Uncle Jam's Army
05-17-2012, 10:30 PM
So I am in Northern California this week for work, and managed to base myself out of Santa Rosa for the last three days. Did a little jaunt over to Occidental and Graton yesterday. But, the crown jewel of this trip was supposed to be Geyser Road, which I have never done in my previous trips up here. I manage to schedule my work to have this afternoon off to tackle the climb, and printed out the cue sheet from the Santa Rosa Cycling Club for the ride. The first 9.2 miles are on mostly flat, gently undulating terrain on Geyserville Road/Asti Road. The first two pics are of the road along Geyserville Road, which has a ton of vineyards. The third pic is of a bridge in Cloverdale.
The cue sheet from Santa Rosa Cycling Club led me astray, as it called for a right turn at 1st street, followed by a left on Crocker Road after 0.2 miles. Well, that's not accurate. At 0.15 miles, before the bridge in picture 3, there is a sign that says Crocker Road. So I turned left, but this led to a dead end, with a small cemetery (think Pet Semetary) and a dirt road running next to it. There was a group of burly guys in orange jump suits working on the road next to the cemetery, and I right before I turned up the dirt road to ask them for directions, I noticed the trucks they arrived in were Department of Corrections Fire Crew. The whole scene just seemed like something out of a David Lynch movie and, for better, or worse, I passed on asking for directions.
I flailed away riding through a bunch of side roads that never went anywhere and then flatted. I quickly fixed the flat, only to receive an email that an associate from our office needed for me to review her brief before it was sent to the client.
On my way back onto the road where the bridge is in the third picture, I saw a guy on a cruiser stop by the bridge and I asked him if he knew where Geyser Road was. He mentioned it was just down the road about a half a mile past the bridge and then a left. Sizing me and my gut up, the guy tells me, "that is a bad ass climb, you better be a bad ass if you do that." To which I replied, "Yes I am." And then I turned around and headed back to the car. Luckily, I had a wicked tailwind on the way back, so I was able to get back to the car quickly and review the brief the associate sent me on my cell phone. All told only a 30-mile ride, and didn't get onto Geyser Road. It will have to wait for another trip.
The cue sheet from Santa Rosa Cycling Club led me astray, as it called for a right turn at 1st street, followed by a left on Crocker Road after 0.2 miles. Well, that's not accurate. At 0.15 miles, before the bridge in picture 3, there is a sign that says Crocker Road. So I turned left, but this led to a dead end, with a small cemetery (think Pet Semetary) and a dirt road running next to it. There was a group of burly guys in orange jump suits working on the road next to the cemetery, and I right before I turned up the dirt road to ask them for directions, I noticed the trucks they arrived in were Department of Corrections Fire Crew. The whole scene just seemed like something out of a David Lynch movie and, for better, or worse, I passed on asking for directions.
I flailed away riding through a bunch of side roads that never went anywhere and then flatted. I quickly fixed the flat, only to receive an email that an associate from our office needed for me to review her brief before it was sent to the client.
On my way back onto the road where the bridge is in the third picture, I saw a guy on a cruiser stop by the bridge and I asked him if he knew where Geyser Road was. He mentioned it was just down the road about a half a mile past the bridge and then a left. Sizing me and my gut up, the guy tells me, "that is a bad ass climb, you better be a bad ass if you do that." To which I replied, "Yes I am." And then I turned around and headed back to the car. Luckily, I had a wicked tailwind on the way back, so I was able to get back to the car quickly and review the brief the associate sent me on my cell phone. All told only a 30-mile ride, and didn't get onto Geyser Road. It will have to wait for another trip.