Tour of Napa

Yesterday, myself, some old friends as well as some new friends met in Yountville for the Tour of Napa. This is a ride put on by the Eagle Cycling Club of Napa. Overall, I'd say the ride was really good compared to the other centuries I've done. The scenery was top notch, the volunteers were amazingly nice and helpful, but the cuisine left a little to be desired. Of course, I really shouldn't complain about the food as when I'm riding 100 miles with 5000 feet of climbing, food isn't really at the forefront of my mind. Trust when I say it wasn't comparable to Chico Velo century fair but it was more than adequate.

The overall event for my group started out a little rough. A few of us stayed the night in Cordelia and made the drive into Yountville that morning. It was a bit tough waking up at 4:45 so that we could get to Yountville by 6 or so. That was rough, but the crappy part about this was that we were hoping to leave by 6:30 and part of our group arrived a little late. After arriving, we assembled our bikes and made our way up to registration, where they were serving pastries and coffee. I consumed large quantities of both as I didn't get my daily fix of espresso and oatmeal. We eventually left at 7 AM in nice cool conditions. That was short lived, as by 10 or so the temps started to rise, finally reaching about 100.

Cruising out of Yountville, we traveled south to Mt Veeder and up and over to Dry Creek. This was the first hill of the day and climbed about 1800 feet. It wasn't particularly tough or steep, just long. From Dry Creek it was back into the valley and northwest over to the Silverado Trail which took us to over toward Lake Hennessey. Once around Hennessey, we headed north toward Pope Valley where we enjoyed lunch. Actually, we enjoyed the cool liquid available and the shade. After lunch, it was on to the next hill and another 2000 feet of climbing. This is where I witnessed my first bike/car accident. After coming off Ink Grade, we were regrouping by the side of the road, watching cyclists and a few cars go by. A truck pulling a flatbed trailer went by us and was half way in each lane attempting to avoid cyclist at the shoulder. All was fine until we notice the truck begin to fade toward the shoulder to avoid two motorcycle cops coming the other direction. At that point, everything kind of went in slow motion as the trailers fenders just barely clipped the riders handlebars forcing his front wheel to the right and throwing the rider to the ground behind the trailer. The rider was up quickly, the driver of the truck stopped as did the moto cops. The incident was resolved easily as the rider was not injured at all, thankgoodness!

After the excitement, we headed back toward Yountville. The last 20 miles was difficult with the heat, headwind, and the constant presure of each of us pushing the pace. There were a couple of times I just wanted to get off the bike and stop.

Hip-Hoppers, Dreadlockers, and Woodstockers...

Yes! Reggae on the River 2004 is my official best reggae show ever. I've been to many Reggae's but this one truely out did itself. The line-up was epic, festival organization was at a high point I've never seen before, and as usual, the people who attended really made the show.

The show began with me leaving Chico about 6 am on Thursday morning and arriving at Richardson Grove campground about 10 am where I met friends who had arrived the Monday before. After setting up my camp gear, it was time to settle in and catch up with old friends, oh and a couple of new ones too!

I believe it was 3 shows ago when my friends, Sam and Jessica, met a small group from southwest Colorado; Sheryl, Moody, and Laura. Actually, it was Laura's first time. Moody and Sheryl flew out the Sunday before the show. They say that flying is the way to go as the drive from Colorado takes about two days.

So, on Thursday, a small group of us decide we are going to head over to the Benbow Inn to check out the little lake they have made of the Eel River. The Benbow has a nice hotel and little park area as well, it just happens to be in the middle of nowhere. After a few hours of hanging around taking in the views and floating on the river, it was time to head back to camp.

Friday started early for a concert day. We were up right at 8 and started to make breakfast and B-B-Q some Tri-tip for sandwichs later in the show. This is our normal daily routine during the concert days. You want to have everything prepared for your time down in the show because it's a long walk back to camp if you forget something. The walk is about a mile, so you don't want to have to make the trip too many times in one day.

This year was the first year the Friday show had true true headliners, and not just one, they had a couple. This didn't hold true for just Friday either, each day had at least 2 headliners and sometimes 3.

To see the line up currently posted on the Reggae on the River website, click here!

I've got to do some work and must cut this short, but EPIC is the word!

Reggae on the River is upon us...

Yeah, last day at work for the week before I head out to southern Humboldt county for Reggae on the river. I've got my water bottles frozen, food frozen, beer and juice are icy cold, and now all I need to do is put it all in the car. Can I get a HELL YEAH?


Well, all good things must come to an end, eventually, and that it has for Tim Brown of the Oakland Raiders. This guy is basically Mr. Raider, the perfect player on and off the field. Now after 16 years in the NFL, all with the Raiders, Tim has to go. It's the nature of life in general, the champs of yesterday have to make way for the new champs of tomorrow. It's sad, but it's the way it is. I hope Tim views this as a step toward the future for him and not the end for him in football. Good luck in future endevors, Tim, you will be gone but not forgotten! Yeah, #81.

So, maybe you've seen people wearing them or maybe you have one yourself. But the new rage is to support the fight against cancer by wearing the Livestrong yellow wristband. Everyone is wearing them, Dubya, John Kerry, Jay Leno, half the professional peloton, and me. It's all about raising money and supporting the Lance Armstrong Foundation to help fight cancer. Here is a link to the press release. Nike donated $1 million with the goal of raising an additional $5 million through the sales of the bands at $1 a piece. As of today, I believe they have meet that goal and are hoping to sell another 1.8 million bands. Nice work everyone!

On another cycling note, Discovery Team (previously USPS) has signed Yarslov Popovych. This young buck at 24 has already placed 5th and 3rd in the Giro the last two years respectively. Discovery, as well as many other teams, need to bolster their rosters for the next season as next year begins a new era in cycling; the Pro Tour. The Pro Tour is where all division 1 teams must ride in a prespecified set of races throughout the year and must field a team for all said events. This will place a new burden teams and therefore they are getting ready for the suffer fest. This in kind of going to make cycling like it was 30 or 40 years ago when riders road the whole year round, because of money. Now it will be for a different reason, but the effect should be the same.

Baseball thought, way to go A's! I'm not really following along this season, but they are in first place 1.5 games up with about 70 games to go. It's still a long way to go, but it's better they are where they are compared to last place.

Now for the Site of the Day link... todays site of the day is http://www.marykayletourneau.com
She was released this morning after serving 7 1/2 years for hooking up with the underaged boy in the class she taught. I'm not even sure what to say about this woman, so maybe you ought to check out the site or google it or something.

That's all for today, be back Tuesday!