rhm

Hey, that's a good looking saddle!

If you don't like your MIL I'll be happy to lend you mine. I don't think my FIL will notice.

Spaghetti Legs 

The true C+V’er flat repair supervision. None of that standing around giving advice; just kick back and take a break!

Looks like great riding weather. Nice pics!

bwilli88 

Looks like a wonderful time. Why the Pro Tour this time?

Drillium Dude 

Ha ha - I was wondering the same thing! With all the choices he has...

Beautiful bike, though - especially that custom rhm saddle

Looking forward to more pics at the end, but thanks to djkashuba for providing some early shots. I love that cafe overlooking the ocean!

DD

nlerner

It’s his zero bike: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...zero-bike.html

bwilli88 

AHH,ok, Mine is one of my go to bikes and will soon become one of my Zero bikes in the States.

Andy_K 

I need to find more people willing to keep a zero bike for me. I’ve got one with my father in Maryland, and given the state of his garages I could probably stash three or four more before he noticed but there’s a good chance my brother would sell them if he knew they were worth anything.

gugie 

It comes free with Gugificazione.

Beware of what you wish for.

gugie 

I'm asked often what I usually pack for a credit card tour. Maybe just a bit more than the average person would be my guess. I've laid out what I want to bring, then pull out the items that I think I could do without, and it never lightens the load mroe than 2-3 pounds. At the end of the trip I find I've used everything, except for those emergency items you don't want to do without (first aid supplies, for example). Here's my kit:


Cat sold separately

I travel with a handlebar and saddle bag. For the flight down I wore civilians, and put my day one bike clothing in a small bag.



Up bright and early the day after Christmas. It was a bright and crisp morning. I was seated on the correct side of the plane for pix.



Landing in Oakland a bit over an hour later, I was happy to land in the smallest of the three major airports in the Bay Area. Baggage came out quickly, and I headed to the curb to wait for Andy to pick me up.


Gratuitous self-promotion hidden in plain site.

My zero bike is pre-positioned at my friend Andy's house in the People's Republic of Berkeley gathering dust. I wasn't real happy with the old school TA front rack previously on it. The only connection on these is the two centerpull brake bolts, which makes the rack a bit of a diving board. I swapped it out for a Nitto Mk18, replaced some brake pads, and mounted my bags. My friend Andy's 1998 Rivendell LongLow already had the standard Wald rack up front, but as usual he loosened, tightened, and adjusted every allen bolt because he thinks he's Eddy Merckx. By dark it was time to relax, have an adult beverage, eat dinner, and stare at maps for tomorrow's start.

gugie 

Andy and I have done a similar late winter ride five years ago. It was gloriously sunny and mild ride a few years ago, we're hoping for more of the same.

Up and at 'em early, our first goal is to get to North Berkeley BART to meet up with davester gaucho777 and 73StellaSX76. The plan was to ride over the newly opened bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael bridge. I think we nailed the 8:15 meet up time.


That's Andy, davester, me, gaucho777 (didn't get the memo) and 73Stella SX76

More importantly, that's American (Rivendell), English (Ron Cooper), Japanese (Centurion), Italian (De Rosa) and French (Stella)

Although Andy's a native, our harbor pilots came up with a slightly different plan to get to the bridge. We quickly headed down to the bay and mostly rode the San Francisco Bay Trail. Visibility was near perfect.


Bikes, foreground. Oz, background

Quickly we found the bike/ped start of the bridge. At the apex of the bridge we all knew what to do.


Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

Soon we were riding by San Quentin. From there we followed some roads I remembered from long ago rides. A coffee stop, a short climb, and we were on our way down Sir Francis Drake. We stopped in Lagunitas, our rabbits turned around, and off were through West Marin, destination Tomales. We decided to ride the Cross Marin Trail which parallels Sir Francis Drake. Wider tires got us through the gravel.





My wife ok'ed this late winter trip as long as I stopped at Bovine Bakery in Pt Reyes Station and pick up a peanut butter blondie, which I would carry for the next 3 days. The temptation to cut off a small piece was intense.


Home of the great pastries, sweet and savory

Highway 1 along Tomales Bay is always spectacular. For once this section had almost no wind. Shellfish farms and restaurants dot the road.


Marshall, Tomales Bay

Near the opening to the bay Highway 1 turns inland. Proper hills are climbed and descended, the last climb takes you into the small farming/tourist town of Tomales.


Last climb of the day

The Continental Inn was a bit too nice (and pricey) for us, but it was the only place I could find to make reservations that met our itinerary. My definition of a room that's too nice for a bike trip: would my wife stay here?



A hot shower and change of clothes later, we were ready for dinner. Some semi-famous fiddle band peoples were having a gig at the local bar. We watched, ate, and listened. Cioppino from local ingredients (West Marin is big on the local thing) and a couple of beers, I was ready for bed.

All in all, an A+ first day, even taking into account a flat.

gugie 

I'm liking the idea of combining a bike tour with meet ups of fellow BFer's. I've done it on almost every bike tour I've done in the past few years. Besides the added camaraderie, they're especially helpful when riding through more urban/suburban areas where local knowledge of the roads is helpful, but today our guest rider djkashuba just happened to live on our path today, one that you can't get lost on. northbend has great things to say about him.

Andy and I debated taking the inland route through Occidental, but although it's quite beautiful, we did it that way a few years ago, and riding along the California coast in Marin County is the quintessential California experience.

First, however, we needed to ride out to the coast. We planned to meet David in Jenner at 10:30, so we couldn't dilly-dally. It was cold and frosty when we left the hotel.


Photo and caligraphy courtesy of Andrew Johnson, not the ex-president

Downtown Tomales is maybe a half-block long. Diagonally across from the hotel is another wonderful pastry shop. We were there right when it opened. The warm yeasty smell wafting through the air made us want to sit for awhile.


ham and cheese croissant, the perfect fuel to start a ride

The road from Tomales to Bodega Bay on Highway 1 is direct. We'd both done it before several times, so we decided on the one less travelled, and it made all the difference. I highly recommend Dillon Beach to Middle Road, which will connect you back up with Highway 1, and has much less traffic.


another pic from Andrew Johnson, not the ex-president.

Luckily we got through Bodega Bay without being accosted by birds.


Sometimes you're just riding along with the Pacific Ocean by your side and think, yeah, I haven't stopped for a picture in awhile.


Shoulda brought my surf board

We met David at Cafe Aquatica. I swear if I hear you've ridden your bike past this place and didn't stop, I'll give you a dope slap and tell you to turn around, even if you don't drink coffee. I won't bother with my weak pictures along the rest of the stretch, David already posted the best ones. What I didn't realize unti later that we didn't take a single one of him, of him and me, or of the three of us! Sorry, man! I did pick up a souvenir.



After a stop in Rio Nido for grub and beer, we picked up Westside Road, where I had my second flat, as David documented earlier. At that point it was getting late, so he turned around to speed back to his home in Monte Rio. Andy and I continued to Healdsburg where we spent the night with some relatives of his wife's. We noted that the clear skies were starting to disappear - an omen for tomorrow's ride.

gugie 

We started out from Healdsburg early. Our first stop was at yet another wonderful bakery on the town square, but before we got there, the rain started. After a quick breakfast and a look at the weather report, we determined we could get up and over the hills to Calistoga before the bulk of the rain started. We passed some of the burned out areas along the vineyards we rode through that day. Our host had to evacuate town for several days during the late fall fires. We heard about the howling, drywinds that barreled through. Luckily the town of Healdsburg was mostly spared, but we passed a burned out winery and several houses on the road out of town. Not many pictures of the ride today, I didn't bring my waterproof camera. I did get this pic, which shows our climb for the day, some burned out trees, and the sprayed on seed/fertilizer mix that is used for erosion control.




The hill was shorter and less steep than we remembered. We'd psyched ourselves up for this section, and it was over long before we thought it would be, followed by a quick coast down to Calistoga for brunch. Yet another bakery was found. We ate, took a look at the forecast, put on all of the rain gear we had, and made our way to the Silverado Trail. It's 30 miles of smooth, wide shouldered road. It parallels the main road through St. Helena, Yountville, Rutherford, and other tourist stops. Essentially, it bypasses them. After a few miles the rain started harder. Soon it becomes just a slog. After 25 miles we see a cafe. We pull in to de-soggify. At some point we notice that it's only mostly raining, and get back on our bikes and ride to our motel.


There's a cat and a dog somewhere here

Hot showers and dry clothes make a huge difference. Time to dry everything else out.



Just across the street is a well-Yelp reviewed burger joint - Squeeze Burger.



We finished dinner early, got an ice cream, then headed back to the hotel to watch some TV. Yeah, baby.

73StellaSX76

Hey Gugie, a small correction: I wasn’t your guest rider mentioned in post #36 . I only rode the first day. I’m only a fair weather rider! 😁
Great riding with you all regardless. See you at Eroica.
Alex

northbend 

That was probably Dave Kashuba
(..as I hear @gugie saying "to not let facts get in the way of a good story" )

gugie 

Oops, yeah, I'll correct that! Cutting and pasting ain't all it's cracked up to be, and yes, northbend is correct, that was djkashuba on day 2.

gugie 

They say that all good things must come to an end, and this tour is no exception. By morning the rain clouds had blown away, replaced by bright sunshine. Weather prediction was for a high in the low 60's, a perfect day to ride.

Our hotel was just north of Napa, so it was wide residential streets getting from one side of town to the other. At a turnabout under construction I felt the front tire getting squishy. Yessir, flat number 3. This time I had to use a patch as all my spares had been used up. I was getting a bit perturbed.


pic courtesy of that bastage Andrew Johnson

We didn't have a good place to eat near our skanky hotel, so we rode into downtown Napa and turned down towards the river, knowing we'd find something. Andy and I have a shared desire to stay away from chain restaurants when we can, and look for local businesses to support. This one definitely fit the bill.



Just a block away we crossed the Napa River.



The roads south of Napa are fairly industrial. The saving grace for us were wide shoulders and bright sunlight. At some point we saw a sign that said 12 miles to Vallejo. The road was ever so slightly tilted down, and the tiny breeze was at our back. We got to Vallejo in what seemed to be no time at all. Much of that town is grimy and lower income. It was stop and go between lights for quite awhile until we reached the Carquinez Bridge MUP. The Carquinez Strait is wide like the Columbia River Gorge at this point.



We already knew our next stop - Dead Fish in Crocket, which overlooks the bridge and the strait. In 2014 I ordered the skillet of mussels, so I decided to do it again.



We got back out to the bikes, and guess what?



What's wrong with this picture?

From there it was a slog through the refineries, stop and go through San Pablo Avenue until we were back on the bike path under the elevated BART tracks. We knew we were close to Berkeley when the cars started stopping to allow us to cross the surface streets as they cross the MUP. From there muscle memory took over, and we made it back to Andy's house in south Berkeley at a victorious parade pace. Bags were removed from my zero bike and packed for the flight home, I showered and changed back into civvies; Andy drove me to the airport for the flight home. I made note of a few repair/improvements to be made before the ProTour's next planned use: riding from the Bay Area to Cambria for Eroica. davester and I are already planning and pimping this ride along with a few others. Noteably the chromed cable clips and BB cable guide are getting rusty. I have some stainless steel cable clips for replacements, and I'll dig through my stash for an appropriate cable guide. The 34 tooth granny chain ring was more than adequate for this ride, there were no long, sustained hills to climb - any short steep sections were handled by standing on the pedals. The Kiler and Cypress climbs aren't nearly as forgiving. The 86mm BCD SR Apex crank set will accept a 28t, which I've already sourced and ordered. The Nitto M18 rack worked well, but I had to kludge a headlight bracket, so I ordered one from Rivendell rather than just make one myself. Eh, throw a few bucks at the Savings and Loan...

One last picture that mostly sums up my feelings about this ride. Winter, cool but sunny, country roads. Cold enough to start with a rain jacket to keep the warmth in, but sometime in the morning a wind vest will do.


Smooth roads, warm sun, rolling hills

That's a wrap, folks!

nlerner

Very nice, gugie ! Perhaps another change to the Pro Tour is to run a tubeless wheelset?

davester

Great travelogue again! Glad I rode the first, rather than the last, day. Here's a group shot on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge bike lane...


TdeMID group photo on Richmond-San Rafael bridge

davester

Well gugie , If it makes you feel any better, Alex also got a flat, approximately 1/2 mile from the end of our 67 mile out-and-back ride. Funnily enough, he and Randy had just been arguing about whether fixing a flat tubular was faster than fixing a flat clincher.

jonwvara 

Dang, that looks like a great ride. The weather in Vermont was nothing like that. And Gugie, thanks for the "zero bike" concept. The spousal-deception part of it is no use in my case--I can't fool my wife about anything, so stopped trying years ago--but I really don't like the inconvenience of traveling with a bike.

gugie 

To be honest, there's no "spousal-deception" on my part. She supports what I do, as I "kinda" break even doing 650b conversions, and I give her any cash I make - Paypal gets reinvested. My wife (like many) is a mind reader, so I just tell her everything I'm doing.

jonwvara 

Yes, that's a wise policy.

As far as bike-touring motels go, my approach has always been to select the one just just slightly better than the worst one available.

gugie 

That's about the way I go. Our route and stopping point took us about 25 miles from cheap hotels, unfortunately, and we payed the piper. Eh, we got a free night the next, so it amoritized out.

ollo_ollo

Wow Mark, Post # 7,777 I'm not going to recap the heights/depths of my 2019 but I got through it all and Cino was tops. I like this pic of a Wyoming couple enjoying our Saturday lunch stop scenery. Anticipating Cino 2020 Don

Cino 2019 Saturday Lunch Stop