Sweetwater Springs Sunday Scramble

Susan, Paul, Trudy, Wes, Firouzeh, and I celebrated this first day of autumn with a Sunday afternoon metric century. It was perfect fall day beginning with overcast skies and moderate temperatures. We departed Railroad Square via the Prince Memorial Greenway to the Santa Rosa Creek Trail exiting at Fulton Road. We made our way past Piner High School when Trudy caught a “goat head” resulting in the day’s only flat tire (not bad for this time of the year). We traveled on Olivet and Oakwild in the direction of the Sonoma County Airport. Our peloton of five embarked on the first climb up Trenton Healdsburg Road. We cycled in wicked pace line down Eastside (see photo) making our way to Wohler and turning right on Westside Road for another ascent. Due to time constraints, Trudy & Paul headed off on the Warm Springs Dam route while the rest of us continued to Sweetwater Springs Road. This 10 mile climb of 2,000+ feet was made more difficult due to several washed out gravel sections. Despite the road conditions, Wes and Firouzeh were climbing champs, outpacing the group, even through the 18% grade at Sweetwater’s summit. Susan and I stopped to admire the blue sky stunning views at the very top and to catch our collective breaths (see photos). The sun was now fully exposed and the warmth was reminiscent of summer. After some hydration and Gu, we carefully navigated down the winding descents, passing the old Sweetwater rock quarry. We hit the cool shaded microclimate (what a relief) of the redwoods before arriving at Armstrong Woods Road. We cycled through the festive town of Guerneville stopping at Coffee Bazaar for pastries, lattes, and water bottle refills. Following a short socializing respite, we continued our climbing ventures on Mays Canyon, Green Valley, and Harrison Grade. Absolutely exhausting! After arriving at Tanuda, we were rewarded with the exciting two-mile descent of Graton Road. Firouzeh led the furious downhill towards Occidental at speeds of 40+ mph (Susan and I followed at a much more “reserved” velocity). We made our final climb up Green Hill to Occidental and then Cherry Ridge Road into Sebastopol. Our route continued onto Sanford, Hall, and Fulton Roads passing the Golf & Country Club. We headed home via the Santa Rosa Creek Trail towards downtown. It was another picture perfect riding day in Sonoma County. We cycled 62 miles with an elevation gain of 5,925 feet. Wahoo!