On The Road
by: Bill Oetinger 11/1/2007
The pause that refreshes
A couple of months ago, my fellow columnist Naomi Bloom wrote a piece on the subject of eating and riding,or more precisely, about some of the places she and her south-bay riding buddies like to stop to refuel, during or after rides. When I saw that column, I sort of biffed myself on the forehead and uttered a Homeric, "Doh!" because I had been thinking about writing almost the same column for quite some time, and there she was, beating me to it. She scooped me!
I backed away from the topic for awhile, but in the end, I couldn't leave it alone. So here I am, glued to Naomi's wheel, covering the same subject, but hoping to make it fresh by imparting my own north-bay spin to it.
Eating and cycling; cycling and eating. They are as intertwined as toast and butter, burgers and fries. Can you offhand think of another sporting activity that includes eating as such an integral part of the pastime? Forget pie-eating contests at the county fair or those bizarre competitions where someone woofs down 40 Oscar Meyer weiners in 60 seconds. I mean real, legitimate sports and real, legitimate eating.
We all see the feed zones in big stage races: the chaotic and sometimes perilous business of snagging musettes on the fly. We all know that if the race is long enough and if the energy expended is great enough, then you must eat or face the dreaded bonk (or, as I have heard some Euro-pros call it, the hunger knock). Everyone remembers Joux Plane in the 2000 Tour de France, where the seemingly invincible, unstoppable Lance forgot to eat and paid the price. (He still won the Tour, but he lost the stage and a good chunk of his lead when he ran out of gas.)
Feeding during ultra-marathon events can become almost as obsessive-compulsive as the religious rituals of some crazed cult members. I don't even want to think about how tortured that behavior becomes. And anyway, that's not really what this column is about.
Instead of those hardcore extremists, the food-bike dynamic I want to explore is the one most of us know--and love--from our regular recreational cycling: the mid-ride stop at a favorite watering hole for a cup of coffee and a pastry. Or the after-ride lunch of a jumbo, smothered burrito, with a basket of warm tortilla chips and a bowl of salsa for starters and a cold Medolo Negro or Pacifico to wash it all down.
Mid-ride watering holes and after-ride diners are rarely the same places. For now, let's concentrate on the former. I've said I was putting a north-bay spin on this, but more specifically, my patch is the north end of the north bay...Sonoma County, mostly. We do make it down to the heart of Marin County--just north of the Golden Gate Bridge--every so often on our rides, and when we do, there are the usual spots where we like to stop. There's the Bovine Bakery in Point Reyes Station, the Depot Bookstore and Cafe on the square in Mill Valley, and that nice cafe in San Anselmo...is it San Anselmo Coffee Roasters? It even has a bike rack out in front, a sure sign they know who their best patrons are. No doubt there are trendy little cafes and sidewalk bistros in every town in Marin, and most will be visited by cyclists. But I don't know them well enough to comment on them.
It's the same in Napa, Lake, and Mendocino Counties over the bordersto the east and north of us. When our wanderings take us to those remote andforeign outposts, we usually find some sidewalk cafe or deli where we canpark our butts and take on the chow we need to get back over the ridge. St.Helena, Calistoga, Middletown, Kelseyville, Boonville, Hopland... They allhave their little mom-&-pop enterprises, ready to fill an empty cyclistwith tasty foods and fluids. I can't remember the names of all those roadsideattractions, but I know where to find them when I need them.
But Sonoma County is where we live and do most of our everyday riding, and that's where our default settings are for the best spots to stop and kick back for a spell in the middle of the ride.
We're talking here about eating and cycling, but in the case of the typical mid-ride intermezzo,the operative word might just as well be drinking....as in coffee. Given theway the breaks work within the ride, the difference between eating somethingand slurping up an espresso or latté is immaterial. It all amountsto an excuse to relax and waste some time in the company of your pals, lazilydoing a whole bunch of not much. And what makes it work is that this self-indulgentindolence is sandwiched in between two sessions of more-or-less vigorous,virtuous exercise, like halftime at a football game. You've been working hard,pedaling up a storm. You've earned a break!
Seeing as how coffee is quite often the main course during these breaks, I have a confession to make, or at least a disclaimer: I don't drink coffee. Okay, I do drink it...maybe ten cups a year. But a coffee junkie I am not. I absolutely love the smell of fresh ground coffee beans. One of the most sublime aromas around. Even the smell of brewing coffee is pleasant. But that's where the romance ends for me, with the first sip of the actual finished product. My wife is a hardcore coffee fiend, grinding and brewing only the best stuff (Taylor Maid Red Rooster), so it isn't that the coffee I'm exposed to is mediocre. I just don't enjoy it, except occasionally for its medicinal, fog-cutting properties.
The point of the disclaimer is that I am the last person to judge the merits of the brews served in the various coffee houses where we rack our bikes. I haven't got a clue. While my companions are busily mainlining their Columbian black tar espresso, I am sipping from my water bottle. But I do patronize these establishments. Typically there is either a bakery or a deli under the same roof. These folks aren't dumb. Why sell just a cup of coffee when you can also sell a croissant or a little tub of pasta salad? I'm all over that end of their inventory. In any event, it seems to me that my friends will drink whatever coffee is put before them. They may wax poetic about the virtues of this blend or that roast, but in the end, they drink what's on offer. I've never heard anyone insist that we skip a particular venue because the coffee sucks.
So what makes a particular roadside stop appealing for cyclists? Why do we gravitate to the same places over and over and bypass others offering essentially the same services? Aside from the simple requisite of offering coffee and/or cold drinks, plus a modest array of munchies, there is a short list of criteria.
First off is the realtor's holy grail: location. But that's not as obvious as it might seem when it comes to bike rides. The shop has to fall at the right place in a given ride: somewhere around the midpoint. Where this might be varies with the route--where you started, how long the whole ride is, etc--and with the vast and tangled web of roads we have in this region, that equation is going to be different with every ride. And yet we seem to end up at the same places most of the time, regardless of the routes, and I think it's because some locations are simply handier than others, vis a vis bike loops.
Next, does it have outdoor seating? Al fresco dining is good because it's pleasant on a balmy day to be out of doors, but it's also handy for keeping an eye on the bikes. On a given club ride, there might be $50,000 or even $100,000 worth of bikes parked out front at one of these breaks. No point in tempting folks to be bad by leaving all those fancy baubles unattended.
Then, is the place welcoming for cyclists? The first tip-off to this is bike racks. If the racks are there, chances are the proprietors are going to be happy to see you and happy to have you hanging around, drinking their coffee and punishing their pastries. A secondary indication of bike-friendly owners is their willingness to refill your water bottles from the deli sink or something similar.
Finally, is it a cool spot? Is it aesthetically pleasing and interesting? Is the setting nice...good view, pleasant surroundings? Is there some character to the place...an old building with quaintness and quirky charm? Cyclists are a fairly sophisticated bunch and they appreciate the little things that make a place unique. You won't find any Starbucks on our list, nor any auto-oriented mini-marts.
With all that in mind, let me proceed to the honor roll of our favorite bike ride rest stop venues in Sonoma County. No doubt I am going to miss a few spots, so don't be upset if your own preferred pit stop is missing from the list. This is a highly informal and subjective rating, and rather than a testemony to the quality of any stop, it is mainly a listing in order of popularity...where we most frequently stop, for whatever reasons.
Starting from the bottom up, my third tier of excellent watering holes includes the following...
• Coffee Catz, Sebastopol.
Located in a old railroad depot, with funky, eclectic furnishings and quirky ambience to spare. Outdoor seating just off a popular, paved bike path and just across the way from a nice bike shop. What's not to like? It has it all. The only reason it's this far down my list is that I live about a mile away from it, and while I might stop in on a stroll through town, I wouldn't be likely to take a break here on a bike ride. But others of my cycling aquaintance who live further away do so on a regular basis.• Apple Box, Petaluma.
Outdoor seating right on the Petaluma River waterfront, in the midst of the renovated, reinvented old-town downtown. Very pedestrian and bike-friendly, well away from traffic. This is a favorite stop for club rides that start in Cotati and head south.• Cafe Noto, Windsor.
Outdoor seating in an attractive setting on Windsor's handsome new Village Green...one of the better examples of new urbanism in this area. A little too close to home to feature as a stop on the club's longer rides, but very popular with the folks who do the shorter rides.• Oakville Grocery, Healdsburg.
A very pleasant patio on the best corner of the historic town square. A fireplace in the patio for chilly days. Surrounded by bike racks, which are filled to capacity most of the time (at least whenever we're there). Good gourmet food in the deli and bakery to go with the good drinks. This is the second iteration of the Oakville Grocery, after the original over in Napa Valley...a chain store, technically, but hardly a corporate, cookie-cutter setting. Upscale and fashionable but still laid back.• The Dry Creek Deli, Dry Creek Valley.
A classic 19th-century storefront overlooking the vineyards, with seating on the front porch and picnic tables under the porte-cochére. Perfectly situated in the middle of prime cycling country. Bike racks. A varied stock of gourmet and conventional munchies and a little deli and sandwich counter. The only knock is the service: impossibly slow on a weekend afternoon. You'll do better stopping here on a weekday.Next up are two establishments that are almost at the top of my list...
• Wildflour Bakery, Freestone.
Indoor and outdoor seating in and around an old brick bakery in the historic district of Freestone, out in the west county, in the heart of great riding country. Killer sticky buns...I dare you to try and eat a whole one by yourself! They're huge and have the mass of a black hole. Also cheese fougasse and a variety of breads and pastries from their wood-fired oven. A little shy on the outdoor seating, but otherwise excellent.• Gold Coast Roasters, Duncans Mills.
Also perfectly situated in great backroad country, just right for rides rolling off King Ridge or Fort Ross Roads or coming up the coast. In another historic and quaint little village. Plenty of outdoor seating on a deck overlooking the woods along the Russian River. Pastries and pizza baked on site in a wood-fired oven.Saving the best for last, here are my choices for the top two biker hang-outs in the region, one in the south and one in the north...
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Tomales
Bakery - Tomales CA
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• The Tomales Bakery & Deli, Tomales.
You'll notice I said "region" and not "county." That's because Tomales is not in Sonoma County. For some reason, the Marin County line takes an odd jog to the north just as it nears the Pacific shore, curling up and around the town of Tomales and its surrounding dairylands and esteros. Artificial lines on the map aside, Tomales feels as if it is part of Sonoma County, and it certainly functions that way when it comes to bike rides in the area. Actually, it feels like a border town: it draws cyclists from Sonoma County to the north and from Marin County to the south, and the Tomales Bakery is the place where they all meet. It sits at the center of a vast web of cycling routes. It's virtually impossible to stop here on a weekend ride and not find yourself sharing the place with riders from other clubs and other regions. And also with leather-clad riders of all sorts of sports motos. Plenty of outdoor seating on the covered patio. Good pastries and good coffee, with deli fare just next door. Lots of bike racks, almost always full. Interesting old building, with a Victorian pressed-tin ceiling over the covered patio. |
Jimtown
Store - Healdsburg CA Click to enlarge |
• The Jimtown Store, Jimtown.
Set in the heart of Sonoma County's wine country, in Alexander Valley, this is one of the most popular spots for cyclists anywhere. It has, for some years, been the darling of food and wine and travel writers as well, and a great deal of journalistic ink and film has been expended extolling its virtues. As evidence of its trendy appeal, I once bumped into Martha Stewart coming out the front door as I was going in. "Oh, another biker!" she exclaimed. Well, yeah, Martha..it's a biker hang-out. In 1989, former Silver Palate partner, the late John Werner, and his wife, artist Carrie Brown, chanced upon the store while visiting from New York City. Soon after learning it was for sale, the couple bought Jimtown. They reopened the abandoned 1895 general store and filled it with a variety of merchadise and food...everything one might need for a gourmet picnic in the wine country. For cyclists the appeal is a perfect location along a number of classic routes and a very bike-friendly atmosphere. There is a head-high hose bib up the side alley with a sign inviting cyclists to refill their bottles. There is comfortable seating under the big porte-cochére out front. There are bike racks, provided by our own club in a cooperative venture with the store's owners. And there is great food in the deli inside...sandwiches made exactly to your specs, and constructed from the very best ingredients. And of course the obligatory gourmet coffee. I have heard--although I have yet to see it myself--that on busy weekends in the summer, they have begun setting up a little kiosk out front to offer special service just for cyclists.So there you go...a quick sampler pack culled from the myriad coffee houses and delis found in the little villages and along the country lanes of Sonoma County. I could have mentioned twice as many without putting a dent in the supply. And I haven't even touched on the after-ride options, which tend to run to either the corner taqueria or the local brew pub. That list will have to wait for another column on another day.
Initially, when planning this piece, I had also intended to include a section on watering holes I have enjoyed on rides in Europe. But that too, is too much for this column and will have to wait for another day. Right now though, all this talk of gourmet food has made me as hungry as if I were at the mid-point on a long, hard, hammerhead ride. So I'm going to wrap this up and steer my two little feet away from my desk, out of my office, and around the corner into my kitchen...my all-time favorite refueling spot.
Bill can be reached at srccride@sonic.net