Pedaling myself up to my own pedestal

Heading out to Napa a couple of Saturdays ago, I turned onto Highway 29 and was greeted with a sky peppered with hot air balloons. It's always a good sign when there are balloons up: 1) they are lovely and peaceful and remind me of my fabulous morning in a balloon a couple years ago and 2) they do not go up if it's too windy, so when I see the balloons, I know I'm not going to have a horribly windy ride. I didn't get a great shot of the balloons, which is probably good because I was driving at the time.

There are parts of the route that cover the same ground that the NCAC '07 covered, and even though those 4 days were the hardest 4 days of cycling I've ever had, I miss riding that route and I miss how that year felt. Even so, this Napa ride scares me. The elevation chart shows a 12-mile hill from Lake Hennessey to the Pope Valley General store. Not a huge hill, but an unrelenting one. Then a killer climb on Ink Grade that I stopped on several times last year so that I might catch my breath enough to curse the hill, the bike, the choices I'd made. Then an amazing downhill from about 4 miles past Ink Grade back to the Silverado Trail, which has (for another day) some of the best wineries in the Napa Valley.

We had much better weather than the last time we were in Napa - sunny, no rain, and warm-ish temps. We also had a great crowd of strong cyclists, some of whom had no idea what they were in for, which was nice. With only a few weeks left before NCAC '09, getting in long miles, building endurance, and hill-training is what each of us are focusing on. This ride hits all those points. And then some.


I didn't take very many pictures as I spent most of the day talking myself through the ride. Sometimes these prettier rides are harder to photograph because the camera can't quite capture it (or maybe I can't quite capture it with the camera).

A photo of me and Emily at Lake Hennessey courtesy of Jen. One of my favorite areas to ride (I think I say that a lot).



Here we are hanging out (for too long) at the Pope Valley General Store. I was rather grumpy after the 12 mile hill and didn't want to talk to anyone. Although, I did end up lending someone 10 bucks with which he bought a burrito and some gatorade and haven't gotten it back. I guess I wasn't so grumpy that I couldn't give money away.

I was a little reluctant to leave the store because I knew that within a mile and a half, I'd be climbing Ink Grade and I wasn't feeling ready for that. But it wasn't like there was another option.

So remember how I said Ink Grade goes straight up and seemed not to end and was so hard? It was interesting to take to that hill, start climbing it, and all the while anticipating the point where I was just going to get defeated. This year, I over-estimated the mileage, rather than under-estimated like I did last year. I also found I was passing people on the hill (yes, me) and just kept going on up and then, poof, it was over. It was a little surreal. What happened to that great big insurmountable beast? What happened to the a**-kicking and near-puking?

I didn't take any photos while climbing, but turned around when I got to the top:

It feels weird to me to be more or less publically patting myself on the back, but I assure you, my self-congratulatory tone comes from my own surprise and my desire to accurately record my progress, rather than a place of cocky self-importance. Or at least I hope that's the case.
Some vineyards along the Silverado Trail before returning to the lovely town of Yountville.

Next up we had a Benchmark ride and as of this posting, exactly 3 weeks to NCAC '09. Yee haw.