411 miles and not a twisty or curve in sight

The day began perfectly. Sunny but not too warm. Then San Francisco loomed and gone was the sun until Paso Robles. Minimal traffic and not even one curve to speak of. Bernadette runs amazingly and is such a different ride than Dash.  Talk about pick up and go.  A couple little issues to resolve before the Colorado Jeremiah Johnson Tour but overall almost 1,300 miles without any troubles.

Here is what I looked at for the trip home.  Decided I would just boogey onward and not make any side trips.

 

At just over 10,000 miles (on the odomoeter) this lovely little cryptic message appeared. Apparently Ducati equates this to “maintenance.” Italians are not the best spellers. Thank goodness for the internet I was trying to figure out what that message meant until I finally looked it up. It was like trying to figure out people’s vanity plates.

So now it is off to the “spa.” Bernadette doesn’t like the term garage. She wants to be rubbed lovingly with microfiber towels and drink synthetic oil from champagne glasses. Italians!

Here is a map of the entire ride. Bernadette’s first official outing in preparation for Colorado. A total of 1,296 miles and not ONE issue.

163 miles of Northern CA twisties…again

The last day and it was wonderful. The day was warm but not hot. The roads were technical but not too technical. We got a leisurely start to the day and headed out to Berryessa along the 128. A truly twisty road with a lot of variety
Here are some pictures when we stopped at Berryessa Lake

This is a picture of the biggest birds nest I have ever seen

We took our leave and returned to the 128. It began as a lovely road newly paved without a bump or mar to the surface. It then turned into a typical road with grooves and ruts. It then turned into the what the hell road. It was almost unbearable.
At a road stop we spoke with the flag man who told us this continued for another 20 minutes He recommended we turn around and take Pope Valley which we promptly did

This road turned into Howell Mountain road which was spectacular. I thought we should just simply continue to ride this back and forth for the remainder of the day.
Here is what it looked like on the map

The rest of the day was spent seeking squiggly roads and honestly too many to remember. I, of course, had to have an incident and on one of the many roads a Uturn had me nervous and down went Bernadette. It was totally my fault if I had just taken the turn properly all would have been avoided. Jimmy returned to help me pick up Bernadette and no harm was done to machine or rider. Lesson learned!
The pictures below show the differences in terrain on each of the roads. From gravel to redwoods and everything in between

And the last stop before parting ways was the Russian River

Can’t wait to see you again next year Jimmy and Laura. Thank you for inviting me along on your California adventure!!

Santa Rosa to Napa only 288 miles

Talk about the long way around. Ha ha. The day started out with me meeting Jimmy and Laura in Mountain View. It was cold (of course) and rainy (what?). I got a later start which was great for me but not for them. Their flight from Vancouver was canceled so they got in a day later.
Here is the Richmond Bridge which I had never biked over before so that was fun

Once at the bike rental my Canadian friends showed up just a few moments after me

In no time at all Jimmy’s garmin got us on and off the 101 freeway for no reason. Garmins! Riding through towns in search of the windiest 200 miles we made our way through Quimbey to the 130 and then to Lick Observatory.

Here we are at the Lick Observatory. We had the entire road to ourselves (picturesque view to follow)

And here is a portion of the windy road

After this stop we picked up so many roads I can’t recall them all. But I do know that none of them were straight. They were all twisty. We eventually ended up on the 84 west into Union City and then decided to follow 84 east which is a portion of the Lincoln Highway (US 50) which I love so much.
We then ended up at the top of Grizzley Peak then off to circle what was I thought a lake but it turned out to be a reservoir which I tried forever to get a picture of as it came in and out if view This is what I ended up with

Grizzley Peak

We then went to Port Costa and found a very funky bar/restaurant.

Here are some straggler pictures that I cannot remember where we were when I took them. But if you stitch them together and add another 1000 more that was the day. Just spectacular .

A great ride with super fun people

After finding our hotel in Napa the three of us went for a wonderful Tapas meal in town and then Jimmy photo bombed some unsuspecting college students at the local hangout. After getting sufficiently drunk Laura couldn’t resist taking a photo.

Jimmy says this is me showing him a good time. I say this is us after too many drinks

Kayaking on the Russian River

No trip to Santa Rosa is complete without an upper body workout on the river. It was such a lovely day and I went with about 27 other people. And these people liked to drink. You would never know they were a group of elementary school teachers (and one principal).

Me all alone on the river…just the way I like it!

Some of the wild life…

Guess I got to close because that Heron took off and it had a wingspan like a Boeing 747

A super fun day with a lot of crazy teachers!