Will Hess

When Chris asked if I'd be interested in a 3-day Trek travel bike tour, I'll admit that I was skeptical. I enjoy a good bike ride here and there, but doing effectively the longest ride I've ever done three days in a row seemed daunting. Nevertheless, it was an excuse I needed to take a vacation and some motivation for some exercise/training.

We left Madison in the morning yesterday (Saturday) and arrived around 1pm Pacific. We snaked our way through downtown San Francisco, working through traffic leading up to the Golden gate bridge. I white knuckled the car across it, since the car's lane assist did not agree with me where the lanes were and was trying to drag us over into the neighboring lane. It took us another two hours with various slowdowns, but we ultimately made it to Santa Rosa, where we'd be spending the night. Santa Rosa is home to Russian River Brewpub, whose beers Chris holds in high regard. We sampled their flagship IPA and some of their Belgian-style beers, which were all pretty spectacular.

With our bodies still on central time and a day full of exertion looming, we called it an early night. Unsurprisingly, we also got up early, unable to sleep any longer past 5am PT. We ultimately decided to pack up and drive the remaining 15 minutes to Healdsburg and have coffee/breakfast there instead of remaining in Santa Rosa.

After a hearty breakfast, we made our way over to our hotel, since the lobby served as the meeting point for the adventure. Other guests trickled in until it was 9am and one of our guides arrived. He introduced himself as "Hershy" and gave us the lowdown on how things were going to work. We migrated to a nearby parking lot where the van/trailer with all the bikes was staged. It took about an hour to get the bikes customized, hear the safety lesson (wear your helmet), and prep for the ride. We'll see if I made a poor judgement call in foregoing the e-assist bike. Even without, the bike (Trek Domane SL 7) is definitely a step above my bike at home. Lightweight and responsive with electric shifting.

We set out of Healdsburg just before 10:30 on our Dry Creek loop. We started off easy working out way out of town, and then the group separated based on desired pace. We rode for about an hour before making a quick stop near Geyserville where the van had parked alongside the road. We refilled water bottles and wolfed down some snacks before hopping back on bikes to continue riding.

After another bit of riding, we reached the toughest part of the ride -- a climb of several hundred feet leading up to the bridge crossing above lake Sonoma. Once we reached the bridge, Chris elected for the "Avid Option", which continued climbing an additional ~600ft and another few miles. I elected for the "this is plenty Avid, thanks" option and turned around at the prescribed location. Since what goes up must come back down, I went for setting a speed record flying back down the hill, topping out at 41.7mph.

After reaching the bottom of the hill, the route veered off down a side road. I misunderstood my GPS device's cue and started down a nearby road, but quickly realized I was off course when it began beeping incessantly at me. Not eager to add additional miles, I whipped around and found the adjacent entry to a vineyard which was the planned site for lunch.

I sat in the shade overlooking the vines for a peaceful break while waiting for the Avid crew to rejoin those of us who forgo'd the extra challenge. Once the majority of guests arrived, we sat down for some phenomenal sandwiches from a local bakery, served alongside salad, fruit, and some killer cheeses.

After slathering back on more sunscreen, we finished the remaining distance -- another 13 miles to round us out to an even 40. It was high fives all around, and then time for a shower and nap to kill time before rooftop drinks and dinner.

After some snacks and drinks, dinner was right next to the hotel at a place called Spoonbar. They had a pretty cool art piece of water flowing down an array of small, suspended spoons, plinko-style. We sat next to the eldest couple on the trip, and it was a competition to see who could make it the longest until we succumbed to exhaustion and needed to excuse ourselves. We outlasted them, not by much, but at least until dessert arrived.Läs mer