Friday, 2 May 1997
Maybe it’s because there were no rides scheduled for the north bay. Maybe it’s because some of us had the time. In any case, Mac called and suggested Friday ride. Sounded like a good idea to Paul and me. We met at 7:00 AM at the corner of 20th and Vicente in San Francisco. From there …
- Across the Golden Gate, north up 101 to Petaluma. Breakfast in Petaluma.
- Continue north on 101 to the north end of Santa Rosa
- East on Mark West Springs Rd toward Calistoga. This is actually a series of roads; Mark West Springs Rd to Porter Creek Rd to Petrified Forest Rd to Highway 29 and you are in Calistoga.
- North on 29 over the hill to Middletown and the 29/175 junction.
- North on 175 over Cobb mountain. No traffic. A beatiful section of road that I don’t remember being on in quite a long time. 175 meets 29 again, just east of Lower Lake.
- South on 29 back toward Middletown. Just before Middletown we head East on on Butts Canyon Rd.
- To Napa (and lunch) via Butts Canyon Rd, Pope Valley Rd, Pope Canyon Rd, Berryessa-Knoxville Rd, and others that I can’t remember.
- A direct route from Napa to home, 29/35/80/101/280 in my case.
Weather and traffic were perfect: not too much of either. I logged about 280 miles, more than half of them on great twisty roads.
In a future ride I suggest taking the Morgan Valley road instead of Butts Canyon, etc. Morgan Valley starts at the 29/53 junction just south of Lower Lake and eventually hits/turns into Berryessa-Knoxville Rd.