The club ride I lead today takes the group out from Vacaville to Winters for lunch. It’s a very tandem friendly route. We start off on Rivera Rd which is near the Pena Adobe Park. There is ample parking on both sides of the road. Water and restrooms are available at the park.

We head north on Rivera and cross over I-80 to get to Pleasants Valley Rd. It’s a fun 13 mile stretch of flat road with plenty of gentle rollers in between. A portion of this road was recently chip-sealed. The landscape in this area is dotted with farm houses along with some orchards, while the beautiful golden Vaca mountains serve as the backdrop. I see lots of horses, llamas and deer too.

There is a regroup at the Lake Solano Park. Water and restrooms are available here. We all make the climb out from the park and head to Putah Creek Rd.

We stay on Putah Creek Rd for the next 4 miles. It’s a flat run through all the orchards before we reach Winters for lunch.

The lunch stop is at the Rotary Park. Water and restrooms are available here. There are plenty of food choices on Main and Railroad. A very popular stop is at Steady Eddy’s. It’s a cyclist friendly coffee/cafe with bike racks in front. They serve a wide variety of food and drinks.

After lunch, we head back out towards Putah Creek and make a series of turns along many orchards fields before taking Allendale to Timm, Peaceful Glen and English Hills to Cantelow Rd. As you can see, the roads are pretty much flat.

Once we reach Cantelow, some folks choose to do the additional 3 mile climb up to the ridge before dropping back down to Pleasants Valley Rd. The main ride takes Steiger Hill which looked like it was also recently chip-sealed to Gibson Canyon, Farrell and Vaca Valley back to Pleasants Valley Rd. On the return, I spot a Palm Nursery with some peacocks running around the driveway. I’m too slow with the camera to catch a picture of them. There are also a few vineyards and orchards along the way. There are patches of greenery amongst vast fields of golden meadows.

Much thanks to everyone who came out to play in the heat and also to our guest “out of town” rider, Howard from Idaho!

31 people in attendance. 3 tandems

43 miles with 1229′ of elevation gain

Weather: HOT! Starting temps in the low 80’s reaching a high of 105 on the return to Vacaville. Winds were a cool welcome to help provide a bit of trickery to the hot temps

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>ALWAYS HAVE FUN!>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>