Victory Lap

This weekend I finally took my victory lap around the Vineman course.  I made an attempt to hit up all the wineries that made me gaze, smile, sigh, wish, and say, "one day" when I rode by. 

So with the help of some great friends, we spent the 3 day weekend up in Sonoma playing in wine country.  Of course, the thing about these kind of trips is that you NEVER get to all the places you wanted to go.  There just isn't enough time.  But, we knew that going into it and we still managed to cover a lot of ground and get some training in.  

I re-arranged my training schedule to have a recovery day on Saturday.  Nick and Robin went for a run and then Robin made us do the Ab Ripper for 15 minutes, where the host said, "the tip of the day is don't do this every day."  An understatement.  My abs are still recovering three days later.

OK, so on to the victory lap....

Our first winery of the day was Merry Edwards, which is not on the Vineman course, but she specializes in pinots.  And, I like pinots.  Definitely recommend going here.

From there, we went over to Rocchioli, which is around Mile 11 or 12.  They are a cult pinot provider and have a 5 year waiting list to get their single vineyard wines.  The wine was excellent.  The tasting room wasn't too exciting.  However, the vineyard was beautiful and I loved this cat just hanging out on the picnic tables.

Then we walked next door to Hop Kiln, which the girls really liked because of all the cute things in the shop.  The Cantonese boys had fun with all the "HK" or "HKG" signs.  And, the wine was really good, too!  It was definitely a lively winery.

The Asian squat

From there, we headed to Matrix, which is probably around Mile 17.  For some reason, this little lady out the front just always made me smile.  

As a pinot noir girl, I really enjoyed tasting here.  However, by now I probably also had too much to drink.  Or maybe I was just really really HUNGRY!

The next stop is supposed to be sandwiches at the Dry Creek General Store (another place I salivate at while on the bike), but in my tipsy state I kept calling it the Dry Creek Kitchen, which is a fancy restaurant in Healdsburg and not a deli on Dry Creek Rd!  Needless to say, I confused a whole lot of people, and we ended up in downtown Healdsburg.  I guess it didn't matter anyway because our cruise director kept reminding us there was no food to be getting if we were going to get to Bella in time.  Les calls and says he will meet us at Bella and that they have food there.  OK, fine!  So we get there and they only have baby corn dogs.  And, I don't eat hot dogs.  But I was desperate.

Maybe I've eaten a corndog as a child, but for all I know,
this really could have been my first corndog ever.  I'm not sure.

The corndog is not enough.  Phil and I are still starving.  Les thinks he has some nutrition in the car.  He manages to find us some Gu or Powerbar type of products and some Sport Beans.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Eating Sports Beans for lunch.  With wine.  Gross.

Hanging at Bella

On Sunday, we rode the Vineman loop.  And, I had a really really excellent ride despite all the wine consumption the day before.  I also finally got to eat at the Dry Creek General Store (after the ride, of course). 

Potty break around the halfway mark

Since Teldeschi is next door to the Dry Creek General Store, we walked over there for a quick tasting (Mile 25ish).  It was just weird.  Skip it, in case you were ever thinking about it.  Those of us that rode headed back to the house we rented to shower and change.  The rest continued their tasting adventures.  And, they must have had a really good time because they came back giddy, happy, and loopy (except the driver, of course)!

Things really slowed down on Monday and we hit up two wineries on Highway 128 (Mile 37ish).  First was Soda Rock, which is a sister winery of Mazzocco (one of the wineries I missed when I was riding) and Matrix.  This place is adorable!  Great wine, too.

And, I always said I would go back to White Oak.  I had used their bathroom once during a ride when it rained for at least 40 miles.  They are bicycle friendly.  I remember just standing in the bathroom for a good 15 minutes, grateful for the roof and heat and Kleenex, trying to get mentally prepared to go back out in to the pouring rain.  And, I told myself I would come back as a proper patron one day.

From the 128

Even prettier when it's not raining

And that concludes my victory lap!  There were 2-3 other wineries I really wanted to visit on the Vineman loop that I didn't get to experience.  But,  I know I'll be riding up there again so another time it shall be!