40 miles & vineyards

Our Sunday morning started at 6am. Why I agreed to get up at 6 am on my Sunday morning was proved to me when I got on my bike at 830am in Napa aka wine country!
E, our dear friend Ursula and myself got up this morning to do a bike ride in Napa. This was all Urs's idea. A grand idea it was! E and I hated getting up so early on my weekend but we knew it would be well worth it. I can't begin to describe our scenery, which is why I am including a link to pictures.
We started out in Napa and rode into St. Helena for some breakfast. This was 20 miles later. After breakfast we started our trek back. With a full stomach we just had to stop and taste test what wine country had to offer. Our first stop was Mumm Winery. Hello! Champagne!!! We each sampled their classic offerings. My favorite was the Brute Prestige. Even with a full stomach the 3 glasses of champagne each went straight to me and Urs's head. We got back on our bikes and rode for another 15 miles. We then stopped at Pine Ridge for wine. My camera died at this point so I don't have pictures of this stop. We all shared 8 glasses of wine. We tasted 2 whites and 5 reds. All 3 of us voted, our favorite was the Oakville and Stags Leap Cabernet.
We left there and biked the 6 miles to our car. I'll be honest, my legs were jello from breakfast on. I am so sore but it was so worth it! As we were making our way back to the car. Urs and I noticed a "fresh strawberry" stand. We both agreed that we have to go back and pick up some fresh strawberries. E was way ahead of us so he was back at the car first. Urs and I biked in and immediately were chatting up the fresh strawberry stand we saw. We went back Urs and I got our 4 pints of strawberries and we were happy. As soon as we got home, I made strawberry shortcake. Our total mileage today was indeed 40 miles. It's been quite some time since I have rode my bike for that long.
As a tribute to my friend Linds and her capturing quotes. Here are two. The first one was said by our winery person as he was listening to our conversation about wine. The second was part of the description for the Oakville cabernet. Both at Pine Ridge Winery.
"100% delicious"
"firm and silky upon entry"

Ode to my bike..I am so sorry

Dear Bike-
I can't believe it took me this long to get you out for a ride. You have every right to be upset with me--but you were not--in fact you were patient with me. As soon as I clipped in I knew I was wrong in waiting so long. All the fear, lonliness, and self doubt disappeard--as it usually does when we are together. I knew you would enjoy the smooth bike paths--where there are fellow bikers, runners, roller bladers--all happy to share the outstreched road where we don't have to battle cars and the tight congested streets.

You let me take my time in getting used to you again--starting out at 13mph and inching my way to up to 18-20mphs. I felt the wind across my face and the sun shining down on my arms. You rode easy and took the curves with such precesion. I knew you would enjoy the climbs. The scenary was beautiful--reminded me why we moved to California in the first place.

Thank you for your patience and the reminder of why I love to ride. I appreciate you letting me take my time in being okay again to ride by myself. As you can tell this move has rocked me a bit and I am trying to piece my old self back together.

Typical Tuesday

Typical Tuesday here. Eli finally got to fly this morning before heading off to his regular job ( he was in a very good mood this morning and when he got home before heading off to work). We found out that we can get on my company's health insurance if E should decide to quit his job and fly full-time. That was a huge weight off my shoulders. Now we are starting to look into a second car..beater car actually. He will commuting to Riverside, CA and while I work from home, my job does require me to meet with candidates and clients. I have already managed to double book our current car a few times. So it will be nice to be a two car family instead of one.

So without us really saying YES, we are going to do this, I think we are well on our way to do actually having him quit. AHHHHH. kind of crazy.

On another note we are doing date night tomorrow. The Newport Beach Film Festival is going on right now. I went and saw Klunkerz on Sunday. It was great! All about how the sport of mountain biking started and its evolution. It is crazy to think that these name brands of bikes such as Gary Fisher and Specialized Bikes actually played a real life role in getting mountain biking to what it is now.

So E and I are going to see a movie at 8:30pm. I am not sure which one he picked out since he rattled off about 10 he wanted to see. I was working when he was naming everything, so nothing processed on what he chose. So I guess it will be a nice surprise. Should be nice to get out for a bit since our week days are usually all over the place with his crazy schedule.

Off to watch my latest addiction...Search for the next Pussycat Doll. I think tonight is the finale! Go Melissa R!!