A few months ago, my friend Rangsiwan sent out an email soliciting company for a new century ride in Santa Rosa hosted by none other than Levi Leipheimer. I've been looking forward to it, not only for high caliber event, but because we had all decided to make a weekend out of it and had rented a house in Monte Rio, just outside of Guerneville on the Russian River. 
What a great way to spend a weekend - a challenging long ride, friends and lots and lots of delicious food. We even got to meet Levi Leipheimer.While we were standing in the registration line waiting to turn in our release forms, the man behind us challenged us to game of count the Levi look-alikes and I immediately spotted a great candidate. Ha! It was Levi himself.
Levi is incredibly tiny, and incredibly kind. He was kind to us, even as Chris chided him into completing registration forms. As we traveled the GranFondo course, we heard many additional stories of Levi's kindness.... visits to school children, donations to local schools, organizations and emergency services.
While the GrandFondo was a challenging ride, it was the most organized century I have ever had the pleasure of participating in. There were emergency medics everywhere, the volunteers were plentiful and the rest stops were well stocked. It was also a lot of fun, particularly for the first 20 or so miles when you had to opportunity to ride in a true peloton, before the masses spread out. The best part of the event - time with Chris and a weekend with friends.
And, as an added bonus, on the way home, we discovered a fabulous pumpkin patch in Petaluma with a corn maze! FUN.
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