Sierra Cascade – 9/02/2013 – Burney to Hat Creek Resort

 

Today was one of the shortest days of the tour, even if it was uphill all the way.  It was a gentle hill compared to most we’re ridden; the only problem was traffic.  Labor day weekend is coming to an end and every RV in the country seemed to be on highway 89.  Once again no shoulders on this road and I was scared.  Two 18-wheelers and one RV came way too close.  HERE IS TODAY'S ROUTE.

We’re staying in towns with minimal facilities.  The normal restaurants in Burney were closed yesterday so we had Chinese take-out, what appeared to been enough for 30; there are only 18 of us.  Tonight we’re not even in a town so the tour leader will cook dinner (I volunteered as souis chef and cooked the steaks to great acclaim.) and tomorrow’s breakfast.  We can make PB&J sandwiches for lunch if we want.

I didn’t take a single photo on the road today.  But here are two photos which show one of the aspects of being on the road on a bike: Laundry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miles = 31, Elevation gain = 1,595.                                                        Total miles = 862, Tot Elevation gain = 48,941

WHO’S RIDING? (BRENDA’S BIOS)

ANDY POGGIO (Livermore, CA) Andy worked for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for 30 years as an Engineer in Computational Physics and Electromagnetic Wave Theory. He has been married to Peggy for 32 years and they have 1 daughter and 2 grandchildren. For many years Andy owned a sailboat and participated in races but now says he doesn’t have the time it takes for managing the boat and crew so has sold the boat. Both he and his wife enjoy taking photographs but Andy particularly likes manipulating the images digitally. For personal enrichment he reads financial and economic data. He says this helps him better understand the world around him. He and his wife love watching and attending sporting events. His favorite 3 are hockey, football and baseball

LORETTA GOETSCH (Seattle, WA) Loretta has now been retired for 5 years but during her career she worked for the University of Washington for 36 years as a research scientist, primarily in Genetics, but spent her last 6 1/2 years researching botany. She is one of 6 children and grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. She has sisters who are twins. Today she is active in plant societies and personal gardening and is an active participant in the Cascade Bike Club. She leads tours for them and also daily rides. She loves to travel with biking and hiking as her favorite modes of transportation. In the winter she stays active skiing.

 

Due to the Rim fire, we’re changing plans after South Lake Tahoe.

The original plan was tp Hope Valley (Luther Pass), Walker (Monitor Pass), Lee Vining (Devil’s Gate and Conway Summit), Tuolumne Meadows (Tiago Pass) and on the Yosemite Valley (2 nights).  Brenda and I have done this ride before; it was Alison’s Sierra Light ride.

The revised plans are to Hope Valley (Luther Pass), Bear Valley (Ebbett’s Pass and Pacific Coast Grade), to Murphy’s (2 nights) and then bussed to Yosemite Valley (2 nights).

Sierra Cascades – 9/01/2013 – McCloud to Burney

 

 

First photo above was last night’s lodging for part of the group.  Brenda and I had a room with a double jacuzzi.  The next picture is of Lois and Mt Shasta.  More on Lois later in today’s blog.  TODAY'S RIDE was pretty easy.  Many of us had a second breakfast at mile 16 and we were at the top of Dead Horst Summit (a 22 mile climb) pretty quickly.  But it was not all peaches and cream.  Most of the day we had no shoulder.  Ordinarily there would be lots of logging trucks but they apparently weren’t working on Labor Day Sunday.  Still there was other traffic and we occasionally had to quickly get off the road. This itself wasn’t easy because of a drop-off and gravel beside the road.

 

At mile 40 we stopped at Burney Falls State Park, a very popular place.  Cars were lined up to get in; we went around them.

About 5 miles from the end we came across Lois and Craig beside the road. Lois had a mechanical problem. Her bike has (or at least had) a Chain Stop, a device which is supposed to prevent (stop) the chain from coming off of the small chain-ring.  But the chain had come off and dropped below the Chain Stop.  Now the Chain Stop prevented retrieving the chain.  This is not the first time I’ve seen this happen. Craig and I were unable to resolve this on the road so called for the support vehicle.

So how to “fix” Lois’ bike? All we have to do is get the damn chain out from under the Chain Stop.

• The obvious easy solution is to move/remove the Chain Stop.  On this one the screw holing it on was a Phillips-head.  But the screw was on the inside, facing the chain-rings. I could not loosen it. Maybe a better screw-driver, better eyesight, better luck or more patience would have worked.
• Most kibitzers on the side wanted to break the chain.  There was no master-link.  Lois had a new chain installed before the trip and the mechanic didn’t install a master-link. This is not unusual; most mechanics are not tuned to requirements of a travel bike. But this was a Campy chain and I’m not a Campy expert.
• Lois’s bike has outboard bearings on the cranks.  So it was fairly easy, if you have the plastic tool to remove the cap, to remove the left crank, push the axle and thus move the chain-rings out and thus retrieve the chain. I also removed the Chain Stop which didn’t work and caused the ultimate problem.

Our Rim Fire evacuation plan is not what I envisioned. I thought we’d terminate the ride at Lake Tahoe.  But no, we’re going on with a different route, a different set of towns, different passes (fewer but more difficult) and different entry into Yosemite.

Miles = 51, Elevation gain = 2,891.  Total miles =833, Tot Elevation gain = 47,346

Sierra Cascades – 8/31/2013 – Yreka to McCloud

 

Even though we could see Mt Shasta a lot today, the light was never right for a good photo.  In fact it looked like a day devoid of decent photos so I took a picture on grass growing by the side of the road. The other photo was on the first climb.

 

On paper, TODAY'S RIDE did not appear too difficult and both Brenda and I thought it was moderate, but others are complaining of tired legs.  This is probably a result of 13 day’s riding.

It’s looking more and more as if we’re not going to be able to complete this ride due to the Rim Fire near Yosemite. I know that the tour leader is considering options and we should know more in a day of two.  My guess is that the 24 day ride will be an 18 day ride. Stay tuned.

 

Miles today = 52, Elevation gain = 3,016.  Total miles = 782, Tot Elevation gain = 44,455

Sierra Cascades – 8/30/2013 – Ashland, OR to Yreka, CA

 

 

As we leave Ashland and Oregon behind (photo on left above) we do it uphill, a 13 mile climb  of 2,500 feet.  Our route sheet calls this a “nice shady climb”:  shady it is, but a 9% grade is never nice.  But the grade eventually mellows and it is a beautiful, tree covered climb.  But when we get to the top (photo on right above) we see desolate landscape.  HERE IS THE ROUTE.

At mile 18 we are “Welcomed to California.”  We spend 7 or 8 miles on the shoulder on Interstate 5 but it’s downhill and there is a wide shoulder. Just before we exit we pass through a Fruit Inspection Station but I’m waived on and don’t have to stop.

The desolation continues or gets worse.  There is no shade and it’s hot.  ‘Feels like 100 although it’s only 80. ‘Guess I can’t complain too much since it’s 104 degrees in Dallas today.  Even Mt Shasta seems desolate in this environment.

 

When you’re in the road you often don’t know the date or day; sometimes you even forget the year.  So it was somewhat a surprise to learn at happy hour last night that Labor  Day weekend begins today.  This impacts where we could get lodging, the routes, traffic and even which restaurants we can book.  Maybe that’s why the next three days are fairly easy.  Whatever the reason, I’m ready.

This was ride day 12; the trip is half over.  So far we’ve ridden 730 miles and climbed 41,439 feet. That’s a daily average of 61 miles and 3,453 feet of climbing.  No wonder my legs are tired.

Miles today = 47, Elevation gain = 3,747.  Total miles = 730, Tot Elevation gain = 41,439

Sierra Cascades – 8/29/2013 – Crater Lake to Ashland. OR

 

I had to take one last photo of the sunrise at Crater Lake.  There are many people sitting in the rocking chairs enjoying the sunrise at 6:30 am.  I’ll bet none of them are going to ride a bicycle 90 miles today.

We dropped 2,000 feet quickly and had breakfast at the 7 mile point.  The temperature was 50 degrees but felt colder because of the natural wind and the wind due to 20 mph downhill.

By mile 27 we had removed the extra layers of clothing.

Much of today’s ride was in farm and ranch land. It would have been a great ride if it were not for the headwind.  But overall, it wasn’t bad for a 90 mile day.

In round numbers, we started at 7,100 feet, and throughout the day we climbed 3,100 feet and descended 8,200 feet, ending at 2,000 feet.  The bad part of this ride is that we’ll be back at 8,000 feet in a couple of days – more difficult days ahead.

 

As we descended into Ashland – a 3,000 foot descent – the vegetation suddenly turned yellow; it’s obviously much drier here.

Once again riders ask me if Brenda has gotten stronger or if I’ve gotten weaker? My answer is “yes”.  Once again she arrives at the motel an hour before me. But that’s not all bad; she has the luggage in the room and had purchased a Diet Pepsi for me.

Miles today = 90, Elevation gain = 3,141. Total miles = 683, Tot Elevation gain = 37,692

Sierra Cascades – 8/28/2013 – Rest Day at Crater Lake

 

What? Another rest day?  Well we’d better enjoy it. The gravy train stops today.  Tomorrow we begin 9 days of riding, starting with a 90 mile ride to Ashland.  Of the 9 days, two look tough, including the toughest ride in the trip.

CRATER LAKE is the second deepest lake in North America and the clearest lake in the world, as measured by the SECCHI DISK. We learned of this from a National Park Ranger who accompanied us on a 2-hour tour on the lake on a trolley.  The ranger, Tim is a a volunteer; a retired geologist. 

 

I took the left photo above about 6:15 this morning. Went downstairs to get coffee and found half of the group was already there – in spite of a rest day and the café not opening until 7:00

 

Sierra Cascades – 8/27/2013 – Odell Lake to Crater Lake

 

Early morning temperature was 38 degrees. So we dressed with base layer on the top, tights on our legs, shoe covers, skull caps,  two layers of gloves.  I found this comfortable. By mile 22 it all came off. Photo at left is Odell Lake as we were leaving.

 

 

We thought the traffic would be bad only for the first 30 some-odd miles but there were 18-wheelers all day.  The more tired we got the bigger the problem. And it was a DIFFICULT DAY with 68 miles and 4,290 feet of climbing.

 

You’ll see below the clear skies; no evidence of forest fires yet.

 

 

 

When I finally got to the rim road- it was very difficult - I was stopping more than once per mile – I pulled over at the first viewpoint and shot the composite photo below.  We were disheartened at this point to see the road once again going up and up and up.

And when I got to our room I discovered we have a great view (see below) out of the  window. Impressions so far is that this National Park Lodge, which has recently been updated, is excellent.

Miles today = 68, Elevation gain = 4,290. Total miles = 593, Tot Elevation gain = 34,551