All Downhill?

What a day. On paper it looked pretty straightforward: a long climb up to Kit Carson Pass at 8500 feet, and then a long coast to Folsom at only 220 feet above sea level (that's the lowest we've been since South Carolina). After the climb, nothing to it, right? So how did this turn into one of the longest and hardest days we've had?

The elevation profile from the ACA map. We went right-to-left from Woodfords to Folsom. The downhill part was much more than we bargained for.

First, we got a late start due to lingering at breakfast at the Mad Dog Cafe, a.k.a. Woodfords Station, talking to Jennifer, the owner. She had some suggestions for our route that promised less traffic and would be shorter than the official ACA route. We discussed it and decided that with spotty cell coverage, it would be too risky and we should stick with the ACA route.

It started out pretty much as expected: a 15 mile, 2900 foot climb up to Kit Carson Pass. The weather was cool but not cold. Tom happily decided to forgo the stylish leggings he bought at the Family Dollar in Milford. In a show of support, I decided to not wear my bike tights as well. As we climbed, we quickly warmed up.

Heading up toward the pass

The scenery was amazing. One of the best things about a ride like this is the novelty: each day is different, and everything is new. It's very stimulating and refreshing. The climb started steep, then had a long flattish section though a gorgeous valley, then got steep again. The last stretch was difficult, but very dramatic.

The flattish section

Steep and dramatic toward the end. The road slopes up the middle of that face at about 8%.

Up ahead we saw three other cyclists. There were two young women, and a guy who was separate from the women but just happened to be at the same spot on the road. We caught them quickly (the women were heavily loaded) and I started chatting with the guy. He was on a week-long trip through the Sierras, and had a lot to offer about the area.

At the top we posed for pictures, lingered for awhile, ate some snacks, and talked to the other cyclist (whose name is Niko). Soon the women arrived and we started talking to them. They are definitely doing it the hard way: fully loaded, all camping. The day we almost froze (Milford to the Border Inn), they had five inches of snow in Ely, Nevada. One of their days had been so long they had ridden into the night. One night they camped inside the post office in a little ghost town in Nevada, since it was too cold outside. We had to stop talking to them because we felt kind of wimpy ("uh, yeah, we sleep in motels every night").

The Last Summit ("all downhill from here!")

Hard-core ladies

After having lingered at the top too long already, we started talking to the rangers at the tiny visitor's center at the pass. Two of them were cyclists themselves and asked about our route. "Don't go on Latrobe Road" they said. "It's narrow and full of trucks". We looked at our ACA route and sure enough, it went on Latrobe Road. "I hope you're not going on Shake Ridge Road," one of them said. "I live on that road, and it's closed because of a rockslide." We looked at our ACA route, and sure enough, it went on Shake Ridge Road. So we conferred for awhile with the rangers and decided to go ahead and use the alternate route Jennifer had suggested. In spite of the spotty cell coverage, Google seemed to have a handle on it even in Airplane Mode.

By the time we left Carson Pass, it was after 11 AM, we'd covered only 15 miles, and we had over 80 to go.

The next unexpected thing that happened was that, even though we'd summitted Kit Carson Pass, we were not done climbing. We did not go any higher, but there were two more medium climbs as we wound down though the Sierras. On the profile they show up as tiny little blips, but the first was 200 feet and the second was about 500. It was fun riding, in spite of slightly heavy traffic, because of the fantastic terrain and scenery, but the climbing slowed us down.

Beautiful Silver Lake from above

Beautiful Caples Lake, nestled right below the pass

Kirkwood ski area (our third ski area of the trip)

A particularly significant part of the traffic seemed to be groups of motorcycles. They are everywhere! We probably saw 10 different "packs" of over a dozen riders today.

Lots of these noisy things

Shortly after cresting the second of the two "bonus" climbs, we turned onto the alternate route, on a road called the Mormon Emigrant Trail. It was fantastic, and by far the best part of today's ride. It was amazingly scenic, the surface was good, and there was no traffic. But instead of the long downhill coast that we were hoping for, it was more like a series of distinct descents punctuated by short climbs, just to keep the legs honest, and lengthen the day.

Moss-covered trees along the Mormon Emigrant Trail

That went on for about 25 miles, during which we dropped about 5000 feet. Some of the descents were super fun; I hit 44 mph at one point!

At that point we re-entered civilization. Our alternate route turned onto Pleasant Valley Road, which from a cyclist's point of view was in no way pleasant. It was twisty and narrow, with no shoulders, and had heavy Friday afternoon traffic. And although we continued to trend downhill, there were plenty of uphills to put a damper on things. And cars and cars and cars. Yuck.

Finally we crossed US-50 and things improved a bit. There was a bit less traffic and in some places, a bike lane. We made our way into Folsom and pulled into the Folsom Lodge Motel ($65 for a double room, compared to $179 for the Holiday Inn) shortly after 5 PM.

It was a long day. We spent a lot of time at the pass; we stopped a lot to verify our route-finding since we were off the ACA route; there was a lot of climbing; we spent a lot of time at stoplights and for construction. All that made for a lot of elapsed time.

It was also an eventful day. We had climbing, descending, empty roads, busy roads, good roads, and bad roads. As for our decision to take the alternate route, it's hard to know whether we made the right choice without having tried the alternative. At any rate, the important thing is that we are here.

Tomorrow is our last "real" day: 80ish miles to Fairfield. Then on Sunday it's 30ish to Vallejo, a ferry ride to San Francisco, and a short ceremonial ride to the Golden Gate.

Today's ride: 96 miles, from Woodfords over Carson Pass to Folsom, 5980 feet of climbing, and lots of adventure. After all, that's what we're here for.