The Specialists in California Bike Tours

Northern
California
Challenge
Tour

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Days 8 Nights 7 2008 Start Dates August 23 Start City Rohnert Park Nearest Airports Santa Rosa San Francisco Level Avid-Challenging Daily Distance 40-65 miles Price per Person (double occupancy) $2192 Single Occupancy Supplement $721

Northern California Challenge Bicycle Tour

8 days of cycling the Northern California Wine Country and Pacific Coast

If you like your cycling routes short and your terrain flat, this is not the tour for you. But if you like to seek out challenging biking terrain and prefer the long way over the shortcut, our Northern California Challenge might be just what you’re looking for. The daily distances are longer, and the hills are a bit higher than our typical tour. But there’s a payoff — we visit some of the more remote parts of Northern California, virtually untouched by civilization, on roads with barely a car on them.

Northern California Splendor

Starting in the heart of Sonoma County Wine Country, we head north along broad valleys filled with vineyards and flanked by mountains. With each mile we travel, the every day signs of urban life slowly fade away. Traffic dwindles, chain stores disappear, quiet roads and peaceful vineyards emerge.

We spend one night in Healdsburg, where country charm meets sophisticated living. Then we continue north through valleys to the tiny town of Hopland, where it seems that time has stood still for the past 40 years.

From Hopland, we continue northward to Ukiah, then we turn west through the coastal mountains to Mendocino, a picturesque coastal town with 19th century buildings overlooking the ocean. We'll spend two night here, giving everyone a chance to enjoy this inviting little hamlet.

After Mendocino, we turn south along the coast to the Sea Ranch Lodge, perched on a bluff on the edge of the Pacific. Every room at the Sea Ranch has a spectacular view of the ocean.

From Sea Ranch, we climb to the crest of the coastal mountain range to ride south along the crest, with views of the Pacific to our right and distant mountain peaks to ourleft. We desend through shady redwood groves into the bohemian town of Cazadero, finally ending up on the banks of the Russian River in Monte Rio.

After Monte Rio, we continue south again to Occidental and Freestone, then bck to the coast to the fishing village of Bodega Bay (where they serve some of the best clam chowder we've ever tasted). Then it's south once again through grazing country of Valley Ford and Tomales, to Olema at the edge of Point Reyes National Seashore.

But we're still not finished with this tour. Leaving Olema, we head south through the coastal town of Bolinas, then we head once again into the mountains to what has been called the most beautiful cycling road anywhere. It's another ridgetop road, but with even more beautiful views of the ocean on one side and the San Francisco Bay on the other. We'll take a short climb to the top of Mount Tamalpais to take in the view of the entire bay before descending to Mill Valley, where our tour completes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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