May 23, 2002

Trying for 100 miles this week, but if I don't ride another mile, I did pretty well anyway.

Today's ride came from the Press-Democrat's Clip'n'Go Maps. It was a very pleasant ride; a lot less elevation change than Tuesday's 40-mile monster.

For the record, the tiny Press-Democrat map would've gotten me lost at a number of turns. Luckily, I studied another map and took notes. At Forestville, if you were doing this route counter-clockwise, I'm not sure you would ever find the West County/Joe Rodota bike trail - there may be an easier road-bike route to it than the one I normally take on my mountain bike, which goes south on first street, south-west across a dirt parking lot, and onto the skinny gravelly path. The path starts and stops in a few places; those are well-signed as you go. If you're on a mountain bike, there are single-track trails on both sides of the Gravenstein Highway between Occidental and Mill Station roads.

For the clockwise route, I added the following notes to my clipped'n'gone Press-Demo map:

• In Forestville, when you get to the main street (Hwy 116), turn left to get to Mirabel.
• Turn right from Mirabel onto River Road. This part is not pretty, but is short.
• From River Rd., turn left onto Wohler.
• From Wohler, turn right onto Eastside.
• From Eastside, turn right onto Trenton-Healdsburg.
• From Trenton-Healdsburg, turn left onto Mark West Station Rd.
• From Mark West Station, turn left onto Starr Rd.
• Follow Starr all the way to its end at Old Redwood Highway, and turn right.
• From Old Redwood, turn left onto Arata Lane.

The above gets you to Foothill; the Henbree/Old Redwood/Fulton stretch is pretty easy (albeit ugly).

The ride is advertised as 33 miles, 3:30. For me today it was actually 36.6 miles, 3:40. That included a loop through Foothill Regional Park, with lunch at a picnic table atop a very hot, dry, and quiet hill. Foothill will be nice for after-work hiking sometime. Three ponds, some pretty nice trails, lotsa lizards... I saw a great blue heron at one of the ponds, but unfortunately spooked it so I couldn't get the camera out quick enough for the very impressive view from above of it taking off across the pond.

The first part, clockwise from Sebastopol to Foothill, was lovely - often downright gorgeous, if you like vineyards. And even if, like me, you don't particularly like vineyards, you get some nice sweeping views, and a lot of peace and quiet, with very little traffic along Mark West Station and Starr roads.

I got a little weary towards the end, and long boring stretches of Old Redwood Hwy and Fulton Rd make me think it'd be better as an out-and-back ride from Sebastopol to Foothill, but I still tried (and mostly succeeded) to keep up a strong pace. Most of the route is reasonably flat, and reasonably safe - the only hairy moments are on River Road and of course going through Sebastopol.

I took a tumble right at the beginning - just north of O'Reilly the trail turns into a single-track beside Highway 116. Someone was "kind" enough to "prune" the overhanging trees - which left an inch-thick evergreen branch with a diagonal cut sticking out right above the trail. I tucked to go under it, but it snagged my backpack! And down I went into the ditch. No major or even minor injury, obviously (since I rode 35 more miles after this), but I may have to go back there with a saw. Funny, though, I've gone through that same place four or five times this spring.

To give an idea of how flat this route is, the first high point - and the second-highest point on the loop - is actually on the bike path, which used to be a railroad grade. The highest point on the profile is on Mirabel Road, just north of Forestville. The next spike is just north of the Russian River. The double spikes at about 14 miles are on Starr Road. The last high point, at about 18 miles, is right near the entrance to Foothill Regional Park (where I rode an additional 3 miles or so and climbed 300 feet or more).