“Struggling and suffering are the essence of a life worth living. If
you're not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you're not
demanding more from yourself - expanding and learning as you go - you're
choosing a numb existence. You're denying yourself an extraordinary
trip.” - Dean Karnazes
And
boy did we have an extraordinary trip! This was the start of my
"week-off" with Kai 2018. Our plan was to spend some time together
either bike touring, backpacking, or car camping/peak bagging before
meeting Kim and Nikko at Bear Valley for Chris & D's wedding.
Here's how it all shook down along with the Strava links. This post is
for the first 4 days, the bike tour section.
 |
| We left Sunday afternoon as it was getting quite hot as Pat & Sid were visiting and we left after we bid them adieu. |
 |
| It's ok, we only had a few hills and only 30 miles to go. |
 |
| Had a variety of bike paths... this one is adjacent to the freeway I think... |
 |
| Kai got lots of treats on this ride. Here's our first stop at a boba tea shop. That Lychee smoothie is to die for... |
 |
| I
found an amazing family on Warmshowers that just returned from a year
abroad. They have two kids Decker and Colin who were really well
balanced and took care of Kai. They went to 29 countries last year and
they told me all about it. Here's a link to their blog. Something I'd love to prioritize in the future. Meeting folks like the Gillettes are what makes bike touring so enjoyable! |
 |
| They
don't do this very often... but they sometimes just have ice cream for
dinner. So Kai was really excited! Whipcream, cherries, fudge, the
works. Kai also had some bananas in there for a balanced meal. |
 |
| Kai was introduced to Orbeez... |
 |
| We slept upstairs in Collin's room. |
 |
| The
next morning, we knew it was going to be a scorcher, so we got up at 5
am, snuck out of the bedroom, ate some yogurt and hit the road while it
was still cool. |
 |
| And the roads were semi-empty. Another added bonus of early mornings. |
 |
| Breakfast #2. Kai's just going for the healthy sprinkles first... |
 |
| We rode up Altamont Pass while it was still cool. My main objective of the day. But no tailwinds yet... |
 |
| accidents... |
 |
| Long straight roads |
 |
| Lunch at Safeway. My go to for long bike rides. |
 |
| Kai worked on his journal here. |
 |
| Off
the bike path next to I-5 I spotted a nice swimming hole. There were
some families and a bunch of kids swimming so we decided to cool off. |
 |
| Kai
thought it was a great idea. Also the kids put up a ropeswing on the
other side of the river. So we ended up staying there for a while.
Good thing we got most of the riding out of the way. |
 |
| 👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎 |
 |
| Lunch #2... vietnamese food. This place was amazing. Plus they also had Lychee smoothie... |
 |
| At
the warmshowers host in Modesto. It was over 100 by the time we got
there. Kai went into the pool and didn't come out for 2 hours.
Needless to say, he slept quite well that night. |
 |
| Day
3. Reuben bidding us farewell. Reuben wakes up early, so that worked
out for our early start. Also they own a house in Arnold... so Reuben
went over his recommended route the night before. |
 |
| We rode past lots of farmland... |
 |
| Pee break... |
 |
| And we rode through a covered bridge at Knights ferry |
 |
| Things were heating up about here... |
 |
| The tar was sticking to my tires... I think it was 100 by 10 am |
 |
| We stopped at Jamestown to cool off. And to fill up our water. And to get ice cream... of course. |
 |
| Had an amazing breakfast (#2) in town to relax before getting back into the heat... |
 |
| My garmin read 127 on our way up Parrotts Ferry Rd.... that's when it malfunctioned and I lost most of this ride. |
 |
| Kai on his second ice cream or maybe third... |
 |
| only getting hotter... |
 |
| And
I started to have my rear tire issue here... that's a big hole. I
think the tar stuck to the tire, which stuck to a piece of glass... |
 |
| After fixing the flat we hozed off and made our way to Murphys.... for some more ice cream. |
 |
| Murphys
has an awesome creek through the middle of town where kids carry their
floaties up 100 ft and keep floating down. Awesome spot on a hot day. |
 |
| By the time we finished our 70 miles and arrived at Brice Station my tire was not looking so hot... or maybe too hot. |
 |
| Brice Station was
amazing. They have everything here... a winery, farm, metal shop,
pottery kiln, yurts, etc. This place was a little slice of heaven.
With people working on the farms, living in yurts, everyone coming and
going. Really fun to see the behind the scenes operation. Also the
young folks were very active and outdoorsy with many rock climbers in
the crew. A few of them had climbed with Dean. Stu's son Robert had
signed them up for Warmshowers a few years ago after he had gotten back
from a big bike tour. Tragically he passed away in an accident a few
years ago, but they still host folks like us in his honor. |
 |
| This hit the spot! |
 |
| One of the WWOOFers. A french girl turned 16! So we had a nice dinner with everyone to celebrate the occasion. |
 |
| Oh and they have chickens too... |
 |
| Although Brice Station has a lot going on... it didn't have kids for Kai to play with. |
 |
| Thankfully Kai got along with their doggies. |
 |
| And what did we have for dessert? Another scoop of ice cream. So much ice cream for Kai... definitely a record... |
 |
| Very worried... |
 |
| Kai and I slept in the tent behind the concert venue. |
 |
| It was quite lovely. |
 |
| One
of the guys there works at Bear Valley's bike shop and is a big
biker... he had some tires for me, but it didn't fit. I broke 2 of my
metal tire wrenches trying to get it on... |
 |
| So... this is the best I could do. I put 2 dollar bills under there, as well as some wrappers. |
 |
| If
you are ever in the area I urge you to go check them out. CA's highest
winery. We're wine members now, so we hope to be back soon. They have
free tickets to their concerts for members. |
 |
| Dolores, Stuart, and Kai. |
 |
| We don't like that sign... |
 |
| We took the back road into Calaveras Big Trees as recommended by Reuben. This was a nice quiet road and really nice riding... |
 |
| with a short section of smooth dirt... |
 |
| And soon we were in Calaveras Big Trees! I love this park. |
 |
| We're in a big tree! |
 |
| Sugar Pines! |
 |
| This is what the tire looked like at Calavearas... |
 |
| 5
min later it popped... BUT it worked out as it popped right in front of
Camp Connell. There's really no better place in the last 20 miles that
this could've happened. |
 |
| They have food, a creek, a beer garden... and ice cream! |
 |
| Kai working on his journal... |
 |
| The
guys here were really cool and just jammed all day. Every once in a
while folks would come and get gas and play a few tunes with them and
carry on. |
 |
| Kai likes doggies... |
 |
| After
lunch, writing journals, and listening to the jam session, I got
another beer, took a book from their lending library and went to the
creek outside. |
 |
| Today wasn't my day... but soon I'll get going... |
 |
| Mama and Nikko arrived 2 hours after we stopped and we were soon back on the road... |
 |
| Packed to the gills... |
No comments:
Post a Comment