Thurs. May 25, 2017
Day 2 of our ride: walnut trees, and a rider who would be the envy of almost any other senior cyclist.
After breaking camp, Ian and I set out on the road at about 8:30 this morning in perfectly mild California weather. An easy 6 miles brought us to the nice little town of Winters, where we stopped for a huge cafe breakfast. There we got into group texting banter with Jim, Bob and Tom who were also on a food break during their morning ride back in Texas. I can guarantee that our omelettes and pancakes were better than their corner gas station burritos.
After Winters we continued our mellow ride through an area with endless orchards which we had trouble Identifing. The trees looked like they had been grafted to a different, darker colored stump? They had roughly 2 inch long oval, or egg shaped, fruits on them. We thought they were some type of nut, but were not sure.
Finally we saw a farm worker on an ATV near the road, so we stopped to ask him what type of tree it was that was being grown over what seemed like an entire county. I interpreted his answer as "I don't know, I just work here". To be fair, he did not speak English well. I got him to nod and agree that they were nut trees, but apparently he didn't know the word for the type of nut. A few minutes later a county worker we saw confirmed that they were walnut trees. The green fruits we saw would later dry up into nice walnuts.
Later we rode thru downtown Davis and Sacremento, which were both nice with outdoor cafes and historical displays. Along the Sacremento River boardwalk and trail we timed it perfectly to watch the double deck (cars above rail), "I" street swing bridge, rotate open to allow a boat to pass. There aren't many of that type of bridge left.
After the Sacremento River, we switched to a trail following the American River. This trail was amazing in that it continued for some 20 miles without major road crossings, just river bottom terrain with occasional glimpses of the river. Unfortunately, because of this isolation, Ian and I did not get a proper lunch today. It was also along these two river sections that we started to see members of the Sacremento Wheelmen cycling club. They were completing a Thursday 60-70 mile breakfast club ride to Davis. They helped Ian and I navigate through some tricky bike path intersections and some of them escorted us all the way to our departure point from the river bike path. Among this group was a rider who would probably be the envy of any other senior cyclist. He was 91 years old and still riding well, completing 60 miles that morning. Paul Meyer, he has almost 20 years on you !!!
We ended our ride at my middle son Dillon's apartment in the city of Rocklin. 75 miles total today at 13.8 mph. Pizza and beer for dinner for our starved bodies. Another good day. Even though we rode 25 more miles than yesterday, both Ian and I felt that It was an easier ride, both due to a mellow pace and also the flat terrain, as we basically just crossed California's Central Valley. Tomorrow we start climbing.
Mike
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