Day... 4

An old friend named Matt Pavlovich dropped by this weekend to help celebrate me leaving the rat race. Thankfully I had a recovery day planned so it was off to Napa for some wine and a late lunch. It was sort of an odd feeling waking up later then usual, killing time, then driving to a place that was not work. I kept on having the feeling like I was supposed to be doing something else right now, but I didn't.

First on the "to do" list was exploring a couple wineries. Markham Winery was right off the 29 so we had a visit. This place was pretty cool since it had an art gallery in it as well. So not only did we taste an amazing Cabernet Franc, but we also got to see some photography of rock legends. Hendrix, Floyd, Zappa, and many others were represented in the collection. Then we went next door to the Charles Krug winery. They had a Cabernet just to my liking in that it had a great nose and body, but it was not heavy as most of the Cabs around here are.

Next was lunch. We headed down the road to meet Pav's uncle John at the world famous Mustards restaruant. We felt pretty lucky to go there since they recently had a fire and were colsed for a couple months. Fortunately, they were back in business and they did not dissapoint. Between the three of us we ordered duck, lamb, and a pork chop. The waitress warned uss over and over that the duck has a heavy smoke flavor and that "you better like the smoke taste." Well, the thre of us agreed that nothing about the smokieness was offensive at all. It was marvelous. The lamb was so tender it practically fell apart on the plate. The chop was seared to perfection and had a sauce that paired well with the swine and sweet cabbage. I would go there again in a heartbeat, but only if I had a couple extra Benjamin's in my pocket begging to come out.

Then it was back to SR for a recovery ride. We drove over Oakville Grade which becomes Trinity Grade which is a pretty famous climb in this part of the woods. Matt seemed pretty impressed by the steep grades, winding roads, and senic views the pass had to offer.

Oce we got back to SR, we had the opportunity to ride in the rain... again.... 90 minutes of recovery was about all we could stomach.

Today should be better for training. Let's just hope the rain holds off for a while so i can leave the rain gear at home.