Category: Uncategorized

The next morning Anne commented on the fact that we could smell the smoke from the forest fires burning further north up around Lassen National Park…exactly where I had been hoping to ride for the next several days.  She questioned the wisdom of my cycling there and mentioned the fact that I could take Amtrak past the areas affected by smoke.

Hmmm, take a train ride or bicycle through choking smoke…..All Aboard!

I turns out that I’d have to go to backtrack to Sacramento to get the train because they only allow baggage to be checked at certain locations and Sac was the closest one.  Thankfully one of their neighbor’s sons had been up from Sac to visit and would be leaving that afternoon.  I was able to throw my bike in the back of his truck and take the quick trip to Sacramento with him.  I offered to fill up his gas tank but he pointed out that he was coming through here anyway.  It really was very nice of him to give a complete stranger a ride to the Amtrak station.

Although the train wasn’t due to leave till midnight I decided to break the bike down.  Turns out to have been a good idea.  I got it out of the way and was able to spend the rest of the afternoon/evening wandering around the Old Sacramento area.  It was a nice place to hang out.  I even had time to watch the new Expendables 2 movie…don’t bother.

I made one tactical error…I packed away any warm clothing I had.  It got pretty damn cool while waiting for the train to arrive on the platform.  I did however manage to sleep a good bit on the train.

First thing on the to-do list for the day was to send out emails to a few WS hosts and hope that one would respond to my last-minute request for a place to stay the night.  Nothing like giving them short notice.

The ride to Chico was an uneventful day of flat, warm temp riding through more agriculture.  I kept focused on what lay ahead…the Sierra Nevada Brewery!  I had been told it was worthwhile to attend the tour.  I arrived in time to take a tour, but I’d have to amuse myself for about 40 minutes.  Hey, they have a bar right?  I enjoyed three cold beers while awaiting the start of the tour.  Nothing like having a bit of a buzz prior to being told about how that good tasting beer was made.  The tour turned out to be very informative.  Sierra Nevada is apparently an industry leader when it comes to being “green”.  I particularly liked the fact they compost all their by-products.  Very cool.

Not long after I pedaled away I passed an Italian restaurant.  Something made me turn back and I’m glad I did.  I enjoyed one of the best Italian meals I’d had in years.  If you ever find yourself in Chico look up the Sicilian Cafe.  It was that good.

I had just finished eating when I got a phone call from Anne (I hope there’s an ‘e’ on the end)…one of my WS hosts.  She and her husband Len would be delighted to have me stay over. Thankfully they were not too far away.  As soon as I got there I got cleaned up and the three of us visited well into the night.  Anne is a mental health therapist and Len is an attorney.  Both were well spoken and a lot of fun to chat with.  Oh by the way lets not forget Ziva, their German Shepard.  She’s still a puppy and was determined that I should know that no one pays any attention to her….Ha!  What a love mooch!

Anne is a long time rider who has been sidelined from riding because of some health issues, but she seems pretty determined to get back to it.  Len makes no bones about supporting her on her decision, but he’ll be driving the support rig and offer her a glass of wine when she finishes for the day.

They warned me that Ziva might come to visit me in the middle of the night, so I wasn’t too surprised when she nuzzled my face at O dark thirty.  I gave her some love and she wandered off to the hallway.

To be clear…Williams is an agriculture hub of this part of California.  I5 bisects the town and semis are continuously getting off and on the ramps.  Not sure where they’re going, but they drive with purpose.

As I left the town behind I hit a glider port on the outskirts.  It was a beautiful morning and I was very tempted to go for a ride, however when I pulled in to the parking lot there wasn’t a soul to be seen so I took it as a sign to keep moving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I rode I began to realize the vast amount of rice grown in the region.  Huge fields of green…I can’t even imagine the mosquito population, but damn near every time I stopped I got bitten.  Interesting with the West Nile virus being talked about so much.  I heard what sounded like a frenzied group of trap shooters all around me and finally spotted the cannon making the noise.  They’ve got these placed all around the rice fields.  Guess they don’t like to share the wealth with the birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I continued on my way and rode through the wonderful small town of Colusa.  It boasts about 6k residents and it really is a beautiful town.  The pride of ownership is obvious and people were very friendly.  I stopped an older gent carrying a Beretta over/under and we talked for a few minutes.  He told a little of himself and the town and gave me the most important info…where the best place for breakfast was!

The rice fields continued but started to give way to fruit/nut trees.  I saw pecans, cashews, hazelnuts, almonds and most of all…walnuts.  Sunsweet has a large presence in the area and it was interesting to see how the get the fruit from the tree.  Two low slung rigs get on either side of the tree.  One of them has a claw the grabs the trunk just below the first branch and shakes the shit out of it sending the fruit onto the second rig which conveys it over the top into a loading bin.  Fun to watch but dusty as hell.  I can’t imagine what their Q tips look like at the end of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The riding was nice and flat.  Perhaps one day I’ll be more inclined to be excited (in a good way) about hills but for the time being I’m loving the flatlands.  This whole area is strewn with water canals.  Some the size of small rivers and others just a roadside ditch.  With all the work being done in the fields I was a sweat soaked muddy mess.  I made use of one of the smaller canals to strip my shirt off and get it and me cleaned up a bit…musta been a helluva sight for anyone unlucky enough to pass by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made it to Gridley around noon and found the Post Office.  Sure enough I had three packages waiting for me.  Two had been sent to me from Cycle Monkey and one from Rosa.  The package from Rosa contained my second set of panniers and rack.  I had decided that I didn’t want to carry the Camelbak on my back and that I needed to adjust the load so although I wasn’t too thrilled with the extra weight I was a good idea.  The packages from Cycle Monkey were bike parts, part of my rack and some clothes I was going to send home.  So here I was at the post office with these three fairly large packages and nowhere to open them and work on the bike.

I am somewhat remiss in saying I “found the Post Office”.  When I got to Gridley I pulled into a gas station and the owner pointed across the street to the Post Office.  I had noticed he had his service bays empty so I went back and asked him if he would mind me working on my bike in the garage.  He, Jeff, is a very likable guy and told me it wouldn’t be a problem.  When I showed up with the three big boxes you could see the wheels spinning as he wondered if I planned and adding all of it onto my already heavily loaded bike.

 

It took over two hours to get things sorted through and added on to the bike.  Jeff was kind enough to let me store the boxes overnight so I could take them over to the Post Office and send them home the next morning.  He also gave me his contact number and told me to let him know if I ran into any problems either while riding to or staying in Chico, my next stop and where he calls home.  Like I said, he’s a kind individual.  Indicative of the people I encounter everyday.

I found the only motel in Gridley.  They were pretty proud of their place by the amount they charged, especially considering the place seemed pretty empty and it was a Thursday.  But she assured me they would be full because today was the first day of the county fair being held in Gridley.  Ah well, no big deal.  Thankfully they had an on-site laundry room and I would be able to get all my things clean.

 

No doubt Marty is going to read this and go “what hills is he talking about”…The hills between Clearlake and Williams.  The damn things just didn’t want to give up!  Thankfully for as busy of a road as it is, it was fairly good to ride.  It had recently been repaved.  The scenery wasn’t up to snuff because it had recently been the victim of wildfires.  Again, the photos don’t do it justice.

 

 

 

 

It was a pretty day out, a little bit of a headwind, and those damn hills!  As I got past the last hill beyond the junction with Hwy 16 I began a blissful descent.  There was a persistent haze over the area, due, I later found out, to the Ponderosa Fire burning between Chico and Lassen Nat’l forest.  Exactly where I’m hoping to go to.  Ah well…

I found a Motel 6…cheap and clean.  I wasn’t about to camp with the weather in the 90’s.  Not too far away there was Granzella’s…apparently a well-known landmark.  I enjoyed their chicken fried steak and Sierra beer on draught!  My waitress stopped in her tracks when she saw me.  She really gave me the up and down before pulling out her iPhone and showing me a picture of….me!  Honest to God, her boyfriend and I could be brothers…close brothers!  Poor bastard!  Hell she brought her co-workers around who all agreed as well.  Too funny!

As soon as I got checked in I jumped in the pool and got some sun…trying to even out the cyclist tan.

 

After a good night’s sleep at Marty and Debs I thought I was ready to tackle the 45 miles to Williams…instead I stopped in Clearlake and got a hotel.  I started feeling like I had in Mexico when I got dehydrated and sick.  I didn’t want this to happen again.  After yesterday’s climb I decided to rest up.  I hit the market and sucked down plenty of Poweraid.

I was going to make use of the Travel Lodge hot tub, but even after an hour it failed to heat up.  The manager gave a lame explanation of why and I called him on it.

Ah well….gives me a chance to catch up with this last bit.

Early to bed and off again tomorrow.

So I awoke just before the sound of a jack hammer did it for me.  I kind of felt bad for anyone who truly wanted to sleep in.  I got everything packed up and took my bags down the stairs, they are heavy enough without adding them to the bike for this tricky decent.

I joined others in the dining room for a great continental breakfast.  This is where I met Dan and Debbie.  Neither of them was overly pleased with our wake-up alarm this morning, but several cups of coffee and good conversation started the morning off right.  They were my second set of couples who had been together for quite a few years and were happy with each other…hmm, maybe I’m starting to see a trend.

Before starting out I had some calls to make.  It has become apparent that this type of touring is requiring my second set of panniers. so I called Rosa and asked her to raid the storage unit and send them up along with another Freeload rack.  My next call was to Cycle Monkey.  I asked them to send all my gear to me instead of all the way back to Vegas.  I should mention that I asked both of them to forward my gear to general delivery at Gridley, CA.

The next call was to Competitive Cyclist in SLC.  I bought the bike from them.  I explained that the XL frame wasn’t big enough and they agreed to send out an XXL.

With all this settled I started on my way.

I found the turnout for Ida Baker Rd and started up a very narrow thin line of pavement.  I passed by Peter Michael winery, one of my favorite white wines (along with Patz & Hall, Pahlmyer, Flowers, and Paul Hobbs).  Here’s a view…

From the beginning the road climbed and I hate to say it, but it wasn’t long before I was off the bike and pushing it up…and up, and up.  It quickly became obvious that the was going to be a climb of epic proportions.  The next photo shows Mt. St. Helena and apparently the road runs just below it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When does this friggin’ thing end…I stop at every patch of shade on the road, lean over my bike and hope my heart doesn’t explode. This continues on for hours…literally.  But God is it a beautiful view.

I had a nice worker come by and give me about a half a gallon of water and then about an hour later I forestry worker stopped by and asked if I was okay and had enough water.  Gosh do you suppose it’s that obvious that I’m way outta my league here?  Then he tells me that he’s impressed I’m on the same route that the pro athletes use to train for riding the Alps….the flippin’ Alps!!

I finally make it to the top although it’s a false plateau…there’s still a little climb before I begin my descent.  Marshall had told me to expect the pavement to turn to dirt.  It really wasn’t too bad, but I was still glad to hook back up to Hwy 29.  I continued my ride to Middletown where I found a nice little Mexican cafe.  A big bowl of chicken soup later and I was back on the road.

I got to the beginning of another moderate climb and decided to call my host.  Debbie answered and told me I was about three miles away from their house.  I have to admit I was hoping she’d offer to come get me….I was spent.

I’m not sure how long those three hours took to complete, but it had to be a hell of a long time!  Just as I pulled in Marty was getting on his bike to try to find me.  I told him how I had come and he was dumbfounded.  He knew all about Ida Baker Rd.  He rides it now and again as part of his training regime.  Marty is 52 and is…..well, a friggin’ stud.  He races mountain bikes and his competitive spirit shows through.  He’s a great inspiration where I hope to be in a year.

His daughter Michaela was cooking us dinner.  Vegetarian spaghetti (banana squash used for the pasta) and vegetable salad.  We had great conversation which continued on when Debbie arrived after a long day at work.

Not long after I crashed out on the pull-out couch…damn I was tired.

I woke up from sleeping under the stars feeling pretty good.  My biggest concern was the nasty little thorns scattered throughout the area where I was at.  My concern was mainly for my sleeping pad as opposed to my tires.  Time will tell.  I’ll remind you that I slept on the hill above the veteran’s center.  I mention this because as I got up I began to hear a lot of voices from below.  Now, based on what I had seen the evening before, I just didn’t think there’d be that many up and around being as boisterous as they seemed to be.  I got things loaded up and began riding down the dirt trail.  Boy was I surprised when I saw hundreds of cyclists on the road below me.  The following photos don’t do what I saw justice;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had run right into the starting point of the annual “Tour of Napa”.  You should have seen the looks I got as I dropped down out of the hills on the dirt trail…perhaps as good as the look I gave the spandex clad riders.  For the majority of the day I had these guys and gals blowing past me (oddly enough I never did pass any of them).

As I got into downtown Yountville I started looking for a cup of coffee and asked this lady where she had gotten hers.  She asked if I’d like her husbands cup as he didn’t wait around for and took off for the ride.  I must say I thoroughly enjoyed his latte and conversation with her.

 

It had been years since I had been in the wine country and I forgot how absolutely beautiful the area is.

 

This may not be the most beautiful photo, but it is appropriate…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the week I had been in contact with a Warmshowers.org host in Lower Lake, CA.  He had given me directions from the Silverado Trail to get up the mountain without having to deal with all the traffic on Hwy 29, the main commuter route.  For reasons I don’t quite recall I elected to continue on the Silverado Trail (perhaps because it’s so damn pretty).  For nibbles I stopped by this roadside stand and made friends with the owners who put together a pint of blackberries, strawberries and blueberries.

I ended up riding up to Calistoga before calling it a day.  I spotted a bicycle shop and stopped in for a bit to look around.  I was told the least expensive hotel was the Calistoga Inn just up the block.  The caveat was I had a shared bath…no problem for me.  I was able to beat the owner down a few bucks and lugged my bike up the stairs to the room (no rooms on the first floor).  I was a nice room which overlooked the main street of Calistoga.

I got a much-needed shower and was about to get a beer when I remembered I wanted the bike techs to look at my handlebar stem which had a nasty habit of shifting even though I had it snugged down pretty well.  Thankfully they were still open and Marshall applied a paste with glass beads which tends to give more bite to the parts.

I told Marshall he should join me next door for a beer and was glad when he did.  He also told me of a road that I could cross the mountain without running into all the traffic.  The road is named Ida Clayton.  He said it wasn’t a cakewalk, but there wouldn’t be much traffic on it.  We were joined by one of his co-workers, Mario.  Mario’s last name is Tedeschi…hey that’s the same name as on the winery…yep, family owned.

Turned in rather early for a good night’s sleep.

I got up fairly early and hit the road.  All smiles with the new set-up.  I have to admit I didn’t get too far when I came across this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All fueled up I took off with Napa as my destination.  It was pleasant riding even though it was a bit cool.  I knew this wouldn’t last as I began to leave the bay area.  There were plenty of pretty little towns leaving the bay area…this one had a farmer’s market going on.  Lots of good fresh eats;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went through the very industrial section just before crossing the bridge to Vallejo.  I rode through a huge oil processing facility.  Man was it noisy.  The ride across the bridge was a piece of cake since there is an adjacent pedestrian/bike walkway.  Made crossing very easy.

It didn’t take long before I got to the southern edge of Napa Valley and then into Napa itself.  Perhaps my planning wasn’t the best as I had to contend with everyone coming up to enjoy wine country during the weekend.  I knew I certainly wasn’t going to be staying in a hotel.  Way outta my budget for the moment.

I ended up riding on the Silverado Trail (on the eastern side of the valley) till I got just south of the town of Yountville.  There is a veteran’s hospital which had indications I might be able to find a place to throw up my tent.  I had gone over 50 miles and was ready to call it a day.  Although I didn’t find a spot I felt comfortable squatting on, I spied a trail heading off into the mountain above the grounds.  It didn’t take long to find a spot that overlooked a part of the valley.  I got out the sleeping pad and bag and slept under the stars only to wake up with about 5-6 deer not far from me.

 

So a little backtracking is in order for me to begin stage two of God only know how many upcoming rides.

I mentioned before that Rosa was interested in riding too.  So when I finally found the frame/bike I wanted to use to replace the Soma I decided it was a good time to get Rosa’s bike as well.  I mean why not, Competitive Cyclist in SLC had them at a smoking’ good price (a complete bike…albeit single speed).  When Rosa’s arrived I had my absolute favorite LBS (local bike shop) build a rear wheel around a Nuvinci 360 hub.  I chose this for her because she has limited, very limited, cycling experience and I didn’t wan’t her to go through any of the issues I had experienced on my earlier Mexico trip.

I surprised her with it after our birthday dinner at my favorite restuarant in Las Vegas; Embers.  They were wonderful in helping me surprise her.  Needless to say it was a great time and her smiles told it all.

So now she has this killer bike all set up and ready to begin touring…now what about me?  Well, mine was a slightly different story since I wanted a Rohloff Speedhub.  I had the bike shipped to Cycle Monkey in El Cerrito, CA.  Neil and his crew are one of the most knowledgeable about this German art of engineering.

The bike had been delivered to Neil while we spent a week in Mexico.  Upon our return I had to delay the start of my trip by a day due to a case of Montezuma’s revenge.  Wasn’t terrible, but I had no desire to start my trip feeling that way.  Besides, it was only a day more.

I took off for Oakland early friday morning.  Thankfully Rosa was able to drop me off at the airport.  It was tough to leave.  For the first time in nearly four years of being together we had finally become friendly and more patient towards each other…I suddenly didn’t feel a big pressure to get the hell out of Dodge.

The trip to Oakland was uneventful enough save for one small item.  It was a fairly full flight so I chose an aisle seat next to a couple.  It didn’t take long to realize these two had been together for a while and they really dug each other’s company.  It was really fun to see.  Then she started dogging him about how perfect he was…I couldn’t resist and let her know how lucky she was that she had the opportunity to sit between two perfect men.  Well, he didn’t miss a beat and the rest of the flight was full of good humored back and forth banter.  They are my current relationship role-models.

Thankfully I had looked into the easiest way to get to the shop in El Cerrito which involved taking a shuttle from the airport to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Trasit) station nearby.  A well spent $3 got me onto the shuttle and being the nice guy I am I made way for a young lady to sit down on the crowded bus next to me…she promptly took a nap.  It took some doing to wrestle all my gear in these two huge bags up to the train platform, but it wasn’t long before I found the place and wouldn’t you know it, the same girl was waiting for the train.  We started talking and it turns out she (Michelle) is a Dermotologist working in L.A.  She was on her way to a friend’s wedding in the Napa Valley.  She was fun to talk to and thankfully kept me from getting on the wrong train.

I finally got on my train and about 20 minutes later was off the train near my destination.  I knew the shop wasn’t too far away, but I really didn’t feel like lugging the two friggin’ bags up and down the street.  I got a cab.  I told the guy the address and about 500 feet later we were there…we both had a chuckle over it.

When I walked in the shop I learned that Neil, the owner whom I had been dealing with up to this point, wasn’t  in so I dealt with Stefan his mechanic.  Stefan is a good German kid and wouldn’t you know it…a bit of a perfectionist!  He had completely gone through the set-up of the bike regardless of the fact that Competitive Cycles claim their bikes are “ready to ride” out of the box.  “Nonesense” was Stefan’s comment.  He was quite unhappy with the way they had set up the Avid BB7 disc brakes.  Funny enough he and I didn’t hit it off too well, he was feeling pressured by my arrival and I could tell.  He shoo’d me off to get a cup of coffee and I walked away without saying anything although I had a few choice thoughts I wanted to share.

I went to Macaroni Grill and decided to get a bite to eat and I’m glad I did because my frustration was able to be redirected to the pin-headed waiter I got stuck with.  Now mind you, I walked through their doors at 11am…they open at 11am.  I was the first customer of the day.  The waiter got my order (soup and pasta), and people started to make their way in.  These same people got their orders prior to mine.  The waiter came by and lamely said that mine should be out shortly…the kitchen got slammed???   Are you friggin’ kid din’ me?  Who was your first customer?  Needless to say my order came promptly out.  What a bonehead to tell me something like that…just tell me I forgot to place your order, I can live with that.

The point is, I vented and when I got back to the shop I found that Stefan and I made our apologies to each other and we hit things off splendidly.  I got the bike ready to roll and was finally out of their shop around 4:30.  I cycled my way up the street to a cheap motel and got checked in.  I realized on the ride that I should have mounted my panniers on the front instead of the rear and rode back to the shop for the proper fittings that were slated to be mailed back to Vegas.  Thankfully Stefan was still there and I grabbed what I needed and cycled back towards the motel.

I didn’t quite make it because a tavern offering happy hour prices on pitchers of beer caught my parched throat’s attention.  I only dallied for a pitcher before heading off to the motel.  I got everything ready and called it a fairly early night.

The return back to Vegas caught everyone off-guard, including me.  But I don’t regret the decision, as a matter of fact it was the right decision.  For me at that moment, and I’d do it again without hesitation.

I didn’t like the way things had ended between Rosa and I prior to my departure so this was the opportunity to set things right.  We did.

Rosa and I are set to fly down to Mazatlan on Monday.  We’ll head up to Culiacan to visit her family and retrieve all my gear which has been sitting, forlorn and forgotten in a back room of the family’s house.  I’m in their debt for having held on to it through the summer for me.  I know they’ve had a hell of a time understanding why I up and left at the spur of the moment and thought it was something they had done.  I’ll have the chance to let them know it was just me.

Rosa and I will spend a few days together in Mazatlan before flying back to Vegas.  And that’s when the adventure starts anew.

I had more than a few issues with my bike and when I got back to the states I decided it was time to get a frame that actually fit me without having to use a variety of add-ons.  It took a long time to finally find a suitable frame for what I wanted.  I could have gone the full custom route, but really didn’t want to spend that kind of $$.  The problem was that I didn’t want to go with a standard drivetrain again…not with the issues I experienced in Baja.  So I had to find a production frame with the right kind of dropouts which would allow me to us a Rohloff IGH (internal gear hub).  It makes for very clean lines and damn little maintenance.

I decided to have Neil Flock, owner of Cycle Monkey build my rear wheel with the Rohloff Speedhub (it’ll be the only thing associated with speed on my bike).  After a few miss-steps I finally found Civilian Bicycles out of Park City, UT.  The really great thing is that I’d be getting a complete bike for slightly more money compared to just the frames I had previously been looking at.  So, I pulled the trigger and ordered one for me and one for Rosa.  Hers will be shipped to my favorite LBS (local bike shop) where they’ll put on a slightly different IGH, the Nuvinci 360.  It’s the same idea as the Rohloff at a little less than a quarter of the price, but it doesn’t have the same gearing as the Rohloff and since Rosa will only be able to ride with me on her vacations I didn’t want to shell out the big bucks…besides we don’t know yet how committed she’ll be to bike touring…yet.

I’ll be heading up to the bay area with certain bits and pieces of my old bike as well as most of my old gear and will start biking my way northward around the 18th of Aug.  The idea is to reach Spokane by Sept. 16th.  Earlier I said I didn’t know how committed Rosa is to touring?  We’ll find out then.  Rosa is going to fly to Spokane (she’ll ship her bike earlier) and we’ll ride to home to Tonasket.  We should have roughly five days to get there.  Sherman pass is really the only big climb to do before getting the glorious downhill all the way home.  It should be a good introduction to bike touring for Rosa.  The climate ought to be perfect and the scenery beautiful.  We’ll spend a few days on the farm with Mom and Gene and hopefully other family as well.

After Rosa flies home I’m going to stick around for a while.  I was looking at the map last night and realized how little I know of the area I call home.  My bike set-up will be much leaner than last time as I’m hoping (famous last words) to do some of my riding off pavement…can you say dirt roads and singletrack?  My sights are set somewhat high, and why not.  Although I thought at times I was gonna blow out an “O” ring while starting off in Mexico I finally came to realize that what doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.  I know with a little more effort on my part there isn’t anywhere in the world I can’t ride.  It’s a mental thing….which is perfect cause I have been accused of being mental on more than a few occasions.