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We did it. A 70 mile bike ride from Vacaville, CA to Napa, CA.

It was about 30 miles each way and we decided to extend the ride just a little bit by stopping at the Heretic Brewery in Fairfield.

So, the ride is mostly flat heading out to Napa, you get to ride past some beautiful vineyards and through some windy roads that are only scary for part of the time. Most of the time, its just a nice ride. When you get to 121, however, that’s where the real climbing starts. It’s a lot of switchbacks which makes for an easier climb. Coming back however? Not so easy. We must have climbed for almost a solid hour — it’s like the road would never end. It was tiring and hot, but we made it. The downhills on both side were pretty exhilarating. I’ve never gone 30+ mph before on a bike — so I had to take it as slow as I safely could.

Overall, an awesome bike ride. Not too many crazy people out there on that road, but I can definitely see myself doing this ride a few more times before the big bike ride in September.

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31.1 mile with the Davis Bike Club this morning!

Overall it was a great ride. I started out pretty anti social, just hanging in the back of the group to get a feel for the ride. Turns out the group took off at the start and left 5 of us hanging in the back. The ride leader was part of the back group. I hung for a bit, waited to see if anyone wanted to start chatting and then took off and caught up with a nice lady that was caught up between the fast and slow groups. I determined really quickly that I have a hard time talking to people when riding. Must be the hearing loss or something, but when the wind kicks up I just can’t hear what people are saying.

As much as I like meeting new people, on a bike is just not the way for me. Unfortunately I probably just come off as being rude.

We got to the break spot, Steady Eddy’s which is a coffee shop that is overrun by bikers on the weekend. It was packed. We ended up staying there for about an hour. I met some cool people that were out on a ride and then met up with the rest of the group. The fast group just left and the others were hanging out for a bit, but it was getting to be a bit too much. So I volunteered to leave and a rider said he’d go with me… he was ready to leave as well. Turns out he was awesome and pushed me to ride my top speed. He’s been riding for 6 years and the bike club helped him get faster overall — now he’s on the race team. So, I think the bike club will be a good thing for me and help me get in shape for the big ride in Sept!!

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