Don and I, Mark, met Paul and his friend Donald in Healdsburg. We rode out Westside Road until the right hand turn onto Sweetwater Springs Road. This is the first time Don and I had ever ridden on Sweetwater Springs. (Here's the GPS track.) This is a one-lane road with potholes, some loose gravel, and several cattle guards that undulates for several miles before taking a sharp tilt upward. The main climb goes up 775 ft in 1.35 miles for an average grade of 11% , with one brutal section of 18%. That's where I ran out of air and had to drop down to my 24 inch gear (my 2 feet) until my uncontrolled gasping stopped. Fortunately, this day was not as hot as the previous week, and the road has several shady sections.
The others were waiting patiently at the top, where we were treated to a spectacular view. The downhill featured several off camber and decreasing radius hairpin turns, but the road seemed to be in slightly better condition. We went very slow. At Armstrong Woods Road we went left and followed it into Guerneville, where we stopped at Coffee Bazaar for a really excellent latte. The four of us traded pulls on River Road, then played some cat-and-mouse interspersed with conversation on Westside Road back to Healdsburg. An excellent ride.
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1 comments:
Hi Mark,
Thanks again for the ride, the food and the beer. Paul and I had not waited long when you arrived at the top.
Don
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