IS THIS THE PERFECT STAGE?

Today may have been the best stage of the week. Now, granted, one’s perspective is largely based on how they felt – and rode – throughout the day, but still . . .

As has been the norm for the past three days, there was a lot of nervous laughing and ribbing at breakfast this morning. The big heroes of yesterday’s Geyser climb were moving really slow, and sitting VERY GINGERLY – athletes, at the peak of fitness! At least we had a buffet to fuel us up, which a few took full advantage of.

We rolled out of the Marriott Courtyard in Santa Rosa for a loop through the wine country. Before you start thinking it was all wicker baskets and tasting’s, the day began with a very short 8-mile warm-up, followed by a massive climb up and over Spring Mountain Road. This was made even tougher after the pain and miles of yesterday’s ride.

Still, Carter managed to do the day up right, with the majority of the climbing in the first 40-miles. This allowed for the obligatory jousting in the early hours, and a kindred spirit, just trying to get back to the barn in the afternoon – largely fueled by Bobbo, who finally showed himself in the mix.

We broke up into two main groups – the first included all the Jersey hopefuls, and those that just wanted to battle out the climbs. The second group was the smart one; they did the first big climb and then took a slightly shorter route back to the Alehouse Brewery for some well earned food and frosty.

I say they were the smart ones, because the rest of us had a second monster climb up and over Ink Grade Road – as one of our stalwart riders said, any street that has the word “Grade” in it should be avoided at all costs.

Though all was not lost for the first group, after arriving in Calistoga; there was a general consensus that the town was too cool to just roll through. Truth be told, Tom, who was suffering from his solo attack the previous day, simply veered left, rode up the sidewalk, threw his bike into the bushes and stated. “we’re having lunch!”. By the look in his eye, everyone was too scared to argue with him.

Best stop of the day – great sandwiches, nice folks, and chairs (funny how nice a seat that encompass’ your entire backside can be after four hard days).

This brings us to the Black Jersey award for the day. This one was easy, and occurred before we even rolled out for the day. The ever irrepressible Andrew announced that we should all meet up for lunch out on the route – claiming that he has simply not been able to spend enough quality time with everyone.

For those that know Andrew - or, heck, just met him - you are aware that in his world, there are no strangers, just those people that he has not yet met. But, again, I am off on a tangent and need to veer back to today’s winner. Andrew had just stated that he hasn’t seen enough of the riders, and needed a special luncheon bond – to which Steve Burke snapped back, “Well, maybe you should slow the *^@% down”. Congratulation’s Steve, you have brought yourself back to the grumpy New Jersey land of your birth.

One day to go, and the Yellow and Red Jersey’s are still looking pretty tight; Scott and Greg continue to battle it out, with the rest of falling off the leader’s boards. Tomorrow’s climb up and over Alpine Dam should seal the deal.

Andrew continues his lock on the Green Jersey, though Rick received some valuable sprint points in the race to the County line. For all, stay tuned, the coveted awarding will take place at the post ride party tomorrow night.

We’ll be meeting at Capannina’s in San Francisco for a well earned celebration. 1809 Union St, (between Laguna St and Octavia St in Cow Hollow)

• Today’s Stage, out and back from Santa Rosa.
• 95.1 miles with 5980 feet of climbing with a Max inclines of 18%
  
• So far we’ve covered 398.4 miles, with 28,470 feet of climbing