Sierra Cascades – 9/12/2013 – Murphy’s to Yosemite Nat’l Park

 

This is the last riding day.  One month.  Over 1,200 miles of cycling.  Altitude gains of over 70,000 feet.  This was a difficult ride.  But Yosemite National Park alone makes it worth while.  It’s maybe the most beautiful place on the planet.  Hope the smoke is not too bad; we were there once before with smoke from 5 area fires; it was not something to enjoy.

You may wonder how I got these photos since I’m not there.  Well the photos were from another trip – 2001.  We were in Yosemite National Park September 1, 2001.  The day the world trade center went down. Twelve years ago.

WHO’S RIDING?

JOHN MCMANUS AND BRENDA COLE (Dallas, TX) Biking Blogger John and his bio-writing-bride Brenda both retired from Mobil Oil Corp in 2000.  John spent his career as a computer geek; Brenda was an accountant and financial analyst.  Since their retirement they have been on 50 BAC tours of which they’ve led 14 (Texas, Ireland and Italy). They’ve also led tandem tours for their club (DATES-Dallas Area Tandem Enthusiasts) in England, Nova Scotia, Italy and Ireland. Brenda is a gourmet cook; John obviously enjoys the fruits of her hobby.  When in Dallas, Brenda works part-time at  THE CONTAINER STORE  and John works part-time as a salesman at the  THE RICHARDSON BIKE MART .  Our new lifestyle includes 2 months each summer at 9,000 feet in Frisco, Co; how else to get out of the Texas heat? This photo is from Truckee in July 2010.  Glad we didn’t see any of that white stuff this year.  In fact we only had rain on one day.  Not bad for a month’s cycling.

 

 

Terminating a Bike Tour

Most one or two week bike tours end with a celebratory dinner. These are more or less perfunctory.  But if it’s a special tour, usually one much longer or much more difficult than the norm, then there is much more camaraderie.  You bond with people, many whom you’ve never met before. I’ve experienced this:

• When we rode “end-to-end”, 21 days from Lands End, England to John O’Grote, Scotland. On the last day, the fastest riders waited for the others in a pub (The Brit’s are always looking for a pub.) and then we all rode to the “other end” as a group.
• On my 50-day cross country ride, all 51 on us, who had never met before stopped at a bakery only a few miles from the end and began hugging and promising to keep in contact with each other.

So this special tour is coming to an end. Today they ride into Yosemite National Park. Tomorrow they’ll have the celebratory dinner in the grand Ahwahnee dining room. And there is a lot to celebrate: this was a very difficult tour. All riders are to be congratulated. Brenda and Alison and the rest will all be celebrating.  But, sadly, I’ll not be with them.