On Sunday I rode the Napa Valley Tour, a hundred mile bike ride though one of the world's great wine regions. Like a kid on Christmas morning, I was up before dawn and raring to go. The day started foggy and cool in the mid 50's. The tour took about six hours of peddling time and seven hours elapsed time. The fog cleared by 10 am. When we rolled across the finish at 2pm it was clear and seventy five. We got a lucky break with awesome weather.

The ride winds through Napa county, up two big climbs, through many vineyards. There were a couple of nice rest stops, manned by cheerful volunteers providing lots of good food and liquids.

Napa Map

My buddy Pat invited me on the tour, I roped in my brother in law who was already scheduled to visit Heidi and me in San Fran.

Thanks to Pat, I was riding as part of a group of eight riders, all pictured below at the top of the Ink Grade which was the second and last big climb of the route. (you can click on it for a larger image with all of our names).

And some shots from near the end of the ride:

Pat, Russ, Ray

Kurt, Russ, Pat, Stacy

Me, Joel

Rachel

Joel

If you're a geek, you can download the GPS data and open it in Google Earth and then fly the route.

If you're a little less geeky but still want to play with the route, you can check it out here

Ride photos are here

GPS data complements of my Edge 305