While cycling the wine tasting routes in the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys is popular, I prefer to head west on the Joe Rodota and West County trails. For one, I like to leave physical activity out of my wine tasting excursions. Secondly, in the early fall, the wild blackberries in bloom along the Joe Rodota trail make a much more socially acceptable snack than vineyard grapes.
The Joe Rodota trail begins in Santa Rosa and makes for a quick and flat 6 mile cruise parallel to Hwy 12 to Sebastopol. If you take this ride on a Sunday, you can get a snack at the weekly farmers’ market and likely catch a hippie bongo drum performance. Once outside of Sebastopol, the West County Trail picks up winding through vineyards and the tiny town of Graton on its way to Forestville on a well marked and quiet path. The trail ends there, and while I like to head north to River Road and back to Santa Rosa, you can retrace the trail back to Sebastopol or continue on Hwy 116 to Guerneville.
You can venture as far or as little as ambition suits, and if that ambition runs out before you have made it round trip, just hitch a ride on the bike-friendly public transit.
