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Guided cycling tours bring out the beauty of California wine country
By BOB COLON
THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN
HEALDSBURG, Calif. -- There are many ways to enjoy bicycle touring, but guided commercial tours are top of the line for adventuresome people who want to experience the outdoors.
The touring companies always supply two or three guides and they do the hard work. They'll fix your flats and do any other bicycle repairs needed. They'll even fill your water bottles and check the air in your tires every morning.
If you get tired, a guide is usually nearby in a van to provide a ride to the next stop or over that long hill. Route directions -- with basic, shorter and longer distances -- are provided each day.
Bike tours are group events, but you ride at your own pace and usually ride alone or with a few other cyclists.
My most recent guided commercial tour was in the Napa and Alexander valleys of California.
The California Wine Country tour was conducted by Backroads, based in Berkeley, Calif. (Cycling experts tell you to research the tour company before signing up.)
The Backroads people say the Wine Country tour is a "trip for all seasons," and I believe it after spending five days cycling through Northern California.
It was a full tour with 28 cyclists, including two guides.
This junket is listed among the top 50 bicycle tours on the planet by Bicycling magazine.
The tour I took -- during Christmas week -- is a tradition with Backroads, and two-thirds of the riders were family groups.
Being away from home during a major family holiday is a different experience. You lose track of time as you spend the days reading your daily route directions and cycling past the countless vineyards.
We started on Monday morning from Healdsburg, about a two-hour drive from San Francisco. We returned to Healdsburg on Friday afternoon.
The basic route distance was around 200 miles, but extra mileage was available for anyone wanting to get a more extended workout. And you could cut your days short if you wanted.
Northern California received plenty of El Niño rain in early December and has gotten more since our trip, but the weather was close to perfect for the cycling tour. It was dry and clear. It was cool most days and downright cold the final day as we cycled through the Russian River Valley.
Bicycle tours are designed for most levels of riders.
Our trip had one man from Austin, Texas, who brought his carbon-fiber Trek and rode several hours a day for months before the tour.
By contrast, a woman from Laguna Beach, Calif., said she had barely trained. "I don't own a bicycle," explained Mickie Claxton. "I rode a friend's bike to get ready for the trip. The first time I went out, I fell off the bike. I figured I'd maybe ride four miles a day and then spend the rest of the time riding in the van reading a book."
Nothing like that happened, as she rode nearly every mile of the route. "Doing this did so much for my self-esteem," she said.
Backroads suggests you be able to ride 20 miles a day and have enough energy to do that several days in a row. Good advice. It's always better to do things from a position of strength.
Backroads runs tours through the Wine Country 10 months of the year, and it appears the weather is agreeable most of the time. It's dry and warm in the summer -- several degrees warmer than in San Francisco. In the spring the vineyards are in full bloom and the sunny fields of wild mustard dominate the landscape. The fall brings golden hillsides and crisp mornings.
I'd rate the cycling as easy to moderate, with some challenging sections, particularly if you want to extend your days.
The trip I took was an inn-to-inn tour, but Backroads also features camping trips four months a year. Cost of the inn tour is $1,548, which includes all breakfasts, all dinners but one, and all but one lunch. It also includes five nights in good to spectacular hotels.
Backroads also has camping trips in the area for $798.
All but three of the riders on the tour rented Chimayo touring bikes from Backroads ($110). Nearly everyone opted for the van transfer from San Francisco to Healdsburg and back to San Francisco at the end of the trip ($50).
Day 1: Healdsburg to Calistoga, 34.1 miles -- It was awindy ride, with the portion on Route 128 particularly challenging into a headwind.
I did a weekend tour out of Calistoga several years ago, and few things have changed in the old town. There are many small shops in the downtown area, and that was a highlight of the day.
Day 2: Calistoga to Yountville, 24.6 miles -- The most enjoyable day, with most of the riding on the celebrated Silverado Trail. When I did this tour in August 1990, there was a triathlon going on the day we rode the Silverado Trail. It was hot as blazes then, with temperatures in the 90s for the Vineman Triathlon.
I stopped in St. Helena for lunch this Tuesday and was brought back to reality as many of the diners in the Mexican restaurant were exchanging Christmas gifts.
The Oakville Grocery Store near the end of the day is a stop everyone should make. It reminds you of an old-time general store but has an upscale clientele and trendy stock.
The vineyards were stunning again this day and Yountville, a more modern area, was easily the best town we visited.
Day 3: Yountville to Sonoma, 35.2 miles -- It was Christmas Eve and the wineries closed right after lunch.
Visiting wineries is one of the features of the tour, and one company sent an expert to explain wine tasting to us. One couple from Colorado stopped at nearly every winery, even though it was not easy to carry wine on their triathlon bikes.
I asked Mike Gordon if the backpack he carried was for extra weight for a good workout or to transport wine. "Both," Gordon said. "You buy the wine and that adds weight to the backpack."
Mike and his wife, Peggy, were among the fastest cyclists I've ever been around; a 50-mile day was a light workout for them.
This was a great day for exploring quiet rural roadways as we crossed the Napa County line and rode toward Sonoma.
The most interesting sight of the week greeted us that afternoon: a shepherd and three dogs tending a flock of about 200 sheep. What could be more seasonal on Christmas Eve?
Day 4: Sonoma to Bodega Bay, 44.2 miles -- Sonoma State has an enrollment of 6,800 students and is in Rohnert Park, Calif. It's an NCAA Division II school.
It was Christmas Day and few people were on the lovely campus as our group cycled through. It was cool again as we rode toward the Pacific Ocean.
Day 5: Bodega Bay to Healdsburg, 42.5 miles -- the temperatures were in the 30s and 40s on the final day of the tour. I can't remember a colder ride than the descent into the Russian River Valley.
California redwoods were a highlight as we rode through the towns of Duncans Mills and Monte Rio.
I stopped at a general store on the edge of Duncans Mills and visited with the storekeeper.
"I came down here from Oregon last March," she said. "The weather's been pretty good, except for early in December. We got 3 inches of rain in one day."
It was a sunny day, but you got an eerie feeling riding toward the center of Monte Rio through a corridor of giant redwoods.
Lunch would be in the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve in Guerneville.
"Everybody loves this place in the summer," explained Fernando Barrios, one of the Backroads guides. "We ride into the state park and it's about 20 or 30 degrees cooler in here."
We didn't need the temperature drop this day.
"We got to the park before the Backroads van," said Stan Brown of Santa Clarita, Calif., who was on his first bicycle tour. "We felt like we needed to cut down a tree and build a fire to warm up. The forest rangers wouldn't have gone for that."
For more information or to request a Backroads brochure, call 800-462-2848. The Backroads e-mail address is: goactivebackroads.comThe company's Web site is: http://www.backroads.com
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