Sightseeing on two wheels

Recently spent a week vacationing in northern California. San Francisco was home base, but we added a night in Yountville (Napa) and Monterey. As with last year's trip to wine country, I'd researched possible self-lead bike tour routes and bike rental options. We knew we wanted to bike across the Golden Gate bridge and down to Sausalito. Further south, I was intrigued by the idea of biking past the famous golf courses and ocean views of the 17 mile drive between Monterey and Carmel.

Our first adventure was the Golden Gate trip. San Francisco has several options for renting bikes, especially in the touristy Fishermen's Wharf area. My on-line research lead me to Bike-n-Roll, as I preferred their wide fleet of Trek bikes. I knew I'd want to rent one of their "performance road" bikes (Trek FX7.3 disc) vs. a "comfort hybrid" bike (Trek 7300). My mistake was not reserving the bikes on-line; partially due to their on-line system not working from iPad, iPhone or Android mobile devices, something I'd suggest they fix. I decided our best bet to get the performance bike would be to go to the main tour center location at Columbus and Mason. After filling out the paperwork and discussing possible routes, we were asked to wait 15 minutes for a couple of the FX's to be brought over from another store. When that didn't happen, the store manager offered to upgrade us to Madone 2.1 road bikes or switch us to their "performance" mountain bike, Trek4500. Anticipating (wisely) the crowds on the Golden Gate bridge we went for the upright geometry of the mountain bikes.

First part of the ride was along Fisherman's Wharf and the waterfront bike path. Tons of folks out riding and walking. Enjoyed riding past Ghiradelli Square and the views of the Presidio.

The climb up to the Golden Gate was a bit of a challenge. Hill weenie that I am, I was surprised when I found the perfect spinning gear and navigated myself up the hill.

 The bridge was crowded, particularly at each end, very middle less so, as I suspect many folks walk part way and turn back. Extreme care is needed riding across. Lots of folks walking 4-5 people wide, taking pictures - nose buried in viewfinder, being typical tourists with no care or even awareness of others. Yes, I realize I'm also a tourist, but do try and respect other tourists. Still the views were stunning. This is something everyone should do. Once. Once and done.

Off the bridge there's a fun descent down to Sausalito. Sausalito is a charming town, full of cafes, houseboats and gorgeous water views,and tons of clueless tourists. We were tired of weaving (or walking our bikes) through crowds, and decided to ride on through.

We foolishly did not stop to refill our water bottles or grab a snack in Sausalito. Not smart. Our water bottles were less than half full, we hadn't packed any energy bars, GU or other fuel. This came back to haunt us later. We both were out of water before, and starting to bonk going into Tiburon. I know better.

At Tiburon, views across the bay to the city were stunning. And the Blue Moons (and food) at Sam's were a perfect reward for a good ride.

The line of bikes waiting for the ferry back to San Fran was surprisingly long. Lucky we put our bikes into the queue when we did - by the time the ferry was loading there was probably 50 more bikes behind us. The ferry only allows 80 bikes per trip. We were # 75 and 76 for this trip. Lots of folks were turned away to wait the two hours for the next ferry. Loved seeing all these bikes on the ship!

Th short ride from the ferry terminal back to the shop concluded our 19mile trip. One I highly recommend. And know even with my once and done comment about riding over the Golden Gate - this is a trip I'd do again. As to Bike-n-Roll, was impressed with their fleet, the well-kept bike conditions and the general bike advocate nature of the staff. A business worthy of your (and my) business.

Trip 2- Monterey to Carmel via the 17 mile Drive

Wow, wow, wow. When planning this trip, I'd originally thrown out the idea of a night in Monterey to possibly explore wineries south of San Francisco. But then I realized folks biked the famous 17 Mile Drive past the infamous golf courses of Peeble Beach, Spanish Bay, and Spyglass, and the winery visits went away. For this trip, I decided to rent from Bay Bikes, utilizing their on-line reservation system to reserve a couple of Specialized Sirrius flat bar road bikes.

Bay Bikes is located on Cannery Row the main tourist area of Monterey. They stock many Surrey style bikes and comfort type hybrids, along with some traditional road bikes, mountain bikes and flat bar road bikes. Their fleet seemed a bit older than I would have liked. Nonetheless, they are a great option for renting bikes in Monterey. The employees are quite helpful in determining routes and helping with directions. In fact when I said we were planning on riding into Carmel for lunch, they questioned how often we rode, and suggested that most folks turned around about 10 miles into the ride. Once they were confident we rode (and even seemed impressed that I bike commuted), they offered suggestions for riding around and sites in Carmel.

Monterey has an excellent bike path running along their waterfront, providing a great 6-8 mile area for surrey bikes and less adventurous families to ride. One of my favorite things about it is the clear delineation between where bikes should go (in each direction) and where pedestrians should walk.

Upon leaving the bike path, there's 3 miles or so of road with bike lanes until entering the 17mile drive, where bikes can skip the toll booth, $10 per car charge, and ride for free. Views all along the drive are stunning - both ocean and golf course. We pedalled leisurely, stopping often for pictures.

Once past Peeble Beach the road narrows, and there's a fairly steep descent down into Carmel by the Sea. Followed by a corresponding ascent into downtown. Nothing someone comfortable on a bike can't handle - but made me realize why the shop suggests casual riders turn back at Peeble Beach. Enjoyed lunch at Flaherty's Oyster Bar, taking advantage of their yummy oyster selection! They were great about parking the bikes, refilling our water bottles and getting us back on our way.

On our return trip, we spent some time looking around Peeble Beach, including enjoying a drink in the lodge overlooking the famous 18th green.

Before we knew it, our 30 mile ride came to an end...which of course meant a stop for a beer. Cannery Row Brewing Company was a perfect place to try a few different beers, along with grabbing a bite at the beer while listening to live music. A great day, and a must do bike ride! Who needs to tour wineries, when there's bikes and beer, right?

Wine Country Trip: Part 4 Biking

Alright, this 4 part series on my trip to wine country is finally coming to a close. You can catch the other pieces, by clicking below:

 Part 1. Sonoma

 Part 2 .Napa

Part 3.Gardens

One of the things I was most excited about on this trip was the opportunity to bike my way around Napa and Sonoma. Because of our schedules, I did two separate rentals. One in Sonoma and one in Napa. This gave me an opportunity to try out a couple of different kinds of bikes. I searched on-line, read reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor and decided to rent through Wine Country Bikes in the Sonoma town of Healdsburg, and Napa Valley Bikes Tours in Yountville. Both shops provided maps and excellent guidance and suggestions. Highly recommend either. Napa Valley Bikes tours has a sister shop in the city of Sonoma (called, guess.......yep, Sonoma Valley Bike Tours). However, because we were staying at Korbel, Healdsburg was both closer, and in the area I wanted to ride.

Day One: Sonoma, Wine Country Bikes

Wine Country Bikes is located a couple of blocks outside downtown Healdsburg. They rent Trek bikes with a variety of options from Hybrid/fitness style Trek 7200 to high end Trek Madone road bikes for those wanting to feel like Lance Armstrong for the day. I knew our day riding in Sonoma would be the longer and hillier of our routes, and decided to go with their Trek 2.1 Road bikes. These bikes were nicely equipped with a computer to track mileage, time and speed, a back rack and expanding trunk bag big enough to hold a bottle of wine, or pair of shoes, a jacket or lunch - or a combination of the above. They'd also swapped out the standard pedals for a set of Shimano SPD Sport clips. A couple of spare tubes and a multi tool completed the package.

Well, not quite....the rental also includes free roadside service within the area shown on their guide maps. Which proved to be a good thing.

Wine Country Bikes location in Healdsburg gives you the option of heading south towards Windsor/Graton/Sebastopol for a much more challenging hilly route, west out River Road towards the coast, or north through Dry Creek Valley. We choose to head north, creating a 26 mile route through somewhat rolling terrain (a bit over 1000ft elevation gain/loss). The shop suggested that with winery stops, lunch etc this would make a good days ride.

We rode a quick tour of Healdsburg then west to pick up the southern end of West Dry Creek Road (which parallels Dry Creek Road). The shop had warned us the only place to pick up lunch would be the Dry Creek General Store, requiring a quick mile across Lambert Bridge Road (and the actual Dry Creek) then back after grabbing our lunch to go. The plan was to continue onward with the lunches, picnicking at either Preston or Bella. The plan got slightly altered when in a bit of deja vu to our Ride for the Arts experience, my husband got a rear flat.

We aired up the tire, and it immediately went flat again. Neither of us are adept bike mechanics, so decided that rather than waste time and add frustration, we'd take advantage of that roadside service. They were out quickly with a new bike - actually just pulled the rear tire off that one and swapped it out and off we went. Cute metal sculptures at the corner of West Dry Creek and Lambert Bridge.

At the north end of Dry Creek Valley we stopped at Ferrari Carano, having been told I shouldn't miss the gardens. Thought we'd picnic here, but signs said no picnicking. Did take advantage of the chance to try their wines, then headed next door to Dutcher Crossing winery. So glad we did. This small independent (not nationally distributed) winery is owned by a woman from La Cross, WI. Has an old time bicycle as its logo. Provides a lovely, scenic picnic space. And has great wines - we even joined their wine club.

Still not sure where the whole day went. Never did make it to Preston, or back over to Quivra to tour their gardens. Next time.

Day Two: Napa, Napa Valley Bike Tours

As the name implies, this company leads a lot of tours. The carry Specialized bikes, a brand I am fond of - now owning both a road bike (Dolce) and hybrid/all trail bike (Ariel). The napa terrain along Rt 29 and Silverado trail is much flatter than Sonoma. For this day, we went with Sirruis, Specialized hybrid/fitness model. The shop also rents  road bikes (Roubaix and Dolce models), full suspension MTB, tandems, and electric bikes.  The women on the yellow bike on the right of the picture above is on one of the electric bikes - her husband rented a regular bike. And they were already arguing as they pulled out. That might have been a pair to follow. NOT.

Our main Napa ride was an easy 16 mile loop from Rutherford across to Silverado Trail down to Yountville to look around, have lunch, then back up Rt. 29. Just enjoying the scenery and leisurely riding. Did make a fortuitous stop at Bottega to see if we could get reservations.Open Table said they were booked - sometimes doing things in person pays benefits. Dinner here was my favorite of the trip.

We kept the bikes over night - which allowed us to do some early morning riding around the vineyards at property at BV. Such fun. Riding over the dirt, discovering the grape vine covered pergola in the picture at the top of the post. Seeing the workers put up netting to keep the geese out of the vineyards. One of the highlights of the trip.

Fortunately, for this rental we did not need to use Napa Valley's roadside assistance! They do offer it free within a fairly large area around their shop. Even telling us we didn't need tubes or tools, because all we had to do was call them. As mentioned before, both shops provided excellent maps and advice, helped fit the bikes, supplied the pedals to match our bike shoes, and of course, helmets and locks. Great companies, great bikes, really nice people.

Can't wait for my next trip out there. Will be much more bike riding next go round!