Day 3 Sacramento to Auburn, Ca. 52 miles 2400 feet of climbing

yesterday, we rode through american canyon; today we rode alongside the american river

we are getting out of sacramento at just the right time.  the forecast for today is 98 degrees.  the next two days are supposed to be 104 and 108 degrees, respectively.

today was a tale of two rides.  twenty-nine of our first thirty-two miles were along the beautiful bike paths of the american river.  the american river bike trail, formally known as the jedediah smith memorial trail stretches thirty-two miles from beal's point at folsom lake to just north of sacramento.  get this...it was originally mapped out as a transportation route by the capital city wheelmen back in the late 1800's [when they used to ride those big front-wheeled bicycles].  it was abandoned when cars came into vogue but was resurrected in the 1970's.  as i was riding along the trail, i could still see older, abandoned sections that paralleled the new pavement.  kind of like finding bits of the old route 66 alongside I-40.

no pace lines please!

this was a first.

as i entered the bike path, there were the usual markings on the road surface, instructing runners and rollerbladers as to which side of the road they should be on [and, absolutely NO skateboarding allowed!!].  but in all my years of riding on bike paths across america, i've never seen a speed limit sign before.

all creatives along the bike path, small...

should have shot this closer , but i love the warnings

as i mentioned, this was a ride in two parts.  the first section was all along the american river.  a beautiful ride through the rolling pathway along the water.  all the way up river, we passed all manner of animals.  deer and rabbits ran across the bike lanes.  ducks and other water birds were in abundance.  even the squirrels got into the act.  on two occasions, they played chicken with us, just staring us down and remaining in the middle of the path, only to bolt to one side at the very last minute.  totally unnerving for a cyclist as the last thing you want is to run over a critter.

we also rode up to folsom lake.  rode on auburn-folsom road.  never once did i see a sign for folsom prison, but i know it was around there somewhere.  johnny cash, wherever you are:  my hat's off to you.

speaking of hats:  loved that cowboy warning!

the american river, flowing southwest towards sacramento

and large

the second part of the ride today was a teaser for things to come.  the last 19 miles were mostly uphill.  not killer hills, just a slow, steady LONG climb through horse country up into the town of auburn.  auburn is called "the gateway to the sierras."  we are now in the foothills of the sierra nevadas.  tomorrow we will in it for real, with a scheduled 75-mile ride that climbs nearly 9,000 feet, ending up in truckee as we go over the donner pass.

kids say the darnedest things.

there's a father and son team [tom and tommy] from winter park, colorado doing this ride.  during the photo session just before our initial ride out on day 1, someone mentioned that, with so many gray-haired types in the crowd, they should all this the retiree ride.  at that point, tommy, tom's 15-year old son, turned to his dad and said, "geez, they are already retired?  i haven't even gotten my FIRST job yet!"

today, as we were riding up a three-mile section of the end-of-day climb, tom and tommy stopped midway up to rest a spell.  as tom looked down the hill and saw a couple of riders coming into view, he asked his son tommy if they were "part of our group?"  "no," tommy replied, "it's just a couple of old guys."  those old guys were steve [my fellow mississippi rider] and me!"

with about four miles to go before hitting our motel for the end of the ride, and having been forewarned that there weren't any great places to eat around the motel, a bunch of us took a slight detour off course and headed into old town auburn.  it was a cute town center with a number of tourist-designed shops and restaurants.  seven of us stopped at a really great breakfast/lunch place that had and veranda, suitable for eating while watching our bikes all at the same time.  as they couldn't accommodate a table for seven, we split up into two groups.  at my table were steve, meaghan [25-year old school teacher from brooklyn] and emma [22-year old from surrey, england].  as it was smack in the middle of the lunch rush, we had to wait awhile to get served.  while waiting, meaghan grabbed a stack of trivial pursuit cards in a small jar on the table and started rattling off questions to emma, steve and me.  at one point, she asked "which character from dallas has his hat in the permanent collection at the smithsonian museum?"  steve and i easily answered:  "jr ewing."  at which point, meaghan asked, "what's dallas?"  right then and there, steve and i realized that dallas was on tv before either of the two young ladies sitting across from us were born.

tommy was right.  "just a couple of old guys!"

i'm off to an early lights out tonight.  we load the vans at 5:00 am, grab a quick breakfast, and take off at first light.  they are warning us that tomorrow will be the hardest climbs of the entire trip, so we should expect it to be a very long, slow day.  wish me luck!