sanmateoclimber

Hey all,

I'm going to staying at the Fairmont Inn (on Route 12, north of the town of Sonoma) for work meetings over a few days next week. I'm not sure how flexible my time will be just yet, but I'm toying with the idea of bringing my road bike, would love to get a good afternoon/evening ride in if it's feasible. I've had a great time riding further west in Sonoma county but never this specific area. Could anybody recommend a good ride starting from that area? Maybe something in the ballpark of 1.5 - 2.5 hours, 20 - 40 miles, some climbing would be great. Any thoughts? Thanks!

DiabloScott

Dude - Trinity Road and Oakville Grade to Napa and back. Part of the Coor's Classic many years ago. All hill, iconic. You could probably find a loop rather than an out-n-back, but it would be less interesting.

Anecdote - I was once passed by Connie Carpenter-Phinney on Trinity Road. Purple Cannondale and bright red hair and she joked about how hard I was struggling.

sanmateoclimber

Awesome, thanks!

terrymorse 

Trinity Road is a beast of a climb. I'd only recommend that for serious climbers.

Something less beastly is the Valley of the Moon ride, which starts and ends in nearby Glen Ellen.

Leinster

Trinity Road (and Cavedale next to it) are really beat up of late (ie, last 2-3 years) with lots of construction traffic going up to repair fire damaged houses. Theyre terrible to even drive down right now, I would haaaate to descend either of them on a road bike. Beautiful climbs, though, if/when they ever patch up the asphalt.

DiabloScott

That is really sad. Got any photos or links?

Leinster

Google street view depicts it pretty well right now; their current images appear to be from March of this year.

The trees have largely had time to grow back, which is great to see. And most rebuilding is nearing completion. In the 12 months after the fires it was all devastation, particularly up Santa Rosa way, and on Mark West Springs road.

We still have a few fire rebuilds in progress on the Napa side, but in general it’s back to near normal.

Hopefully once all/enough of the construction is completed, they’ll repave the roads. Cavedale was always a bit of a Pyrenean goat track anyway, but Trinity was a decent-if-a-bit-twisty road and connects Sonoma to Dry Creek/Oakville Grade on the Napa side.

DiabloScott

OK, that's still doable on a road bike with normal tires - downhill will just require attention and restraint. Maybe consider it practicing Eroica skills.

Leinster

It’s do-able, but it’s far from ideal. And I wouldn’t want someone to come to Wine Country and leave with that road surface being their abiding memory of the place.

Like I say, hopefully in a year or two, they’ll get around to repairing Trinity at least.

Cavedale they can leave as is. Nobody ever descends that road anyway, and if the pavement stays crappy it’ll keep the cars away for when we’re climbing.

sanmateoclimber

Thanks Terry (and Leinster,) good looking out. I'll report back if I end up making bad life choices and take a stab at trinity anyway.

My rear derailleur cable lost its will to live last night, fortunately near the end of my ride. But my bike should be ready to roll again this evening (all hail the good people of Chain Reaction in RWC) and ready to finish off another ten hours. Thumbs up.