Day 2: There is no such thing as flat (Sausalito, CA to Napa, CA - 66 miles)

After a great night sleep on Winnie's couch, we got up around 6:30 and had some eggs and toast. We ate breakfast with a very pleasant German couple that was also staying at the Winnie's house. They were concluding their one year bike tour of the world. They biked through Asia, Australia, Japan, and the US. Gerold is a high school Chemistry teacher and Uschi teaches German. 

We started the day hoping to get to Sacramento but didn't quite make it. After about 45 minutes of riding Dan got a flat tire. We changed the tube quickly and were back on the road within 15 minutes. The first few hours of riding was really nice. We rode through winding, hilly roads that were lined with huge redwood trees.

Then the scenery drastically changed. We suddenly came upon a lot of cows, hills, and open space. 

For at least 40 miles it was all either up hill or down hill. Our quads burned and butts ached. Some climbs were a mile long. We took breaks on the long hills and let our muscles recover. 

We ate lunch at a Subway in Petaluma. Like always, we gave them our spiel and asked for a free meal or a discount.  They said we could have any sandwich and they would charge us for a 5 dollar foot long. We both got sandwiches with extra meat, bacon and avocado that would probably cost 10 bucks a piece normally. At lunch we realized we weren't going to make it to Sacramento so we decided to head to Napa and tent it up.  

We arrived at Skyline Wilderness Park in Napa at 5:30. The gate keeper kindly waived the 25 dollar tent fee and let us stay. The camp ground is really nice and even has wifi. I'm blogging from our tiny tent now!

Dan and I ate Mountain House meals for dinner. Joe Ryan recommended them to me and said they were so good he would eat them at home for dinner. I definitely will never do that. Here is a picture of us with our tent and our dinner:

As you can see the tent will be cozy. I hope we fit. Tomorrow we plan to head to Sacramento, which is 75 miles or so. 

Special shout out to Jimmy Oakes and Wallingford Bike Barn for hooking my bike up. It is running mint. 

Also to Dragan Pecirep: Thanks for the DZ Nuts Pro Chamois Cream. Applying it is the best part of my day.