Tomales Sticky Bun Ride

A dozen riders for a dozen sticky buns! Today’s peloton of Adam, Ben, Eric, Gayle, Jean, Jen Linda, Mike, Phil B, Phil R, Shaun, and Steve began our adventure from Santa Rosa’s Finley Park on College Avenue and headed towards Graton via Fulton/Hall/Sanford and Occidental Roads. At the Mills Station Road turn off, we stopped briefly to shed some extra clothing as the weather warmed up early. It was nice having Len Allaire providing premium SAG support (thanks, buddy). We began the 900 foot climb up Cherry Ridge and Occidental Roads. Eric and Ben effortlessly zoomed ahead while the rest of our pack gradually navigated the climb to the top. The resulting descent was beautiful and the cool breeze felt great as we made our way speeding into the charming town of Occidental. Jen and Steve found themselves with “pinch flats” due to a particularly sharp bump in the Union Hotel parking lot. After a quick tire changing break, our peloton continued the route with another fabulous descent on Bohemian Highway towards Freestone. Herds of cows and sheep populated the countless farms along the route past Bodega Highway into Valley Ford. The road became noticeably smoother as we crossed into Marin County. We ascended the steep incline of Middle Road and enjoyed the resulting rolling terrain and traffic-free roads as we made our way towards Dillon Beach. A final 40+ mph descent took us right into the quaint bayside town of Tomales. Their world famous bakery had prepared a dozen sticky-buns just for our group (by previous arrangement). We rested up, inhaled some pastry, rehydrated, and began another climb onto Shoreline Highway. The area views were magnificent and we enjoyed several mini climbs/descents on Fallon, Gericke, and Valley Ford Roads. We broke into a few pace line packs as we passed the town of Bloomfield on Roblar Road. A slight crosswind made our cycling on Canfield Road a bit more labored, but Phil Bourke strongly took the lead of our pack, pulling us for almost five miles (must be that good Australian blood). We made our way into residential Sebastopol via Pleasant Hill and Lynch Roads with a final, tricky turn onto Gravenstein Highway. We all met up at the Joe Rodota Trail, a beautiful multipurpose off-road pathway, which took us right into Santa Rosa. We cycled back to Finley Park just in time for lunch. Today’s ride was a blast (and delicious) covering 52 miles and 4,700+ feet of climbing though the best of rural Sonoma and Marin Counties. Life is good!

Check out today’s Garmin GPS ride details.