Saturday May 27, 2017
This morning at about 5am, we started hearing the noise of truck engines, and then squealing pigs. Of course !! It was Saturday morning, Memorial Day weekend at the county fairgrounds. It seemed as if everyone in the county was bringing in their livestock to show?, to sell? Amazingly, both Ian and I tolerated the steadily escalating noise and slept until almost 7am.
Today we had our big breakfast in town, rather than first riding a few miles. The climbing started as soon as we left town. I can say with certainty that along the first 10 mile section of Fiddletown road, I set my personal record of shifts per mile. The road climbed in ramps and flats. False flats where followed by steep ramps. I often used my granny gear of 26 x 34, which I now call my "4 mph" gear. Our speeds ranged between 15 mph and 4 mph. I was constantly shifting to get the right gear as the gradient kept changing.
After Fiddletown Rd, we turned onto Shakeridge Rd. Here, signs were posted saying that the road was closed further up due to slumping caused by the wet winter (see photos). Luckily, we had previously talked with the lady owner of Cooks Station (tonight's campsite) and she told us that bikes were still able to get through the closure. We trusted her and had no problem making it through. Her information saved us many potential miles, and hours, of detour.
The last 4 miles today was the toughest part of the day, a steady grind up to Cooks Station. We arrived at about 2:30pm and immediately ordered lunch. Cooks Station is a cool little restaurant and store with very friendly staff and a lot of history dating back to the 1840s when it was one of a string of stations used along a supply route during gold rush days. We are camping behind it tonight. No shower, but water, food and flat ground for tents. No Verizon service for me, but Ian has great AT&T service?
Today's total mileage was only 26 miles, but we did climb 4300 ft. As a result, our average speed was a slow 7.6 mph. I think I burned one of my matches.
Cooks Station is at 5000 ft, but there is no snow around? The locals say that many of the storms this winter were warm with a high snow level. Here they got lots of rain, but only a normal amount of snow, which has already melted. Higher up, they got all snow. If you stand out in the middle Calif route 88 in front of Cooks and look east, you can just glimpse a distant peak between the trees, which is covered with snow. That's actually our first snow sighting. Tomorrow we'll see lots more as we plan to crest Carson Pass, with another 4000 ft of climbing, and drop down close to Nevada.
About an hour before sunset, we finally met some other touring cyclists. A young couple(?) that are riding all the way across to Boston from SF, pulled into Cooks. They will also be camping at Cooks.
More later. Mike
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