Hoes Down! Thrice!

Here's another big post with lots of pics.  For Sara's 40th b-day month... we decided to go to Hoes Down again.  Well, we probably would have gone anyway as it is such a great time, but we were happy for more celebration!



Another good week:

• Mon - CX bike ride, then rocket yoga
• Tues - lunch time Soccer
• Wed - morning run with Cleveland, then night run with the Sam and Seth
• Thur - Diablo with Sigman
• Fri morning - Run with Sam and Rob

Ending with a bigger ride up to Hoes Down... hadn't done a 100+ mi ride for too long... I left at 3:30 am, got to Sigman's at 4:45 (after hopping a few fences due to the closed Canyon rd)... and arrived at Hoes Down at 11:30.  With a 40 min stop at Winters for breakfast.  Here's the track.  The ride was pleasant until the last section to Hoes Down where the road doesn't have much of a shoulder.

I easily talked Sigman into riding out to Winters for breakfast with me.  I continued on to Hoes Down, and he turned around.  I ended up with 110 miles, and he ended up with 20 more?  

We had stopped at Steady Eddy's during our 1000k.... they serve great food and are super bike friendly.  

Most of the riding is like this.  Flat.  No cars.  Farms.  

Meanwhile... in the Prius...

Soon we had settled in, had lunch and were ready to go into the festival!

The shade structure is pretty $$$

Circus Bella!  Again!

We've got very similar pics of Kai doing this course...

So many activities... 

Nikko sitting in with the Banana Slug String Band.

The pumpkin carvings are really cool

After putting the kids down for bed, I went back into check out the bands.  Who were rockin!  These guys were seriously groovy.  

Good morning!

B-day girl... kinda.

This tree was a hit with the kids.  Note: it is important to find a good climbing tree when we choose a camping site

The girls put on a show for us.  Our own circus show!

Tah-dah!

Afterwards everyone took off... but we decided to stick around a bit and go check out some brewries... this one just opened up... and has some auto pour system which was cool.  But none of their own beers yet.  Soon.  

But!  They have a HUGE area for events, parties, kids, etc.  Volleyball court, horse shoes, cornhole, etc..  We need to go back here next year for sure.  

Then we went to sample Berryessa Brew Co, which is across the river, but a 10 min drive.  Also very good.  

We ended up catching the end of the Fleet week from Kimbo's office!

Good to get the sink off these two after a busy, dirty weekend

Posts from the previous years:

• First year
• Second year

Next year:

• get on the ziplines, etc early... before the line is too long.  
• red bull & vodkas... would be nice... 
• get there early... there's too much to do. 
• take an inner tube
• do a few more activities on Sat
• bike up there again (that worked out well... maybe a bit longer route?)
• go on a morning hike the next morning?
• more light up toys for the kids and us...
• go to Green River Brewery on Sunday, play volleyball, toss horseshoes, bags, etc...

Ride Report: Family Bike Tour on the American River Trail (Jedidiah Smith Recreational Trail)

Had a great weekend bike tour on the American River Bike Path.  The path winds 32 miles from Folsom Lake to Sacramento.  I thought it was an old rail-to-trails path, but it turns out it is one of the longest paved purpose-built bike trails in the US.  A great, but also a sad fact...

I've only been on this path once before, during Eppie's.  But I don't even know which section that was.  The trail has tons of access to near by parks and can be ridden leisurely as there are fun stops every mile or so. 

Nice Maps of the route. 
https://www.traillink.com/trail-maps/american-river-bike-trail-(jedediah-smith-memorial-trail)/
http://arpf.org/pdf_files/ARPmap.pdf
http://arpf.org/visit/int-map-wpp/

Next time:

• Ride the whole thing in a day?
• Raft the Lower American River the day before? 
• Visit some of the other attractions
• Raging Waters?
• Automobile Museum

Check it out!  Distances to the end.  We were going all the way to Old Town Sacramento where the Railway Museum is located.  32.8 miles!  This would certainly be Kai's longest ride.  

after setting up camp at Beal's point, we rode over on the bike path to Folsom Lake to go take a look.  I think it is a popular lake for boating, some fishing, and I know that TBF puts on lots of races here too.  But not really worth the drive just for the lake.

but it's not too shabby if you are near by.  

Sunset pano

The next morning I went on a morning run, and TBF was setting up for a 50 mi mtn bike race.  Beautiful morning.  Strava

back at camp... 

And soon we were off.  

Alexis and I drove down to town a few miles to look for a place to park our cars for 2 days.  It'd be closer to the streetcar station, and we couldn't leave our car at Beal's point without paying.... it was all downhill, so they beat us into town anyway.  

trail poetry

Folsom wildlife

It was still quite early, so we skipped the powerhouse (as it doesn't open until noon), and we powered on to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery... which was over 10 miles for the kids.  

The visitor center is really cool... we could've stayed here much longer.  

But it was time to carry on, as our momentum was slowing and the kids were getting hungry.  

It was almost noon...

https://www.strava.com/activities/1236797487

We figured Nikko looked a bit unstable, so we got something to put behind him for support...

We were getting pretty close to the end of day 1, but we found some nice swimming holes, so we had to stop.  

Soon, we were at our Warmshower's host's yard.  He lived 2 blocks from the parkway, so it made an ideal stop for us.  We figured it'd be much more interesting to stay with a fellow bike enthusiast and camp rather than get a cheap hotel near by.  

This was not a good night of sleep.  I blame Kimbo for trying to sneak into the tent.  Which scared Nikko.  He slept on my stomach the rest of the night.  I had to walk around the block at 2 am to calm him down.  

Good morning!

After a quick brekky, we were headed back to the path!  We had 16 miles to go today.  A bit shorter than yesterday.

Mini Golden Gate Bridge replica.

Trail hazards...

The ivy are taking over.  

Soon we made it to the confluence of the American and the Sacramento rivers.  There's a decent beach here so we decided to stop for a dip

Lots of clams.  The kids like digging these up.

And soon we arrived at our destination.  

We fed ourselves, and all had a celebratory beer (note: old town really doesn't have much of a selection... lots of gimmicky, tourist shops).  

And soon we were on the Sacramento Streetcar.  

We had some interesting conversations with the fellow travellers.  

meanwhile... the kids were having fun

After we picked the kids up, they were out in 10 min.  

We didn't get to sample any of the microbrews that have been popping up, so we stopped at this one on our way home.  

mmmm

in a funky location, but the beers were awesome.

The kids approved.