the block. The caveat was I had a shared bath…no problem for me. I was able to beat the owner down a few bucks and lugged my bike up the stairs to the room (no rooms on the first floor). I was a nice room which overlooked the main street of Calistoga.
I got a much-needed shower and was about to get a beer when I remembered I wanted the bike techs to look at my handlebar stem which had a nasty habit of shifting even though I had it snugged down pretty well. Thankfully they were still open and Marshall applied a paste with glass beads which tends to give more bite to the parts.
I told Marshall he should join me next door for a beer and was glad when he did. He also told me of a road that I could cross the mountain without running into all the traffic. The road is named Ida Clayton. He said it wasn’t a cakewalk, but there wouldn’t be much traffic on it. We were joined by one of his co-workers, Mario. Mario’s last name is Tedeschi…hey that’s the same name as on the winery…yep, family owned.
Turned in rather early for a good night’s sleep.
BrokenSpoken 