Headed to meet with Mark

Day 51, 45 miles (3097), Yuba City to Chico, CA.  Why didn't I think of this sooner, short riding days are wonderful, plenty of time to stop along the way and snack or sip a cup of coffee without worrying about logging miles. Tonight Mark drives down from Ashland....hooray.  I made my late lunch stop at Sierra Nevada Brewery, had a pint of IPA and then took a tour of their extensive solar electric installation. Impressive.

Day 52, 69 miles (3166), Chico to Anderson, CA. Mark and I had a great breakfast and a nice ride through the countryside (all flat), ending the day nearRedding. We really wanted to camp but there are NO tent campsites anywhere near Redding, so we joined Tom Bodette at Motel 6 for the night. Had GREAT burritos for dinner.

Day 53, 58 miles (3224). Rode from Redding to Weaverville, leaving the flat land in our rearview mirrors , we had a good day of trails through the Redding area and then a sweet climb over the mountain to Weaverville. It was a bit cold during the day, so when we arrived in Weaverville and discovered that the only camping site was "several miles further down the road", we took the smart choice and stayed in a motel in town. We had a superb dinner and a beer to cap the day, shopped for a few groceries then hit the hay. More climbing tomorrow.

Day 54, 79 miles (3303). Leaving Weaverville heading north on CA Hwy 3 took us to a serious climb, maybe 5-6 K feet of 6 to 7% climbing for many miles, headed to Etna, where we looked forward to a microbrew and a burger at the famous Etna Brewery. It was a long day but we made it for a beer, a burger, and then a bowl of chili each for dessert. We camped in the City park and slept VERY well.

Day 55, 50 miles (3353), another day of climbing, this time the Hwy 3 segment between Ft Jones and Yreka. The sun was shining and the winds were light, so we had a glorious day. We camped in a secret little spot right along Interstate 5, knowing that tomorrow we would be HOME........

Day 56, 35 miles (3388). We had some more climbing to the Siskiyou Summit (in the four days Mark has been riding with me, we have ridden about 300 miles and climbed almost 21,000 ft), then a stop at Callahans for a delicious lunch and cold beer.  Our final miles took us to Neil Creek Road where we found Winnie and her welcoming crew (Jack and Shannon Deckwar) waiting to greet us. Home at Last.

Heading North

Day 48, 75 miles (2913). Rode from Chowchilla to Escalon. The citrus groves are mostly gone, replaced with more nuts and fruit trees.

Day 49, 77 miles (2990). Rode from Escalon to the south side of Sacramento, the forecast called for a strong front with rain and much cooler temps to hit about 2 pm. I rode in the rain and gusty winds for an hour or two, just to be a little wet and cold to feel that I deserved to spend the rainy night in a warm motel room.

Day 50, 62 miles (3052), left Sacramento headed for Yuba City when there was a brief let up in the rain showers, the let up didn't last long. Between the continued downpours and the puddle splash from passing cars (the first 20 miles was in heavy urban traffic, I used sidewalks were possible but the traffic spray was still heavy) I was quickly soaked. Once I cleared the city, and was riding the wonderful bike trails along the American River and the levee headed north, the rain was much less frequent and things dried off quite a bit. The birds along this part of the ride were magnificent, due to the close proximity of the Sacramento River Delta.