We managed to get out of the house early enough and were making great time. Our route took us along the American River Parkway, the Folsom South Canal, Then Jackson Highway. We had one close call on Mather Field road at a freeway diversion. The bike lane suddenly disappeared, the traffic was going way too fast and NO ONE was slowing down or letting us into the lane. One car saw us at the last minute and slammed on the brakes, swerving, and tires smoking. He wasn't even very close to us but his reaction was terrifying. The drivers' disregard for bikers on the road and the terrible road design (the bike lane resumes immediately after the onramp) makes for a potentially deadly situation.
The rest of the ride was great. Only 2 miles or so lacked a wide shoulder which made us have to take the lane (and get honked at by an irate truck driver). The other roads were lightly traveled and beautiful.
The boys were thrilled to be running around. I asked some roadies (who were loading their bikes onto their cars) where we could get more water. Clark's, a little local cafe, would do it free so I brought our 4 empty bottles and bought Jose a latte and cookies. He was having a hard time since getting off the bike. The ride and the trailer had really taken it out of him. To top it off, he had been feeling like he was getting a cold.
It certainly didn't help when one of the roadies, an older woman, came over to tell us how worried she was about our plans. She made sure to tell us that it was too steep, we had too much stuff, and it was too late already (at 2pm). We only had about 18 more miles to go but there was a ton of climbing left.
I couldn't talk Jose into it.