They came over some of the steepest roads linking Napa and Sonoma counties, about 550 bicyclists riding for a cause and to preview the Tour of California kicking off in three weeks.
Led by professional cyclist George Hincapie, the amateur riders who did the 114-mile route Sunday were part of Breakaway from Cancer, founded in 2005 by Amgen Inc. to raise awareness of resources available to cancer patients.
Hincapie, an 11-time Tour de France veteran, was naturally the first across the finish line Sunday at Santa Rosa's Juilliard Park.
"I've been working with Breakaway from Cancer five years," he said as he straddled his bike and fans surrounded him and he posed for photos.
"It's a wonderful initiative that I feel honored to be part of," said Hincapie, who lost an uncle to the disease and whose sister-in-law is fighting cancer.
With two shorter rides involving an additional 200 riders, the 750 total participants Sunday raised $55,000 for programs aimed at cancer prevention, education and support for patients.
But besides being a benefit, the event was a teaser for Amgen's 2010 Tour of California second stage on May 17, which will bring some of the best cyclists in the world to downtown Santa Rosa.
After starting from Davis, they will negotiate the twisting, narrow Oakville and Trinity road grades before streaming into Sonoma and Bennett valleys, like the riders did Sunday.
"It was awesome, especially the stretch next to Lake Berryessa was very pretty," said Tanja Tamguney, 31 of San Francisco, the first female rider to finish the Davis-to-Santa Rosa segment.
Patrick Devinger, 31, a tongue cancer survivor from Walnut Creek, participated in the shorter, 22-mile ride that began closer to Santa Rosa, but also finished at Juilliard Park.
"It was a beautiful race, a gorgeous race," he said of the course, which took the riders south from Santa Rosa to Rohnert Park and along the flanks of Sonoma Mountain before heading back Bennett Valley Road into town.
Devinger said that being diagnosed in 2008 with Stage One cancer was one of the scariest things in his life, but he survived after a nine-hour surgery and losing 30 percent of his tongue.
He said the assistance and guidance he received from The Wellness Community and Cancer Support Community, some of the beneficiaries of Sunday's event, was "incredible." It included mindfulness meditation and vegan cooking classes among other things.
And the help was free.
"As a survivor you see enough bills when you go to the doctor every day," he said.
Hincapie was a longtime teammate of Lance Armstrong, probably the most famous cyclist in the world and a well-known survivor of testicular cancer.
"Obviously, Lance and I have been great friends. I've seen him go through it and beat it," Hincapie said. "So many families are touched by it in so many different ways. Everybody, unfortunately, may have to deal with it sooner or later."
Hincapie, 36, just back from competing in European classics, including the Tour of Flanders, said he also wanted to scope out Stage Two of the Tour of California, which he will be competing in with the Santa Rosa-based BMC team.
He said it's a tough stage, but not one of the hardest of the eight segments of the professional bike race, which begins May 16 in Nevada City and ends May 23 in Thousand Oaks.
He completed Sunday's segment in five hours and 57 minutes, a relaxing pace for a rider of his caliber.
"I just wanted to take it easy and ride with some friends for a while," he said, although he noted his companions Sunday "started running out of energy."
He won't have it quite so easy when the competition begins in three weeks,
As far as predictions, Hincapie acknowledged Santa Rosa favorite Levi Leipheimer, three-time Tour of California winner, has the edge.
"He knows these roads better than anybody. It's basically his hometown," he said, adding that Armstrong is also riding well.
But Hincapie wasn't counting himself or his team out.
"It'd be awesome to be able to win this stage and have one or two guys up in the overall (standings) as well," he said.
You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com
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