It Never Rains in California? Amgen Tour of California Stage 2 Recap

After four years of February rain the organizers of the Amgen Tour of California, the state's largest sporting event, finally decided to move the event to May in order to showcase the beautiful weather of the sunshine state.  The gods blessed them with more rain. Still, this did not dampen the spirits of the thousands of spectators who lined the course from Davis to Santa  Rosa to see the tour wind through Napa and Sonoma counties.

Having ridden many of the climbs in question on today's stage I was especially excited to watch the pros ride through.  I had seen many stages of the Tour of California before but this would be the first time I could actually ride a bike to see the juiciest part of the race, so I woke up the morning of quivering with anticipation, and actual butterflies.  The dilemma of course was how best to watch the stage.  I could ride up to the intersection of Cavedale and Trinity roads and then return via bicycle...like a man.  Or I could pussy out and take my car.  I decided to label my inevitable decision to drive as "smart" rather than girlish, and my foresight to include a change of clothes no less than genius.

Here's some photos and videos to recap the day...

I drove up to the race via Cavedale road.  This in hindsight made no sense as Cavedale road is a much less direct route to the top of Trinity grade but the gradient is much more compatible for a bike.  So I ended up passing 20 stalwart cyclists in the rain and giving them little encouraging taps on the horn, which seemed to say "haha" every time.  After nearly getting stuck in the mud on the side of the road I found a place to park and walked down to what I knew would be the best viewing area, a steep right hand curve.

This series of bends was where I saw the majority of the spectators, although there were some that took to the high ground for optimum viewing as well.

There was motley assortment of characters from local towns and some for far-flung exotic locales like Wisconsin.  There were even visitors from the Caribbean.  

There were many intrepid cyclists from both Napa and Sonoma counties who battled the elements to be there at the summit and catch the action, but none were so prepared as these guys.  They had actually stashed a cooler under a camo tarp behind a tree.  They may have gone home cold after standing for two hours, but at least they were going home well lubricated.  

But the grandest of all the spectators was none other than the viking-esque spectator known only has "helmet man".  Here he is descending from on high like a Norse god leaving the vaulted halls of Valhalla.  

And then, as quickly as he descended to the mortal plane to hang out with us plebians, he returned from whence he came.  

By this point the spectators around me and I had thought of every ironic and semi-funny way to remark how wet and miserable we were and it was about time for the race to arrive.  We saw the long line of official vehicles and motorcycles before the two leaders came through.  These guys were not very well known and would certainly be caught by the main bunch coming up right behind them.  It wasn't more than a minute before we all saw what we came to witness -- Lance and Levi and the Radio Shack team pulling the rest of the peloton behind them.  Having tried to take lots of photos at these races before and each time being disappointed with the results (see that orange blur? That's Dave Zabriske eating a banana!) I decided to record the favorites via video.  I will say that I made a conscious decision to be merely an observer on video as to protect the journalistic integrity of the moment.  You can see how long that lasted.  

Now that everyone knew I was a crazy person I decided to stick to photos.  I think this is Chris Horner in this picture.

And I'm pretty sure you can see George Hincapie's butt in this picture.  

I had to go back to video for again though for the autobus group of all the sprinters that had fallen behind.  After completely making a fool of myself in the last video I didn't think it could get much worse.  That was until I saw Mark Cavendish a few lengths off the front and this popped out...

I don't know if he heard me or not as I didn't receive one of his trademark salutes in reply.  Although the other spectators up the road said he seemed to be smiling.

After the group of straggling sprinters it seemed as if it was all over, but a highway patrolman informed everyone that there was still one last dropped rider on the road.  Luckily our Caribbean friends were able to boost his spirits with some of their trademark island enthusiasm and zeal.

I was inspired by these spectators to change my upcoming vacation plans to visit their homeland sample some of their delicacies, such as "grog".  I never saw the helmetman again, so I'm going to assume he transformed back into human form elsewhere.  Despite the rain it was a beautiful stage and an awesome thing to see so many happy people celebrating bikes and racing and drinking beer and being fit and cool.  I feel proud to be a part of a real great California event and I look forward to seeing the race again next year.

Serpent Sunday

I've started a new friendship with a snake that likes to sun himself in the afternoons on the road leaving the winery.

  The first time I saw Benny (that's what I've decided his name is) I nearly ran him over.  After stopping to take a picture I was able to herd him off the roadside with my bike pump.  Today I nearly ran over him again, leading me to believe that Benny is one dedicated serpent when it comes to sunbathing.  

Here he is beating a hasty retreat after I passed over him with my shadow.  

Research on the interweb has led me to believe that Benny is a Pacific Gopher Snake, or Pituophis catenifer catenifer.  Its a nice little reminder when I see animals at work that the wine industry is more than tasting rooms and tanks and barrels, that the product that we sell comes out of the ground from living things.  Benny is a natural part of the system that surrounds the winery, and I'm happy to work for a company that understands and appreciates the natural order of things and gives me such a nice place to work.  It'd be nice though if Benny asserted his role in the food chain more often and helped us out with some more gophers.  

Wine Tasting Review -- Prager Port Works

One of the things I've noticed after working in the Napa Valley for a year now is that its easy to become a little jaded.  Every new winery I visit seems to be more amazing then the next, and each one has either some sort of amazing caves, some really fancy technology, beautiful views, or architecture that pushes the envelope.  With the sheer number of wineries here in the valley it makes sense that each one would try to distinguish themselves from the pack.  But in a way it reminds me of my catholic junior high school -- everyone wore the same uniform and looked very similar, but we all tried to wear the most outlandish pair of basketball shoes just to be cool.

With this being the case, it was awesome to finally visit our neighbors across the street at Prager Port works.  The short story on this family winery is that it's the only winery in Napa that specializes in Port, and they've been doing so for about 30 years.  They make a wide variety of ports from a killer Tawny to a standard Petite Sirah port, even Ports using the more obscure Portuguese varieties.  Tasting consists of a 15 dollar line up of their current selection in their standing room only (they don't have any chairs or a tasting bar) tasting room.  My basic impression of Prager is that if Napa Valley is a Junior high classroom, then Prager is the kid from the other side of the tracks who still wears the converse sneakers and sits the back and yet without saying much is widely considered the coolest kid in school.

Chllorophyll?! More like, BORE-ophyll!! 

This family operation just oozes the kind of Napa Valley nostalgia that makes you feel like you're still in a sleepy little valley that just happens to produce a few bottles of wine along side the prune orchards and cow pastures.  Their tasting room alone feels more like a hell's angles dive bar then a fancy tasting room, with cobwebs and dollar bills plastering the walls.

You'd be hard pressed to find a Parker score on display in this place.

And here is the room properly age-ified for the full effect.  

My favorite wine there was their "Noble Companion" Tawny Port.  A classically brown tawny with lots of chocolate, orange zest and maderized notes, the tawny is semi-dry and made with Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, which just makes it even cooler.  

Prager Port works is tucked behind the Sutter Home winery (which is really just another perfect illustration of what I'm talking about) on Highway 29 just outside of St. Helena.  Tastings there are usually conducted by a member of the Prager family.  If you're looking for some different wines to taste and a decidedly different side of the Napa valley go and check them out.  Just make sure you have all your shots first.  

Wine Country: Via iPhone

As I'm currently typing with a sprained thumb I'll let some of these pictures I took using the Hipstamatic App on my iPhone do the talking.  Needless to say, it has been fun these last couple of months.

MacMurray Ranch in the Russian River Valley

The MacMurray family homestead, featuring my favorite front yard and giant tree

The MacMurray house.  The smoke is from our big pig dinner.

View of the wetlands at Laguna Ranch.  We learned about the interesting new mechanized farming techniques.

Looking towards the Pacific from the top of Two Rock Vineyard near Cotati.

The iPhone's been working out really great.  I can sorta look like a professional without really trying.  Hopefully the finger heals soon.  I'm starting to develop a claw.