Sacramento to Auburn

Today we were up and loading the luggage trailer at 6:30. We all rode our bikes to a restaurant near the hotel for breakfast. It’s tough on the Restaurant staff to have 40 people come in to be served at one time. They are notified ahead that we will be coming. Anyway it took a while, but breakfast was scrambled eggs, French toast and fresh fruit with coffee and water. Food choice is important when you are expecting your body to provide the power to transport you to your destination.

The weather was blue sky again and temperature in upper 50’s and finished the day in upper 70’s. Nice! According to my GPS we climbed an accumulative elevation of 3222 ft.

Today I started the ride today with a group of five riders. We stuck together for a while. A Father Son team was part of the group. They kicked the pace up and went on ahead, but later Rick, Larry and I passed them as they stopped for a bathroom break. Larry is a retired middle school teacher from Colorado so we compared notes on retirement as we rode at a fairly comfortable pace. There was a speed limit of 15 MPH on the trail. We were cruising at 17 or 18.

We rode the first 30 miles on the American River Way, which is a bike trail that follows the American River from Sacramento to Lake Folsom state recreational area for our first SAG (Support And Gear) stop. It’s a really nice bike trail and no cars to contend with. I saw a turkey gobbler in full strut maybe 50 yards off the trail. There were also some hens he was trying to impress. I got several pictures, but each time I took a picture he put his fan tail down.

We passed other riders along the way who asked where we are going. It’s fun to say New Hampshire and watch they eyes light up! The next question is usually how long will it take.

At the SAG stop I had about four cookies, a banana, and trail mix. I have a couple of pic from this stop. I reapplied sunscreen and visited the restroom and we were off. Rick and I rode together the 15 miles or so to Auburn. This last stretch had some hills that got our attention. After grinding up these hills into Auburn all I could think about was ice cream.

We asked several locals and got direction to and old drug store with a soda fountain and ice cream. It was a strawberry shake for me. It was Awesome!

Since it was about 11:30 AM too early to get in the hotel room we hung out in town and checked out a local bike shop. Other riders began collection until there 10 or so riders getting lunch, ice-cream in the town center.




Finally Rick and I with two other riders from Las Vegas finished off the last two mile climb to the hotel.

I changed and went to the pool for about and hour came back to the room and showered and worked on uploading GPS data and pictures for the blog.

We had Route RAP at 5:00 PM to hear what we will face tomorrow. There is some fear and apprehension about the elevation we will have to climb and the weather.

I had a delicious Lemon Chicken dinner including ice-cream and brownie dessert. At dinner I shared a table with Wayne from England and another rider whose name escapes me. It’s been interesting meeting the people on the ride.

It's been another great day!