Wine on Velodromedary

SMART-assisted Sonoma trails-tacos-beer ride

Fri, 16 Jul 2021 04:38:00 +0000

Ten years ago I’d go on a 70 or 80 mile ride to Santa Rosa for a beer at Russian River Brewing… but I’m not feeling anywhere near that strong these days.

But I’d been musing for a while about some sort of Russian River area ride on some bike paths I’d wanted to scope out, assisted by the newer Marin/Sonoma SMART train.

One transit-heavy way to do this could be to take BART to El Cerrito del Norte, change to Golden Gate Transit bus #40 from that station to the San Rafael Transit Center, and hop on the SMART train there… but there are some timing logistics to make work:

4th Annual* Livermore Wine Ride

Tue, 21 Jan 2014 04:59:00 +0000

I declared (to myself) a 2014 bikeit motto “The Year of Dirt”. Not extreme mountain biking or log-jumping, but riding to the sort of places only accessible by a fire road or dirt trail. For example, a break in a day of wine tasting to explore dirt paths to an abandoned winery being reclaimed by vines…

That was just one part of a great day– a casual, scenic ride through Livermore, for the fourth year in a row (a small group of 5 this time, not the rolling party of 31 from last time).

Livermore Wine Ramble #3: recap

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 06:03:00 +0000

A casual day of bike riding, picnicking, and wine tasting around the Livermore area. The initial interest in this many-times-rescheduled ride and the good weather made me think 15 people might show up… but it was a group of 31, word of mouth through three degrees of separation. Thanks for being great, everyone.

Riding a few miles through Sycamore Grove Park– interesting trees on either side, bridges to ride over, and almost no cross-streets or signs of other people:

Photos from our recent 7-person Livermore wine country ride (in somewhat-brutal 95-degree heat), over a 30-mile route.

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Vineyard Ride (France) from a few years ago

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 01:00:00 +0000

(San Francisco rides are on hiatus for June, but here are photos and a map from a ride from two years ago, which I’d never got around to writing up)

After a week in France for work (lucky me, I know), I impulsively bought some detailed road/topo maps at the Espace IGN in Paris, a map-lover’s dream. Then I took a train to Épernay (a famous champagne town and region) and rented a bike for €15/day at the Bulleo swimming pool / sports center at the edge of town (map), which had strict rules about appropriate swimwear:

Took a risk, transported a case of wine with the custom pannier and backpack pannier.

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 23:11:16 +0000

Took a risk, transported a case of wine with the custom pannier and backpack pannier.

In Bothe-Napa, after a day of riding and some wine tasting

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 02:08:35 +0000

In Bothe-Napa, after a day of riding and some wine tasting

Bike camping weekend of 9/11

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:21:06 +0000

I’m planning on going self-supported bike camping for the first time the weekend of 9/11. I’ve had about 5 people say they might be interested, so probably at least a few of us will end up doing it.

The rough plan is to take the ferry from SF to Vallejo Saturday morning, go on a 40ish mile ride through Napa Valley (Napa / Yountville / St Helena / Calistoga) at a steady but non-racing, no-one-left-behind pace (we’ll be carrying all our gear), stop periodically for wine tasting, and then camp in Bothe-Napa State Park.

Photos from the east bay vineyard ride. The weather was pretty much perfect, and we saw jackrabbits, a wild turkey, other...

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 02:54:00 +0000

Photos from the east bay vineyard ride. The weather was pretty much perfect, and we saw jackrabbits, a wild turkey, other strange birds, and several groups of spandex-clad bicyclists.

3/28 Vineyard Ride Plan

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:25:53 +0000

Meet at 11AM at Dublin/Pleasanton BART (a ways out there: about a 50-minute BART ride from 16th & Mission, for example).

Hitting up Ruby Hill Winery in Livermore first for a picnic (they sell bread and cheese) and tasting, about an 8 mile ride: http://www.rubyhillwinery.net/tastingroom.html

Next stops TBD.