Napa Valley Ride October 2006 - Sacramento Road Cruisers

RIDE REPORT:

What a day for a ride. To my surprise and joy to see him up and riding Tom White joined us today.

11 bikes 13 riders headed out from Lyons to Winters for the first stop of the day. And of course what SRC Ride would not be complete if I did not miss a turn. Well I did. Missed the Hyw 113 exit and decided we needed to come from the south not the north for this trip (second year I have done this. Hmmmmmm) and with everyone scratching their heads off we went. Once in Winters we all had a good laugh and fueled up and headed to the next stop.

This trip is the first trip past Berryessa that the shale was not all over the road. It was nice to ride at limit and not have to worry about the rocks in the road. The traffic was light and for the most part moving at a good clip. Our next stop is at the Corners General Store. This is now a Cafe and beer stop. Not much to see but makes for a good rest spot.

From here we head down Hyw 128 to the Knoxville Rd. This takes you along 13 miles of Lake Berryessa Shoreline and meadows. We turn on to Pope Canyon Rd and head for Angwin. As always this part of the ride is what we look for riding in the trees. The smell of pine and grapes fills your nose. The turns are slow but can be demanding if your attention drifts. This drops you into the town of Angwin. From here it is all down hill to the Silverado Trail and on into Calistoga.

Here we stop at Buster's BarBeQue. What can I say? The food is good and it never hurts to have good friends to share it with.

Once we were fueled up we headed north to Clear Lake. This part of the trip is great. Up hill and tight turns. We twist ourselves up through the Robert Louis Stevenson State Park. If you have never ridden up through this part of Hyw 29 you should. Hyw 29 turns into a real fun ride. You more than likely will have traffic but even at 35 to 40 mph you can still enjoy the road.

This trip as we had a couple of short tanks we rode over to Clear Oaks to fuel up and then down Hwy 20. This has some section that for the twisty ride is just what the doctor ordered. But unfortunately there was construction going on and this turned into 5 mph crawl and through the best part. Bummer.

Once down the hill to Hwy 16 we waited to get the crew together again then off to Woodland with a stop in Guinda. Hwy 16 runs down the Cache Creek. This little river cuts up the canyon into nice long stretches of curves that at speed limit are just fabulous to hold. Very little slow down is required for the turns just let it roll. This comes to a nice runout down through the Capay Valley. This is a nice spot to stop and relax. There is a General store were you can get a drink. and it is about the right spot along the way to be taking a break. After a good rest we headed to Woodland. In Woodland we stopped and fueled up ad did our farewells.

It was a good day for a great ride.

Till next time.

Pic's can be seen at: http://vstar6.spaces.live.com/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c02_owner=1

Robert Stowers (Sparky)
BU1 ( SCWS ) USNRET