Day 2 Ride - Armstrong Redwoods

Day 2! Again, we woke up with plenty of time before it was time to convene. We took our time having coffee and getting breakfast before suiting up and heading over to the bikes.

Our guides gave us the lowdown on the day's route. I started the ride feeling a bit saddle sore and stiff, but not prohibitive. Once I got going, I felt fine, which was a relief.

We cruised along as a peloton for the first two miles until we made it out of town and then the group drifted apart. Chris and I held back in the vanguard before accelerating and joining a woman in the middle of the pack.

After about 10 miles, we turned left onto what ended up being a rather busy road. Riding on the shoulder and trying to dodge glass shards left by previous accidents. After a few miles, it finally clicked that our GPS has stopped giving us cues, and that it was unlikely they would have planned a route along that road for that long, given the volume of cars buzzing by us.

We pulled over to confirm our suspicions, called one of the, and figured out how to get back on course. Which of course meant backtracking to the point where we were supposed to go straight (and then left). Great. Bonus miles.

Unfortunately, getting back on course wasn't the end of the misfortune, as almost immediately my bike decided to throw another curveball and have the chain pop off while shifting mid-climb. I nearly went over, but managed to unclip my shoes from the pedals in time to avoid disaster. It was fully wedged though, and neither Chris nor I were able to unlodge the chain from the carbon steel frame. We called for help again and one of the guides rode down to us and tried his best to fix the bike. We felt a little better when he also struck out and had to summon the van with more tools. Teamwork makes the dream work and we were able to get the chain back on the bike and resume our ascent. We didn't have long to go at that point as the first rest stop was only 10 or 20 minutes away.

After the break was the most challenging climb of the day, but we hammered our way up and then flew downhill. My rear wheel started to slide out from under me -- I had just enough time to think "absolutely not" and corrected it before it could manage to bring an end to the trip.

Mercifully the rest of the ride to lunch was uneventful. We stopped at the Korbel winery. Though it was Memorial Day, we were pleased to find that it wasn't packed to the gills with other tourists and enjoyed a sandwich from the deli and a crisp glass of dry champagne in the shade.

Feeling sated, we hopped back on the bikes for a relatively short ride to the stopping point for the day, Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. We enjoyed some light hiking (and a beer) while they packed up the bikes onto the van, taking in the giant trees and generally enjoying a different activity than biking. The Redwoods were truly stunning, it was awe-inspiring to see how wide around, and straight-upward tall some of them were -- the oldest was 1400 years.

We relaxed on the van ride back to town, and then settled in for a nap before dinner time. Dinner was a 5-course tasting at Valette. Each course was fantastic, and it was the perfect amount of food. The bone marrow absolutely stole the show. A cocktail and glass of red wine helped round out the night.もっと詳しく