Milo and Janae went on a bike tour and you can come too!
This trip has been several months in the making. Or maybe a year in the making – I bought the “Northern California Wine Country” tour book last summer. My opinion is if you want to travel anywhere in this world but you lack the money and motivation, buying a guide book is the first step to informing the universe, “hey, universe, I want to go to [name your destination here] someday before I die, so please give me a hand.” And here we are, with train tickets for the Amtrak California Zephyr!
Step 1 for planning a bike tour:
Buy a bike, dur, if you don’t have one already. Neither of us had very reliable bikes — just ancient old steeds with mountain bike wheels — so the first step was buying decent road bikes. Milo bought a used Bianchi and I bought a newer Marin (from the friendliest bike dealer in town! Check him out at www.thebikeguyslc.com). Neither were specifically made for touring, but I do recommend touring bikes such as can be found through http://www.surlybikes.com
Step 2: I’d say the second step is getting your buns in shape by riding the bike as much as possible. This has been a little hard to do because of Utah’s “never say die” winter – a lot of relentless snowy/rainy days. Plus I’m lazy. But the ideal is to ride like 30 minutes a day to get the body in bike mode. There are some good bike lanes in Salt Lake City but a lot of them seem to end abruptly, and I find myself often braving the zero-shoulder tying to avoid getting squashed. I’m starting to form a little bond with my bike, which takes longer when you have a brand-new-straight-from-the-assembly-line standard bicycle. Yesterday I decided to name it “Mr. Belvedere” because the model name is Belvedere. Maybe I’ll draw a little mustache on it.
Step 3: Buy bike gear and guide books!
We got the Thickest most Indestructible chain at Home Depot for locking up. It weighs a ton but nobody gonna even TRY stealing our bikes. Also on the gear list:
1. Bike racks for front wheels and seat
2. Lone Peak panniers for the front
3. Self-assembled panniers on the back made from recycling bins (snazzy!)
4. Headlight and bright flashing back light
5. Bike shorts with padding in the bum
6. Tent and other camping gear
7. First aid kit, toiletries, etc.
8. Food such as peanut butter, tortillas, and instant soup mix
10. Camp stove and cooking pot
11. Plastic travel wine glasses (from REI)
Most of the guide books about wine country seem to be for people with money and cars. But we’ve found a few helpful tips and a water-resistant map. A few winery tastings in the $5 to $10 range, and maybe four wineries that offer free tastings. Campgrounds in Napa are scarce, but there is one park at the far north end of the valley, as well as a not-too-fabulous RV park near downtown. In the future, I think we will be more open to utilizing warmshowers.org for backup places to stay — shelling out bucks for a hotel feels like cheating.
We mapped out a basic trip that takes us up and down Napa, through San Fransisco, over the bridge to Marin, and back again.
Join us on Day 1! as we start our fantastic journey of discovery and adventure
google4c84f110f084aea7.html
Let's go Bike! Tour de Napa 
Leave a comment