Day 7, June 8, Back to reality

There is no doubt, this was one of our best rides ever.  The weather was nearly perfect; a little hot in the Sacramento Valley but tolerable.  The skies were clear at the coast and the temperature was perfect.  Everything was in bloom - wow!  The route through the Sierras provided spectacular vistas.  There was little traffic and the roads were in very good condition for the most part.  The Marysville Road was a welcome surprise.  As mentioned above, the problematic area was between the Napa and Sonoma Valleys.  We’ll do better next time.  The pace of the ride was perfect (rode a total of 332 miles, about 222 miles each, over 6 days).  We had time to stop and enjoy our surroundings and we weren’t exhausted at the end of the day.  It’s a great ride for the early season when you’re not ready for 80+ mile days.

Next trip: Cabot Trail (Nova Scotia) and Prince Edward Island in northeast Canada in September.  Stay tuned.

Day 6, Best Western Plus Wine Country Inn and Suites to Olema Campground, 44 miles

Fog!  We walk out of the room to breakfast and see fog, well, low continuous clouds, but it’s cool.  Len and Toby ride the first leg, 12 miles on flat terrain with a good bike lane.  A huge improvement over yesterday afternoon where there was no shoulder and continuous traffic.  Sure glad I wasn't riding!  After climbing a low hill, Len and Toby meet me where I’m waiting near Pepper Road.  The fog hovers over the hilltops.

During the second leg of the ride, the fog lifts and the air warms.  The vistas are of prototypical California coast farmland: dairy cattle in green, grass-covered fields with scattered lichen-covered boulders and occasional small lakes.  Groves of eucalyptus surround small farm houses along the road.  As we approach the coast, we see more and more cyclists.  Our first view of salt water is Tamales Bay which opens to the Pacific Ocean to the north.  It’s low tide so we see mud flats offering a morning meal to snowy egrets and other smaller shore birds too distant to identify without binoculars.  Toby is waiting for us next to the Tamales Bay B&B.

We rack Len’s bike and Toby and I complete the final leg to the Olema Campground. The Hog Island Oyster Bar is hopping - at least 50 hogs (Harleys) out front.  We figure a couple of old guys in spandex would not be welcome with that crowd and move on.  A few sail boats moored in the harbor remind me of the BVI and I feel the withdrawal from that amazing trip yet again.

The wild flowers along the road are in full bloom.  It’s sunny and 75 degrees with a slight headwind, but who cares - the California coast doesn’t get any better than this!  When Toby and I arrive in Point Reyes Station, the tiny town is hopping!  There are cyclists everywhere (both motorized and otherwise.  We stop at the Point Reyes Station Cafe to make a dinner reservation.  When I give the hostess my name she says we already have a reservation.  Len beat us to it - great minds think alike?  We cycle another 2 miles to the campground where Len is already setting up his tent.  We discuss the general laka…, a deep philosophical principal of the Algonquin tribe,  among other important ideas of the day while consuming Porter Creek Syrah and Acorn Dolceto.  All in all, a relaxing and enjoyable afternoon. I rescue a damsel in distress, Erica, our neighbor who’s never camped before and only erected her tent in her living room.  Later when Len invites her to share a glass of wine, we are unceremoniously rejected.  Guess we should have sent another emissary.

Dinner at the Point Reyes Station Cafe is excellent, including local oysters, mission figs with honey and pistachios, Rafinelli zinfandel (first bottle was corked, but the second was right on) and main courses of yellowtail and chicken ponzinella (our best guess).  Now we’re back at the campground enjoying the last light of day and the cool of the evening while the mosquitos begin to have their way with us.

Day 5, Lake Solono County Park to the Best Western Plus Wine Country Inn in Santa Rosa, 63 miles

Up early to eat breakfast and break camp.  Up early wasn’t too challenging - some guy down the road fired up an extremely noisy piece of equipment about 5:00 am.  It was cool with a mild west wind (head wind of course) as Len and I began the climb to Lake Berryessa, a climb we both remembered with dread from two years ago. (Stiff headwind with a climb.)  As it turned out, it wasn’t bad at all.  However, a few minutes later the real climb began.  About half way up we encountered an old guy (no cracks from the peanut gallery please) picking up trash from the side of the road.  I said “hi” and “thanks for cleaning up” which sort of surprised him (I don’t think he heard me coming).  Len came by a few seconds later, by which time he’d recovered and was in Gabby Hayes chat mode.  Among other things he told Len that everything else is flat and thanked us for climbing what he called “cardiac hill.”  This comment triggered a memory for both Len and me: we’d encountered the same guy two years ago when he was standing around in his yard about a half mile up the hill.  He mentioned something about “cardiac hill” that time too so I guess he mentions it to every cyclist who rides by.

A few miles further on we see the Turtle Rock Cafe.  Len says we have to stop to see the collection of dollar bills pasted to the walls and ceiling.  The money must be worth more than the building.  Further on, a few small vineyards and these increase in number as we approach the Napa valley.  Len and I are startled by a Pileated Woodpecker as it flys across the road (rare, large, the size of a small duck, woodpecker with a bright read head). Once on the Silverado Trail Toby and I are riding on the valley floor and encounter only a few rollers.  The scenery is spectacular!  Eventually we encounter Len who is waiting under a tree beside a quiet road next to the Sterling Vineyard.  We eat lunch and Len and Toby mount up for the last leg of today’s ride.  I drive into Calistoga and turn on to Petrified Forest Road.  There begins a long, sometimes fairly steep climb.  In the beginning there is little shoulder and a lot of traffic (Len and Toby aren’t going to like this).  Just before turning off Petrified Forest Road, I see “The Petrified Forest,” with an admonition to be sure to visit the gift shop.  Despite the funky look, I pass up on the opportunity to check it out.

I am now in the southern Sonoma wine district as I approach the north side of Santa Rosa and our final destination, the Best Western Plus, Wine Country Inn and Suites.  I’m a little early so I sit by the pool.  It’s a comfortable 71 degrees, stark and welcome contrast to yesterday’s high 90’s.  When the riders arrive we all sit by the pool and while I’m deleting junk mail from my phone Len and Toby check out the weekend edition of USA Today.  Len shows me an add in the paper encouraging me to call some 800 number where I can claim a “Bag of Cash” for $99.  It’s a slick full page affair but reminds me of the Nigerian Prince scams you used to see in your email inbox.  Len and Toby tell of the harrowing ride on Porter Creek Road and we conclude that this DEFINITELY IS NOT THE WAY to get from Calistoga to Santa Rosa. If it weren’t for this 20 mile section, the entire ride from Reno to the coast would have been as perfect as you can get. We vow to contact the Santa Rosa Cycling Club for suggestions about other ways to ride from Napa to Sonoma.

With the help of Yelp we found a great little Mexican restaurant in a strip mall a couple of miles from the hotel.  (Los Arcos) There were two tables outside and about 8 inside.  We had a ceviche appetizer, margaritas and for the main courses carnitas and a combination plate with enchilada, taco and tamale. All really good!

Day 4, Yuba City to Lake Solono County Park, 61 miles

This is an uneventful day.  We stop in Davis to get new tires for Len and to get my bike fixed. The bottom bracket was making a clicking sound on each revolution of the pedal crank.  Turned out it just needed lubrication.

Between Yuba City and Davis we pass through peach/nectarine and walnut orchards and more rice paddies.  We see small groups of Great Blue and Great White Herons and Snowy Egrets (remember that Egrets were nearly extinct in the early 20th century because their feathers were used in fine ladies hats). The shoulders of the roads are well maintained and our only hinderance is a 5 - 10 mph headwind. After our sojourn at the bike shop, we have lunch at Crapeville in Davis where we seen an endless stream of college students.

The final leg of the ride brings near 100 degree temperatures and Len and I suffer on black asphalt roads that are fortunately lightly traveled.  We decide to do some of our own cooking and average >15 mph to camp to get off our bikes.

We set up camp at the Lake Solono County Park shower and consume a few beers and a bottle of Pinot Blanc.  After a great dinner at Putah Creek Cafe in Winters we return to the campground where we are serenaded by frogs and P-fowl.  Without ear plugs it would be a long night.

Day 3, Willow Creek Campground to Yuba City, 51 miles

Today we left the Sierra’s for the flat terrain, orchards of Marysville and Yuba City, and heat of the Sacramento Valley.  We got an early start today, having awaken and started breaking camp at about 6:30.  The morning is cool and I am driving the first leg.  The ride begins with a 4 mile downhill run on our last segment of the Golden Chain Highway (route 49) to the Marysville Road.  At the intersection the local Forest Service office has a display of old mining equipment which I stop to photograph.  Marysville Road turns out to be in much better condition than 49 and I know Len and Toby will appreciate a decent shoulder.  Traffic is still light, so no real worries there.  As the forest continues to transform from evergreen to mixed to dry grassy areas, I pass Moonshine Road on my way to the Dobbins Reservoir dam at Ballard’s Bar.  The reservoir is about 50 feet below its maximum and looks pretty dry, a reflection of our third year of drought in the west.  A 4 mile climb begins right after crossing the dam.  I’m glad it’s cool, but know that it will take Len and Toby about 45 minutes to cover that distance whereas they undoubtedly covered the previous 10 miles in less time.  I follow our Google prescribed course into the little town of Dobbins and discover that we’ll be better off staying on the Marysville Road, so wait for Len and Toby at the turnoff.

As we continue west, the forest transforms to typical grass covered hills dotted by California Live Oak.  As we enter the valley we encounter the inevitable head wind and miles of flooded rice paddies where we are serenaded by Red Winged Blackbirds and Western Meadow Larks.  An occasional Great Blue Heron and Great White Heron lumber by on their way to their favorite fishing hole.  The wind is from the west.  Toby says that means it’s coming from the ocean (or the San Francisco Bay) and that it should be cooler than it otherwise would be.  I notice a sign on the side of the highway saying that it it being cared for by Recology of Yuba City.  We feel much better knowing that - anybody know what Recologists do?

On the horizon we see the Sutter Buttes, remnants of a large volcanic explosion.  Along the roadside we see the spires of tall arborvitae, reminiscent of Tuscany without the hills.  As Toby and I enter Marysville, traffic increases and we are glad to find a bike trail despite its very poor condition.  The bike trail appears to end so we exit to re-enter the streets when a man working in his yard calls out and suggests that we continue on the bike trail.  We tell him where we’re going and he gives us directions, telling us that he’d lived in the area all of his life and did a lot of bike riding to get around.  When you’re not sure where to go on your bike, there’s almost always someone around to lend a hand.  We gratefully return to the bike trail and follow it for several more miles before returning to the streets in a residential area.

Eventually, we reach the Best Western where we have a reservation.  The desk clerk informs us that the hotel is full, but isn’t sure why.  We speculate that it has something to do with some of the owners of California Chrome living in Yuba City.  California Chrome is of course the horse that is on its way to a triple crown with only the Belmont remaining.  Apparently the owners only paid about $8000 for the horse and now its worth millions - not a bad return on investment if you can get it.  Everyone is anticipating a big celebration if the horse wins the last race.  A big deal for a little place like Yuba City that no one’s heard of.

Len jokes with the desk clerk that the high school we passed near the hotel has a lousy football team.  She laughs and says she went to the other high school.  By the time we walk to Chili’s for lunch a couple of hundred yards down the street, the temperature is approaching 100. It appears that most of the patrons of Chile’s would not remember when they weighted 200 lbs. 

Checking the weather, I discover that it’s predicted to be 108 by Sunday.  So much for cooling winds!  We shower and huddle in our air conditioned rooms thinking about tomorrow when we will be camping again, predicted high 98.  Fortunately, it will cool as we approach the coast.

Yelp found a Taste of India, Bombay Lounge.  Really good Indian food - lots of Indian people in the place.  Had Lamb Biryani, something we hadn't had before.  Thereafter, we topped off the gas tank at the local Am/Pm where as Toby observed we saw a pageant of humanity - don’t ask, just imagine it.  A few were missing the necessary brain cells. 

We’ll be making a stop at the bike shop in Davis tomorrow.  Len needs some new tires and my bottom bracket is clicking.  Probably a bearing, that may respond to a simple tightening.  Just had a little riff on various ways to spell “bearing” and ways to use the words in a sentence - use your imagination.

Day 2, Gray Eagle Lodge to Willow Creek Campground, 45 miles

The day began with a spinach omelette, juice, coffee and toast - a real treat.  Len and I picked up where we left off the afternoon before, climbing Gold Lakes Road, another 1000+ feet.  We were rewarded at the top by several beautiful small lakes including Lily Lake and Snag Lake (the latter probably named by some infuriated fisherman.  Wild flowers adorn the roadside including Queen Anne’s Lace (the only one I can name), reminding me of the lines in a Dylan song “… Purple clover, Queen Anne’s Lace, Crimson hair across your face … Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.” a favorite of mine. Riding on a little further revealed a magnificent view of the Sierra Buttes.  Thus began the reward for the long climb of the previous afternoon and the following morning - a 10 mile downhill run.  At the bottom of Gold Lakes Road we turn on to highway 49, the Golden Chain Highway.  At the junction is the wonderful Bassett’s general store, an oasis for intrepid cyclists riding the road over Yuba Pass or arriving, as we did, via Gold Lakes Road.

Highway 49 traverses the Sierra foothills from Oakhurst, south of Yosemite to the intersection with highway 70 in Sierra Valley, passing through places like Calaveras County made famous by Mark Twain.  It is often narrow and very tortuous, but beautiful.

We follow the canyon carved by the Downey River through little towns like Sierra City and Downieville, the latter the Sierra County Seat. It’s a town of about a dozen little shops on the 1/2 block main street.  There we see the “Jesse and Joseph Molina” memorial bench.  Len and Toby have switched driving responsibility and the inevitable climbs along a road following a river in a deep canyon begin.  Each climb is rewarded by a longer downhill as we descend the west slope of the Sierra.  A bend in the river shows us an osprey hunting its morning meal and as we progress, more wildflowers.

Top of the climb has an historical marker for the Jalabert placer mine.  It is now a swamp with rusted mining equipment from the gold rush days.  The area was settled by French families who mined the Dowine River sentiment. 

Toby and I meet Len at Coyoteville (2 tarp-covered RVs and several tiny houses on the hillside) and I take over driving the last 15 miles (it’s a short day).  I arrive at Willow Creek Campground located on highway 49.  It’s in a deep canyon and is traversed by a small creek.  It’s a bit run down, but nothing like a place we stayed on a previous ride in Happy Camp, CA - the place in Happy Camp advertised itself as “voted the best rural campground on the west coast.”  What a dump! Full of scary people too. Was Willow Creek really a campground?  Looked like a few old RV’s made it up the hill and came to rest in this place.  One end of the campground had a cabin straight out of “Deliverance.”  The other end had a Chavelle in the process of being painted in flat black, one spray can at time, as many times as the owner comes up with the $5.95/can.

Day 1 Reno to Gray Eagle Lodge, 68 miles

The day began at Jim’s place in Reno.  Toby and I rode an easy 2.5 miles to the Java Jungle where we met Pat and swim coach Steve for coffee and conversation.  By the time we left the temperature warmed to a comfortable 70 degrees and it was a beautiful ride out of Reno via Rancho San Rafael Park.  Toby is a big man, 6’5”, 240 and the hills are not his best friend.  We climbed about 1500 feet to the high desert plateau and the south end of Long Valley.  I know this area well, having driven routes 395 and 70 north and west to Quincy, Greenville and Chester on the shore of Lake Almanor for nearly 25 years.  Along the way, construction reveals the history of the land, sandy soil from an inland sea that evaporated at the end of the last ice age.  After climbing a long hill on the shoulder of 395, we see the dry lake of Cold Springs Valley.  Further on, we enter California and Lassen County, named for Peter Lassen who became famous for finding an easier route through the Sierra than that which marooned the infamous Donner Party in the winter of 1850.  Already, I feel the freedom that accompanies long distance bike riding.  I can’t explain it, but when you ride this way, you discover that while slower, you can go almost anywhere under your own power and that you experience your surroundings in a way that just isn’t available from any motorized means of travel.

We switch riders at the bug station (California Agricultural Inspection Station) on 395 and Len and Toby ride while I drive.  Beckworth Pass, 5221 feet, gives a spectacular view of Sierra Valley, a 20 by 15 mile meadow, the largest in the Sierra.  We are now on route 70.  While Long Valley focused the wind, making it appear to come from the north, route 70, running east/west shows its true direction, out of the west.  There’s no such thing as a tail wind when you’re on a long bike ride.  Red Winged Black Birds sing to me from their perches on fence posts as I drive through Sierra Valley.  Areas of irrigation make it amazingly green - there’s little rain on the east slope of the Sierras.  I wait for Len and Toby at a rest stop where cattle graze in an adjacent field and we begin to leave the desert behind.  Plaques tell the stories of the aboriginal American settlers and the more recent European settlers, in particular, the story of James Pearson Beckworth, for whom the pass we traversed is named.  I missed seeing the Golden and Bald Eagles that frequent the telephone poles in Sierra Valley, but am rewarded by a Western Tanager as Len and I begin the day’s final leg along the middle fork of the Feather River.

The final 23 mile leg ends with a grueling 5.1 mile climb on Gold Lakes Road.  The temperature remains a comfortable 75 degrees and the dreaded headwind cools us.  Toby is relaxed in a well-padded chair and reading in front of Gray Eagle Lodge.  The lodge is a wonderful log building with a tall beamed ceiling in the lobby area.  Toby arrived well before Len and I and must have charmed the very friendly Sarah at the front desk who upgraded us to a funky little cabin with a corrugated metal roof (turned out most of the cabins were like that).  We had a little private deck with Adirondack chairs - a location where several beers were consumed prior to dinner in the lodge.  After dinner we explored the property along a happy little creek and found a small waterfall.  A power failure at about 8:30 sent us to bed early, although, truth be told, we would have gone to sleep early anyway.