Our plan was to ride about 65 miles today to Indian Grinding Rock, then meet up with our warmshowers hosts. They had fun plans of pizza and a night in their teepee with s'mores at the fire pit all planned.
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.
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 Mundo is ready!
The American River Parkway.
Rock throwing!
Highway 16.
Ione's famous Preston Castle.
Jose's bike is tired.
We made it 47 miles to Ione where we stopped for a play break. The next 10 miles were straight uphill, gaining 1200", followed by another 10 miles to our hosts'.
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.
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.
Getting our yayas out.
Yay!!!
Wheeeeee!!!!
Kissing bikes.
We called the Ione Hotel and booked a room. Luckily, it was only a couple blocks away or we might have had to camp in the park!
The boys were thrilled to be back on the Mundo, even if it was just for a few blocks.
It was a horrible hassle to get all the gear off the bike and into the trailer then lug it all upstairs in this charmingly old timey hotel.
We sure mess up a room quickly.
The boys are a wild mess but we've for them watching Chicken Little in Spanish. We'll get some more fresh air when we go out or pizza and ice cream tonight. It's a more expensive bike overnight than I had anticipated but it's still quite an adventure!
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