Howarth to Korbel (Clockwise)

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Santa Rosa, CA, US

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Route Overview

Bill Finkelstein - Santa Rosa Cycling Club Representative

2014 Ride Leader of the Year

48 mi.

1,529 ft.

One of my favorite routes is this one from Howarth Park out to the Deli at Korbel Champagne Cellars in Guerneville, CA. We head out using our wonderful multi use trails and Martinelli Road and back via Westside & Trenton Healdsburg roads back to the multi use trail.

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Route Details

We start our ride from the lower tennis court parking lot in the [City of Santa Rosa's, Howarth Park](http://srcity.org/departments/recreationandparks/parks/howarth/Pages/default.aspx). This is a wonderful park with a miniture train, lake with ducks, playground, tennis courts, and many other amenities. It also is a great place to park for free while going on a bike ride.

We start by heading out the main exit of the park crossing Summerfield to the quit residential street, Annadel Part Court.  We then take the 1st left onto Cordelia Drive to get to Sonoma Ave. This little side jaunt is an easy way to get to the access road Sonoma Ave.

Sonoma is a little busy, but has bike lanes on both sides which we can use to get through town to the start of the Prince Greenway/Santa Rosa Creek Trail.

After crossing Santa Rosa Ave turn into the small park with the @photo[Fish Statue](783847), cross the bridge and turn left onto the trail.  We'll be following this trail to it's end about 5 miles later.  Watch for pedestrians, dog walkers, joggers, and other cyclists on this very popular trail.

The first part of the lovely paved trail is the [Prince Memorial Greenway](http://ci.santa-rosa.ca.us/departments/recreationandparks/parks/cityparks/listofparks/Pages/PrinceMemorialGreenway.aspx) and it's maintained by the City of Santa Rosa. The rest of the trail is the [Santa Rosa Creek Trail](http://parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov/Get_Outdoors/Parks/Santa_Rosa_Creek_Trail.aspx) and it's County maintained.

This trail only has one street crossing in it's 5 mile length, the trail takes an underpass below the two major roads (Stoney Point and Fulton) in it's path.  Be sure to take extra care on the underpasses as you might come across an unsuspecting pedestrian.

The J[oe Radota Trail](http://parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov/Get_Outdoors/Parks/Joe_Rodota_Trail.aspx) also forks off the trail, which would take you to downtown Sebastopol.  Generally we avoid the first few sections of this trail as it has quite a few interesections and traffic lights. Our preferred route to Joe Radota, is to head out the Santa Rosa Creek Trail to Fulton, go under Fulton, make a hairpin 180 to get back to Fulton and make a Right, Proceeding down the Bike lan on Fulton to hook up with Joe Radota just past the Highway 12 crossing, turning Right on Sebastopol Rd.

Keep an eye out too for waterfowl as we follow @photo[Santa Rosa Creek](783827) down to the @photo[Laguna de Santa Rosa](783851).  Depending on the time of year, you can see a wide range of wild life. Egrets? You'll have a few.

At the end of the bike path, take a left on Willowside then right on Hall and left on Sanford to head to the @poi[Laguna proper](1074108). A right on Occidental Road will take you across the bridge over the Laguna. Head up the Occidental Road hill to cross Gravenstein Highway. On the corner is a @poi[gas station and minimart](1074107) if you need a restroom stop.

Continue down Occidental to the entrance of the [West County Trail](http://parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov/Get_Outdoors/Parks/West_County_Regional_Trail.aspx) where you'll turn right.  This is another pleasant multi use path that will ultimately take you to the little Village of Forestville.

At the end of the first section of trail, you'll make a quick Right then Left onto Ross Road. wend your way through the little village of Graton with a number of very good restaurants.

At Graton Road, you have a choice, you can do an quick left & right and continue on the Bike path, or stay on Ross Road and avoid this bike path section with lots of posts and one dirt section.

Ross Road will dead end at Ross Station Road, where you can take a left, proceed a few hundred yards, then make two quick rights to get back on the bike path.  This whoe section takes you through numbous scenic vineyards.

At the end of the bike path make a right onto the residential street, Pajaro Lane. Then two lefts onto Forestville and Railroad streets and finally a left onto 116, to take you into beautiful downtown Forestville (all 3 blocks of it).  Forestville too has a nubmer of nice restaurants and @poi[Roasters Espresso Bar](1074106) if you're in need of a quick shot to sustain you for the next 7 miles.

A short, slight uphill takes you a nice run down 116 to turn right onto Martinelli Road. Martinelli is one of my favorite cycling roads.  It's rolling, with wonderful vineyard landscapes and some redwoods. It's so lovely, I shot a video of part of it a few winters back.  You can see it here: [https://youtu.be/EZA9IEWcVLw](https://youtu.be/EZA9IEWcVLw).

At the end of Martinelli you have another choice.  You can do a fast paceline (if riding with friends) down River Road, or turn left just before to go up and over somemore rollers on Old River Road. Old River does have crummy pavement, but it's much mellower than dealing with the River Road traffic before you have to.

When you do get to River, it's a fast straight shot down to the @photo[Korbel Champagne Cellar and Deli](783832). River Road is busy, but there's a bikeable shoulder most of the way.

Turn right into Korbel and park on the right.  You can also make a sharp right and park at the bike rack about 100 feet down towards the parking lot by the limo parking.

The Korbel Deli is a lovely place for a break. They have great coffee (with free refils) and wonderul sandwiches and snacks.  Their Sparkling Wine is one of our favorites too, but we save our tasting experiences until we're don't cycling for the day.

Heading out from Korbel, carefully cross busy River Road and turn left.  You'll have a nice paved shoulder all the way to our next right on Sunset.  Be careful of debris in the shoulder.

The @photo[right on Sunset](789328) sneaks up on you, it's also a sharp right with a small descent right after the turn, so slow down and take it easy.  Sunset winds through a small Russian River neighborhood and ducks under River Road.  At the stop sign you'll turn Right onto Westside Road.

You'll want to shift into a lower gear as the steepest hill on this ride is ahead. It's only 1/8th of a mile, but it does get up to 9%.

Now you'll enjoy a nice cycle on the Westside Road's new pavement as you roll through one of the nicest parts of wine coutnry, the Russian River Valley.

At Wholer Bridge, turn right. There's a parking lot just before the bridge on your left with a @poi[porta-potty](1076980) if your in need of a stop.

@photo[Wholer Bridge is a classic rusty old truss bridge](783817) that crosses the Russian River.  After the bridge follow the road to the Right and climb over the small roller.  On ther other side, you'll head downhill and turn Left onto Eastside Road.  Be careful on this turn as there's often some hard to see gravel and it's tempting to take the turn too fast.  Most than one local has gotten a good case of road rash by spinning out on this turn.

The @poi[Radford Inn](1076981) is on that corner and it's a lovely, bicycle friendly B&B if you're looking for a place to stay.

Continue on Eastside up the modest hill to the top, where you'll turn Right onto Trenton-Healdsburg Road where you'll enjoy a nice descent.  At the bottom you'll cross Mark West Creek and continue on to cross River Road.

On the other side of River Road, take the Left onto Trenton Road which curves around to the Right and becomes Laguna Road at the Druid Hall.

Continue on Laguna over the rollers, past Marin Rey winery, to Guerneville Road.

Turn Left on Guerneville and continue up Guerneville Road to Willowside where you'll turn Right. Guerneville has a lot of traffic,  but there's a good paved shoulder.

At the Corner of Guerneville and Willowside is the @poi[Walter Hansel Bistro](1076982).  They'll likely not be open when you're cycling by, but it's worth returning later for dinner.  This is one of our favorite restaurants in the County.

Continue down Willowside until you reach the end of the Santa Rosa Creek Trail, which will be a Left turn.  This is the way you came 31 miles ago and you'll be retracing your route back to Howarth Park from here.  Be sure to stay on the main path, which veers to the right a few times along the way.  The main path is paved, don't take the unpaved branches off to the left as you head back to Prince Greenway Park, the start of the trail.

At the @poi[end of the trail](1074109), cross the bridge just to return to Sonoma Avenue, where you'll turn Left and head back up Sonoma to Summerfield, which will be another Left back to the parking lot where we started the ride at Howarth Park

Howarth to Korbel (Clockwise)

Route Overview

Route Details

Other routes by Bill Finkelstein - Santa Rosa Cycling Club Representative

Alexander Valley - Russian River

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