A beautiful day... 100 miles and 8000' of climbing through the coastal mountains and sonoma wine valley... what's not to 
like?
We stayed at the Flamingo resort -
complete with neon pink 100 foot high sign... and met a bunch of the Team Donate Life Race Across America (RAAM) riders for some beautiful pain :). I was 2.5 weeks into being back on the bike after the crash and vacation - with most of my riding on the trainer in the garage so I was a bit apprehensive.
As expected my climbing pace was not up to the pace of the leaders but I felt pretty good. The colors were showing and we had cool but perfect weather for riding. The route took us from Santa Rosa over into Glen Ellen and back ( about 3500 feet of climbing and then on rolling hills to the coast and Dillon Beach / Tamales - where we were greeted with a bit of mist and lunch). At the 50 mile mark my wrist was screaming "ENOUGH" so I joined Rachel in the sag wagon and took pictures.
The big climb of the day was the ironically named Joy Road up to Occidental - A 3 stage monster with sustained climbs totaling about 4.5 miles of 14 - 18% ( I admit to being glad I was in the car following the riders!)
All in all a fantastic ride with a fantastically fit and friendly bunch... Thanks for the invite TDL!
And everyone if you need a cause to get behind consider TDL in their RAAM challenge for this
year!Keep the rubber side down!! ... really:)
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