Wine via bike Part I

After being inspired by our friend's self-guided bike trip through Tuscany, we booked one closer to home.  We toured with Wine Country Bikes, and THEY ARE AWESOME.  Andy, our contact and a fellow Madison native, had us pegged from the beginning.  Everyday was flawlessly planned thanks to him.  We flew into SFO, spent a few nights in Napa, then met up at Wine Country bikes to start our adventure.

Our 4 day Sonoma Adventure Bike Tour was a blast.  Our trip is broken down in this map starting and ending in Healdsburg.  (Map from Wine Country Bikes) Highly recommend this tour and bicycling through wine country.  Cyclists are very common in the area, and when you roll up to a fancy winery for a tasting in sweaty spandex clothing they will think nothing of it!

We like wine.  A lot.  What a fantastic way to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary.

We biked a total of 107-116 miles in four days averaging around 27 miles per day with optional side trips to wineries and up into the redwoods.  All of our maps, guidance, and rented equipment was fantastic. 

The end of Day 1 and beginning of Day 2 were pretty tough and reminded us that we don't really have "hills" in the midwest.  We biked DOWN this road to the Pacific Ocean and Hwy 1, acutely aware of unmarked cattle guards.  Right as we came out, there was a gentleman who turned in to go UP it.  Crazy man!

Did I mention the hills?  Three chevrons on the map and I'm-a-walkin'.  Beautiful scenery ranged from rows of planted vines, redwoods, and misty ocean to a winding river.

What a guy!  He clinked around carefully with as much wine as we could fit in that little bag (most of our wine is getting shipped when the weather cools down).  Wine Country Bikes will pick up your wine purchases for you and move them to your next Inn along with your luggage.  We didn't want to ask them to only pick up a few bottles, but you can when you tour with them.  They are very willing to accommodate.

Sorry this is blurry (what happens when we give our camera to someone else).  We stopped up at Armstrong Redwood Park.  Why would anyone ever want to cut these beautiful trees down!

A nice hike through redwoods on day three to loosen up the legs.

Everything about this trip was different from our other trips.  Truly a unique adventure to be had.  We met so many sincerely nice people-locals and tourists.  One bachelorette party even put their glasses down to cheer us on when they saw us chugging up a hill to the tasting room.  How sweet it was.  Everyone commented on how fun it would be to bike instead of drive their rental car.  We agree! 
Just don't get a CUI, cycling under the influence. 8-)