Tour of California, Prelude Ride 2

With cyclists from Team BMC, NorCal Velo, and the SRCC, our motley crew of 37 riders set out to duplicate the Tour of California Route into Santa Rosa. It was a beautiful morning as we met at City Hall (photo) and proceeded on a familiar route into Sebastopol (Fulton, Hall, Sanford, Occidental, HS Road). We passed Ragle Park and made our way up Bodega Avenue, only to quickly descend for nearly two miles on Watertrough Road. The rush of the cool wind felt wonderful as the weather continued to warm up. At Bloomfield Road we took Canfield through Roblar and made our way into Marin County. In Valley Ford, we passed a farm with hundreds of black cows. Our entire peloton began to taunt the herd with collective “mooing”, which was reciprocated by the bovine pack. We proceeded for a brief climb up Carmody Road and took Tomales-Petaluma Road into my favorite bakery. Our large group quickly depleted the best pastry supply, and I had a delicious coconut dream bar (as they ran out of sticky buns – darn you, Denise, for getting the last one). After a short break, we climbed up Highway One for 15 miles and descended into the town of Bodega Bay (photo). The sky was bright blue and our endorphins kicked into overdrive as we climbed 1,600 feet up Coleman Valley Road. This is one of the most beautiful ascents around and we cheered during the racing downhill descent ending at Bohemian Highway. Tour of California signs abound on our route as precursors to Monday’s event (photo). We cycled up windy Graton Road to Hwy 116, merging onto Occidental Road till Sanford. We contemplated on how the TOC racers must feel as they will proceed from this point down Hall Road and onto West Third for their final stretch into downtown Santa Rosa. We accelerated our pace to nearly 25 mph to simulate the ending race stage while receiving confused looks from downtown pedestrians. It must be exhilarating for these pro-cyclists to speed to the finish amidst cheering spectator-lined roads. We were blessed with exceptional weather, enthusiastic participation, and fervent anticipation of Monday’s TOC stage. Our second prelude ride covered 91 miles and thousands of feet climbing. Wahoo!

My apologies for the last few missing GuBoy reports. As time permits, I will endeavor to post those ride summaries and photos.