2009 Fleche Velo Review, Part 2

This is the beginning of a rather long description of our bike ride.  I hate reading long blog entries myself.  But I’m too lazy to edit it into a tight, well-written account.  Sorry.  This entry is Leg 1, from Davis to Cloverdale.  More to follow soon.


4/5 of Team Sponge Bob
4/5 of Team Sponge Bob

The first leg from Davis over to Napa Valley via 128 is pretty familiar to most Davis cyclists.  It can get boring, especially here in the Central Valley (farmland, straight roads, flat).  But this time of year everything is green and wildflowers are everywhere, livening things up a bit.  In the right frame of mind, quiet landscape becomes meditative.

Once in Napa, we took a detour off the Silverado Trail to eat at Model Bakery in St. Helena.  It’s funny to think of going a few miles out of your way when you already are planning to ride over 200.  But on the other hand, what the hell?

Paul enjoying pizza and espresso at the Model Bakery
Paul enjoying pizza and espresso at the Model Bakery

We headed back to the Trail and up to Calistoga, then beyond to Knights Valley.  The entire stretch from Calistoga to Cloverdale was new to me, and we’ll be heading this way in a couple of weeks for the 400k.  So it was nice to get this preview.  The climb over into Knights Valley was gradual, shaded, and after all the traffic on Silverado Trail, relatively quiet.  After Knights Valley, the road passes through a really wonderful stretch of canyon along Maacama Creek before dropping into Alexander Valley. It’s the kind of scenery that makes you slow down to enjoy it, even on a nice descent.  I felt like a tourist pointing out deer, hawks, the cool stream . . .

Break at Jimtown store
Break at Jimtown store

We stopped again Alexander Valley at  Jimtown for a snack and coffee.  I don’t know if we stopped “in” or “at” Jimtown, actually.  It seems to consist solely of Jimtown Store.  Seems like a popular place for cyclists. It was a very cool place to hang out for a while, and they made a damned good espresso.

Geyserville - the town is actually nicer than this
Geyserville

We picked up a northwest headwind coming up through Alexander valley that stayed with us all the way to our turn-around point in Cloverdale.  The leg from Geyserville and Cloverdale was probably the most challenging, at least to me.  We were riding over rollers, into a headwind, next to the 101.  Not evil, or even all that unattractive.  But after the spectacular riding we had earlier, it was more unimpressive than anything else.  I guess, really, it was just the least fun stretch, because there was nothing particularly bad about it.

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