Day 4

We survived today. It was the hardest day of the trip for me and also for my co-guide Justin, which is funny because it is not at all the hardest day of riding. It just was the toughest logistically because our guests all wanted to do different things and we were caught trying to accommodate all of their desires. It was a meager 97 degrees today, but our guests seemed to have a fantastic day nonetheless.

My personal highlight was eating at Barndiva tonight out on the patio. The candles, the flowers, the atmosphere, the food...it was all a major WOW moment after a hard day. And now I am curled up in the most comfortable bed of my life at Hotel Healdsburg...ahhhh! If only the staff knew that we just left a spectacular tomato sauce ring in the bathtub after having washed our dishes in it. I would have preferred a nice soak with a glass of wine, but hey...I'm on the clock here folks! This aint MY vacation!

Day 3

It was hot again today. 104 degrees again. A guest wrecked and others dropped F-bombs about the heat repeatedly. These daily blogs are killing me. I have to go to bed now because it is 11:30pm and I am getting up so early I am feeling weak just thinking about it. I want tomorrow off.

Day 2

Here's the important drama of the day worth knowing folks:

1. At 1am last night I woke up to realize that my body did not feel quite right. In fact, I began feeling queasy, and then I realized that I was soon going to be losing my supper. So I went to the bathroom and did just that. Images of my salmon from dinner flashed through my head as my body told me what was not going right in my belly. Then images of Ben's recent food poisoning debilitation flashed through my brain along with the realization that I might be confined to a bed for the next 24-48 hours with that same violent sickness. I said a quick, fervent, and short worded prayer asking God to bail me out, and after one very minimal yak I felt like a million bucks and went right back to sleep feeling like I had escaped by the skin of my teeth! Thanks God!

2. We biked about 50 miles with about 2,500 feet of climbing today...and it got up to 104 degrees. Ouch. Today required colossal efforts at maintaining a positive attitude at points, but our guests were so tough that most of them refused to give up! In the last 4 miles of the day I was just praying that no one got a flat, because I felt like if they did I would probably start crying. That would have been awkward.

3. Justin and I did a joint belly flop into the pool to reward ourselves for surviving the day and managing to have a great time despite all the aforementioned circumstances.

4. At the end of the day I stuck with Risotto for dinner in hopes of sleeping more soundly tonight.

Great Day. As usual.

Day 1

Day one DOWN!!!! Yeeeee haaaaaaw! Well, if we can make it through day one then we can probably make it through the week. Our group seems like a nice bunch and I am happy to report that there is one couple who are French Canadian born and I am excited to speak French with them this week. I am a little worried because practically everything today went according to perfect timing..and I doubt that kind of luck is going to last.

One thing I noticed: my trailer backing skills are growing exponentially, and I pretty much ROCK in the USA-ed it in the trailer backing department today. I was impressed with myself.

Things felt pretty darn smooth all day...maybe I am finally getting the hang of this whole guiding thing.

In bed at 10:00pm = not bad for day one. A+.

Night night.

A Week in the Life

So, my next trip starts tomorrow and I have a crazy idea. I'm going to try to post to my blog every day of the trip to give you a play by play of how a trip goes. I'm crazy busy during trips, and I'm not promising prose, but at least a photo and a snipit about how my trip is going.

To get things rolling, today was Prep Day. I woke up at 7:15 and was working on bikes by 8:30. The task at hand was to get 15 bicycles tuned up, cleaned up, and spec'ed out for the week ahead. We want our customers to fall into lust with their carbon fiber frames and wheel sets the moment they lay eyes on them! So one cup of coffee, one mango smoothie, two shop rags and roughly six hours later I was able to check that task box off! Next I cleaned out the trailer and got that puppy organized with all our food and bike supplies. A few hours and a few tasks later I even got to go for a run and chat with Mom and Ben on the phone.

All in all, Justin and I divided and conquered the day and we are set to hit the ground running tomorrow! I'm excited to meet my very newest BFF's for the week. Hope I like 'em!

I Love My Job!

For those of you who have lately wondered how I am doing down/over/up here in California, the answer is I love my job! I have been enjoying a sunny warm fall replete with bike rides, wine consumption, decadent cuisine, fascinating people, French language practice, bike mechanic education, sweaty bodies and bike-greasy hands as well as graceful dresses and cocktail hours. In short, I am busy with something or other during almost all minutes of the day and night, and I am loving it! I love that I am never bored with this job, as it constantly demands different things from me each moment. I feel so lucky to be this happy and content with my occupation.

Wine country, I have noticed, is a universe unto itself and at the epicenter hang the grapes. All else follows suit behind them. People care about the weather as a function of how it affects the grapes. Highway traffic depends on what's happening with the grapes. The economic success of cafes and hotels and gas stations depends on what's happening with the grapes. The grapes take center stage here in wine country, and everybody is watching them. And soon enough, we'll all be tasting them too!

There is a constant buzz and hubbub energizing things here in the greater Sonoma and Napa County region. It feels to me like a sense of anticipation as harvest season comes closer and closer. It's like a holiday that is approaching, except nobody knows exactly what day it will arrive. A local vineyard owner and winemaker explained to me this week that harvest always feels to her like Christmas. There is the same sense of excitement, anticipation and uncertainty. It is a season filled with a flurry of activity and work and pleasure. I can see it is getting harder and harder for her to subdue her itchiness to end the waiting and let the harvest begin. I myself am so curious to see how this year's grapes are going to turn out. It has been such a cool summer that I wonder if they are even going to ripen in time before the frost comes. So much is at stake for wine growers here, I can't imagine the stress and worry they endure as the waiting continues.

And as for my biggest anticipation?

Well, Ben is coming to town in T-minus 9 days and counting!!!

Wooohooooo!

California Wine Country

September is practically here, and that makes me realize that Fall is close at hand. It will soon be time for changing leaves, cool evenings, butternut squash soup, pumpkin harvest as well as harvest of the grapes. That last one, grape harvest, will be indicative of my fall here in California wine country, as I will be cycling through the vines of Sonoma County from now until mid November.

I have really mixed feelings about being away from home for so long, but am choosing to stick with "grateful for the employment" as well as thankful to be in such a beautiful location if I have to be away from Ben. It is nice to stay in one location instead of moving around every two weeks for the next three months. I have a secondary home at our guide house here in Petaluma, CA, complete with thriving tomato plants and twinkle lights dangling from the communal back yard patio. I can go on a run and quickly climb up to my own little "Lone Pine" park, or perhaps I'll get around to visiting some of the yoga studios that I see all over town. Lest I paint too rosy of a picture, there is also a hobo spider living in our bathroom and a landlord who likes to let himself into our house and prowl about while we aren't home...

As for northern California, I think I like it. By the end of my stay I might have progressed to loving it. The wine country itself is still widely uncharted to me, and I am feeling some apprehension at the thought of trying to understand all these valleys and tributary valleys and AVA's (think designated wine growing "area" like Dry Creek, or Russian River Valley, each producing it's own flavor characteristics in its grapes). It seems like there are bazillions of wineries and I have no prospect of a rubric for comprehending them. My analytical brain wants to sort them out and reduce this wine network all down into a clearly defined and categorized system for understanding them all, but the body of knowledge I would need to so do comes from a lifetime of expertise that I haven't even started to acquire. So, that leaves me feeling a little unsettled and flailing in a vast and alien wine culture. Nothing to do but start wine tasting I suppose!

Today I caught my first glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge. I was bummed it wasn't golden and glimmering. Apparently it is red. Who knew? Actually, it's all still hearsay to me because the fog clinging to the city was too thick for me to see the color of the bridge itself. Tomorrow though I'll know for sure because I am biking over the bridge and and up Mount Tam. The fog in northern Cali is a presence that is becoming familiar to me. San Fran and the coastal areas of NoCal are covered by a blanket of fog for much of the morning, if not the afternoon as well. The wine country is a drier and sunnier clime, but the fog drapes over San Fran like a favorite pashmina.

I am settling in for a long haul this fall. It feels heavy to be away from Benny, but I am taking solace in the adventure of a new place and a new body of knowledge waiting to be learned. Stay tuned for more updates on my time in the California wine country.