Distance: 26.4-mile lollipop
Elevation gain: 2790 ft
Another climb out of a Wine Country valley, this ride takes off from Glen Ellen, one of the area’s most charming and unspoiled little villages, goes up and over a summit, does a loop around the valley to the west, and returns via the same hill.
Its advantages over the other Wine Country climbs are two: it’s more lushly wooded than they are (the terrain is primarily pretty oak forest, with a touch of redwood grove thrown in), and it’s a lollipop, not an out-and-back. Its drawbacks are two: one stretch of bad pavement and one stretch of bad traffic. In the Shortening the Ride section I’ll show you how to avoid both.
Begin in Glen Ellen. Before or after the ride, be sure to partake of the sweets at Les Pascals (literally “those born on Easter”) Patisserie on the main drag. I park at the intersection of Warm Springs Rd. and Henno Rd., a stone’s throw from downtown, where there’s a large informal dirt parking lot. Ride a mile on pretty, busy, up-and-down Warm Springs Rd. and turn L (clearly signed) onto Sonoma Mountain Rd.

Immediately begin a demanding 3-mile climb (lots of 10+%) to the summit. The road is super narrow, a true one-lane, which is fun, but the pavement is consistently poor, with patches on the patches. It’s a real bother. The foliage is at first scruffy but turns into very pretty oak woodland. Traffic is minimal, though there is a sprinkling of houses belonging to hardy souls who want to bounce up and down that hill every day.
At the summit you pass the Sonoma Mountain Zen Center and the pavement improves dramatically—it’s glass until you return to the Zen Center on the return ride. The pitch on the west side of the mountain is much milder than what you’ve just done, so the descent is sweet.

Descend to clearly marked Pressley Rd. and go L on Pressley, a wide, smooth thoroughfare that is surprisingly free of traffic. After a moderate climb, do 2.5 mi. of delicious sweeping high-speed descent—a real treat. Bail out onto flat, pretty valley grape and ranch land.At the intersection with Lichee Rd. the road changes its name to Roberts Ranch Rd. (or Roberts Rd.). Continue to the dead-end at Petaluma Hill Rd. Go R onto PHR.
PHR sounds small and hilly, but it’s dead straight, dead flat and heavily trafficked. It’s no huckleberry, but it’s over in 2.5 mi. and there’s a roomy shoulder all the way.

Turn R onto Crane Valley Rd., which becomes Grange Rd. somewhere. CVR is a large, sanitary two-lane, and you think it’s going to be more flat, but it includes a 1-mile climb that is unexpectedly steep (some 9-11%). It’s all shoulder riding, with considerable traffic. Not particularly fun.
CVR dead-ends at Bennett Valley Rd. Go R onto BVR. Shortly you see Sonoma Valley Rd. going off to the R—take it back to Pressley, then retrace your steps back to your car. The climb up the west side of SMR is less elevation gain over almost twice the distance as the east side, and the pavement is worlds better, so it’s a much easier climb than the one you did coming out.

Or do something else. If you’re done with climbing, want to shave some miles, or want to avoid a steep descent on crappy pavement, continue on Bennett Valley Rd. back to Warm Springs Rd., and take WSR back to your car. BVR, as the name implies, runs straight through Bennet Valley, which is renowned for its cultivated beauty. It’s a steady dose of picturesque horse farms, oak canopies, mild ups and downs…pretty ideal riding, were it not for the traffic, which is fairly constant. The shoulder varies from generous to non-existent. There often isn’t much room, but the drivers seem tolerant and straight passing stretches are frequent. I didn’t feel threatened. Warm Springs Rd. is more of the same: flattish, very pretty, trafficky.
Shortening the ride: since the best riding is the west side of Sonoma Mountain and Pressley Rd./Roberts Ranch Rd., you can do them both as an out-and-back: start at the Roberts Ranch Rd./Petaluma Hill Rd. intersection, ride Roberts Ranch > Pressley > the summit of Sonoma Mountain Rd. and return.
Adding Miles: Glen Ellen sits on the Trinity Grade loop version of our Cavedale ride, so you can easily add on Cavedale, which would make for a hefty day’s climbing. For a less demanding addition, ride the 5.5 miles of Hwy 12 up to Adobe Canyon Rd. and ride its 4 pretty miles up to Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and the observatory (1 mile of serious climbing).