Santa Rosa Revisited

Me, Jana, KC, Sandy, Leslie, Carie, Vicki in our jerseys that Jennifer (not there) designed. Our motto: A Beautiful Mess (has to do with our lives, not our looks!)

Last Friday, some of my bike group decided to go back up to Santa Rosa and try it again. The Saturday before that we had tried to ride the Wine Country Century, but with rain pouring down, we quit after 50 miles. So we got up early, put our bikes on the back of two cars, and left Pleasanton at 6:00 am. It's about an hour and a half drive to Santa Rosa if the traffic is good. We didn't have time to ride the full 100, but decided to ride the part we had missed the week before, which was a 62 mile loop. The day was gorgeous: sunny and warm, but not too warm. It turns out that it's very pretty countryside up there, but when you are riding with your head down trying to keep the rain out of your eyes, you just don't notice it! There are lots of rolling hills and vineyards that stretch for miles. Some of the wineries looked like Italian villas and we could imagine ourselves riding through the Italian countryside. On the way back home, we stopped in a little town that had this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant with the most delicious Italian food. Because of the weather, my impression of the Santa Rosa area had been that it was drab and ordinary. Seeing it in the sunshine with blue skies and noticing the beauty of the green rolling hillsides changed my opinion. Many things in life are colored by our own references or experiences. Sometimes we have to give things a second chance and hope the weather has changed.