Last week, I was out visiting my in-laws with my wife and two boys. As is my norm, I set up a few appointments in wine country and my wonderful wife allowed me to go out to Sonoma for a couple of days. After a few emails and a couple of phone calls, those two days quickly turned into four, and my saint of a wife eagerly agreed to the extended visit. (I guess that with the help of a therapist, I might discover that there is enough there to cause some concern, but for now, I prefer to remain blissfully ignorant.)

Thanks to the relentless work of Anne at McCue Marketing Communications, I had a full itinerary, which began with a day in Santa Rosa.

Fountain Grove Inn

I had a room reserved at the Fountain Grove Inn, right off the 101 in Santa Rosa. I had stayed at the hotel several times before, and I am a fan–it is right off the highway and centrally located in Sonoma, making winery visits relatively easy. They have a small pool and hot-tub, as well as a restaurant (which is apparently very well received, although I have never dined there). This time, however, I would not initially be making any wine tasting stops. Rather, I would be meeting Geoffrey Smith, the owner of BikePartners.net and we would then go for a ride in Santa Rosa. It was not entirely clear how that was going to occur and where I would be able to change into my cycling gear (I thought about wearing my bike gear for the drive from the East Bay, but wearing bike shorts any longer than is absolutely necessary appeals to very few people).

This ride with BikePartners.net was arranged just a few days before I hopped on the plane, after Anne emailed me and asked if I would be up for riding on a fold-able bike. I at first was a bit hesitant since I am not small (6’4” and heavier than I would like to admit) and the thought of riding on a “toy bike” was frankly not all that appealing. A good friend of mine actually trains on a folding bike when out-of-town, but he is about 5’4” and weighs maybe 12 pounds soaking wet. After Anne indicated that the owner of the company was about my size, I figured “What the heck?” and signed on for the ride.

I arrived at the hotel a few minutes early, and was there in plenty of time to see Geoffrey and his van show up—a European style van, with cool graphics—hard to miss. He hopped out of the van and after a brief introductory conversation, he indicated that he was going to drive me back over to his shop, where we would start our ride. Geoffrey was dressed in “normal” shorts (I suspect that they were mountain biking shorts, but they were certainly not lycra), so I did not even consider changing. Before I knew it, we were in his van and he was driving me over to his shop, which is located on Railroad Square in the center of Santa Rosa, a scant two miles away.

From the moment I said “hello”, Geoffrey was a fountain of information about Sonoma County in general and Santa Rosa in particular. From the multitude of bike trails, to the history of the town, to current goings-on, he was a veritable walking encyclopedia. What made it all the more amazing was that he has only lived in the area for three years, having spent the last 20+ years in San Diego (he was born in the area and spent most of his childhood there, but still—I have lived in Philadelphia close to 15 years, and I could not say for certain where the Liberty Bell is located—I think it is on 6th and Market, which if wrong, is certainly close).

One of the more compelling stories that Geoffrey recounted was the history of hop growing in the Santa Rosa area. The city had been the center of hop production in the country for generations until the mid-20th century. Hops were grown in Sonoma County primarily due to the availability of cheap migrant workers (there was a steady flow of migrant workers, mostly Mexican, up through San Francisco and Sonoma/Napa). During a harvest in the late 1930’s the migrant workers went on strike, demanding better pay and working conditions, effectively shutting down the hop harvest that year. This prompted Florian Dauenhauer to invent a mechanized hop-picker, and when the workers struck again the following year, he had perfected the machine, effectively ending the need for the vast majority of the migrant workers. This eventually led to the end of hop production in the area and since larger scale farms were now possible, the whole industry moved to Washington state (the prior need for migrant workers, which were scarce in Washington, had previously prevented the move). Geoffrey’s shop now occupies the building where those original Dauenhauer hop pickers were manufactured and maintained for decades.

As we pulled up to his shop, he pointed out the adjacent store, which catered mostly to the “lycra-spandex crowd” according to my host. Since he said this with the slightest hint of disdain, I was glad that I neither showed up already in my team “kit” nor asked for a place to change—I was in shorts and a polo, and it was not that hot out, so I figured I would likely survive (even though we all know “Cotton Kills”).

Geoffrey indicated that he only rented folding bikes (which I thought was a rather cool idea) and he was the only place in the world where one could actually rent a Bike Friday (a particular brand of folding bike). He opened the back of his cavernous van, and pulled out the two bikes that we would be riding that afternoon. Both were Bike Fridays (handmade in Oregon): the first was a more “traditional” chain driven bike with two derailleurs, 18 speeds, and drop handle bars. The second was a straight bar, “hybrid” type bike with an 11-speed internal hub (no exterior gears or derailleurs) and (and this was the part that appealed to the bike geek in me) a carbon fiber belt instead of a chain—no lube, no grease, no maintenance, virtually no noise—very cool.

Geoffrey asked if I had a preference between the two, and when I opted for the belt-drive bike, he seemed a little surprised. I guess he figured I would want the more traditional set-up, or perhaps he imagined that a guy that shaved his legs would not want to be caught dead on such a bike. I guess both might be true, but I was not wearing any lycra, there were no clip less pedals involved, so I figured “What the heck?”

A ton of fun to ride….

After a brief adjustment (the bike very easily accommodated my height), we hopped on the bikes and headed out. I have to admit that the bike was a little squirrely at first, but I quickly adapted, and it was a blast to ride, really a lot of fun.

BikePartners.net rents their bikes for $35-60 (depending on the model), and offer discounts for longer rentals and they offer free delivery within a 10 mile radius.

We got both of the bikes in there rather easily….

I had a ton of fun riding around on the Bike Friday, which I have to say felt just like a “normal” bike. The next time I am in Sonoma, wanting to rent a bike, I will definitely consider BikePartners.net. One of the cooler features is that two bikes can fold up and easily fit in a standard car trunk rather easily, making travel to other wine regions or the coast with the bikes a breeze. Geoffrey is also available as a tour guide ($40), which I strongly recommend.

(I know the above sounds like a solicited sales pitch, but it is not–just like the wine I review on this site, I am giving you my honest opinion.)