Tahoe to SF to Tahoe in 24 hours

The man, the myth, the legend. Ladies and gentlemen, I present unto you Mr. Richard Stone.You will, of course, remember Richard from the fourth photo down from this Napa collection. On that day, he lead the acclaimed Grasshopper ride and along with Dario and myself was the third of the day's wolf pack trio. I had heard Richard's name thrown around in Napa and Santa Rosa lore as the great motorpacer. In fact, the sole motorpacer. I asked three different people in town if and who they would recommend and Richard was the unanimous and highly recommended choice. A series of circumstances made it so that I wasn't able to 'pace up until that Grasshopping day, and since I was due in Tahoe early the following day, I figured I wouldn't be spending any time behind his moto'. Such is life.Alas, it was in the cards that I had to make an overnight trip down to the land of golden bridges and hipsters galore last night. Despite the considerable drive back and forth, it was a stellar time back at sea-level since I fit in getting lost in San Francisco (my driving prowess in cities is legendarily poor), an exceptional dinner with my friend and host in Napa Chris, the one and only Joao, and my dear friend from Middlebury, Heidi. Furthermore, it was at Chris Constantino's restaurant, Incanto, which is pretty much my favorite dinner stop in the city. I'll remind you that last fall when I was here with Lucas we watched the deconstruction of a calf heart and then later enjoyed a succulent calf heart tartare - among other delicacies. Before:After:I digress. Last night's dinner was delicious as well. Thanks Chris!So well fed (on entirely cooked meat this time around), this morning I therefore had the chance to meet back up with Bill. About 85 emails ensued between the two of us to make sure we would be meeting at the right place at the right time for the right amount of time and for the right everything else. Here is my view for 2-hours-and-change today:Richard's moto is tricked out! Wheel racks, a pair of saddle bags, about a dozen water bottles caged around the back of the bike, and a huge box for whatever gear you want to dish or grab. Look closely at his helmet: STONE. And the accurate www.motopacing.net.Here's the smashing ride from today from Strava:With a long drive on the horizon back up to Tahoe later in the day, and this being a Friday, I knew I would have a lot traffic with which to contend, I headed out the door at the not-quite-ripe hour of 8am. From there it was a quick 90 minutes out, then a brisk 2+ hours of moto' with Richard, and a solid 90 minutes home afterwards.To all the curious folk out there, motorpacing provides outstanding training. The benefits are numerous - you can simulate race speed and leg speed, you're pushed just like in a race to stay with the moto' over rollers and climbs, your heartrate and power are far higher than when you're just banging out the KMs alone, and so on and so on. Really is an excellent training tool, so from this pro to you, it comes highly recommended. Just like Richard.