Tour of Napa Valley

How I would have liked to have titled this blog entry "Naughty in Napa" but not so for this year's trip to Napa to do the Tour of Napa Valley. If you can't sleep some night, you might find that my 2007 and 2009 entries are far more entertaining.

The Boyfriend and I spent the weekend at our usual hideaway, a winery with some lodgings, lovely place near St. Helena. Saturday morning, the sky was overcast and the air rather chilly, as our summer has been this year. It struck me to visit the Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park on Atlas Peak Road where my beloved cat Cabbage is buried. It's off Silverado Trail. Lovely road for cyclists and we saw a few.




After the marine layer burned off, we did a portion of the 100 mile route of the Tour of Napa Valley. We climbed Mt. Veeder and descended Oakville Grade (photo above). 38 miles total.






For the tour on Sunday, the weather changed for the better and the marine layer burned off quickly. Above is my friend P along with The BF at the first rest stop. I saw her again at the lunch stop and then at a Starbucks on the way home. Pity we didn't bike together.






As for the Tour -- like my friend P, I first did this tour in 2005 on my hybrid. This year was the first time with my new bike, the Specialized Ruby. Okay people, no one flirted with me. Did my fancy bike scare them off? What's a tour without flirting! What was I to do? Oh my God, bike? Even my best buddy Lorraine at work said, "No flirting! What did you do for 5 hours?" Exactly!

I am convinced people, convinced that The BF who opted to do the 100K this time, was marking his territory with chemicals (pheromones?) that told male cyclists in some secret language hands off. The BF is probably shaking his head, wondering about my mental state.

At least I saw a pink cow on the Silverado Trail! So, how did I do? Well, minus the motivational flirting factor --

in 2007, I averaged 14.4 mph (probably because I consumed massive amounts of gels)
in 2009, I averaged 13.3 mph.

This time around, I had the new bike and my tushy was in pain. My friend P suggested that I get the Ruby saddle, and I will consider it. Later though, I remembered that I forgot to apply body butter to my bum! And I wore shorts that irritate me. Brilliant. The Tour of Napa Valley is a beautiful ride, the food is fantastic, the volunteers are super and like other tours this year, going green (recycling efforts).

Just the stats:

67 miles
13.2 mph avg.
31.5 max descent
5 hr. 26 min.