A Hard, but Excellent, Day 2

Today was a hard, but pretty gorgeous day. It didn't start off too auspiciously. Due to some type of mix up with the caterer, there was no coffee delivered to camp in the morning. Instead, what appeared was some sort of pre-sweetened cappuccino, which is sort of like mainlining sugar (I drink my coffee without any). Fortunately, someone found a single half-empty jar of Folgers crystals, which at least managed to get me to the first coffee shop on our route.

Speaking of which, the route was pretty enchanting, taking us through first the Russian River Valley and then the Alexander Valley, both wine meccas of California. The rub was that we didn't have time to stop at any of the vineyards except for one that was pre-arranged to accept 150 bicyclists in sweaty spandex and cleated bike shoes:  Moshin Vineyards. Fortunately, their Pinot Noir and Zinfandel were pretty good and were fine accompaniments to dinner.

The route was also pretty challenging, and included more than 3500 feet of total ascent. But the challenge was well balanced by beautiful roads with canopies of trees and little traffic, as well as unbelievably perfect weather: sunny and in the 70's (although marred in spots by pretty strong headwinds).

The biggest climbs were left for the last 15 miles of the day, which was pretty intimidating when we were told this in the morning, but when I actually got to them, I found I had a pretty good reservoir of energy left and it was very rewarding to pound through and up them and reach the summit. And yes, I did pass my fair share of other riders! Some of them were even younger! (Competitive, moi?)

And then there was a very pleasant surprise at the end the day. We had been told that we were staying in cabins, which based on past experience on Climate Ride, I fully expected to be in the, shall we say, "rustic" category. Wrong. Luxurious in every sense, with individual showers (no lines, no waiting!), clean sinks and toilets (no....well, you know) and actual power outlets (no trekking to the communal charging station).

So a very good end to a challenging, but invigorating day. And did I mention that I just got a 30 minute message from the three masseurs who travel for the week with Climate Ride? Not as good a bargain is it used to be (each 15 minutes session is $25), but still well worth it!

And what would the day's blog entry be without the route metrics and some photos?