Day 20 South Lake Tahoe to Sorensen's. 20.2 miles, 1750' climbing.

Short day.  Up Luther Pass and down to Sorensen's, a historic resort with 33 cabins.  It's been a resort since 1926.  Now it's often tough to book a cabin.  Here's their website.  It mentions WiFi but bandwidth is incapable of handling anything beyond text email.

The descent down Luther Pass was awesome.  A bit over 52 mph on smooth road.  When we got to the bottom, we crossed the West Fork of the Carson River.

Don't know if these guys were catching anything, but what a great place to wet a fly.

Our cabin at Sorenson's -- a cozy shoe box of a cabin.  Full kitchen, bath with shower, queen bed, table rocker, wood stove, gas heater, but no place to put your stuff.  No closet.  No alcove.  Total Sq. footage was probably 250 or less.

Dinner on the deck.  Carol Nacon was the only one paying attention, obviously.  Great job, Carol!

Day 19 Truckee to South Lake Tahoe. 49.6 mi., 2510' climbing.

This was a big day for a bunch of stupid reasons.  It was billed as an easy day -- 46 miles, two moderate climbs.  Well, the the two moderate climbs were long and 8%+.  We saw 11% at one point on our computer.  Katherine had a flat at a significant place for Kris and I -- in front of River Ranch where we celebrated Kris's 40th birthday. We had stopped to help with the tube change before we noticed where we were, then it was memory lane.

RiverRanch, quite a place when the river is roaring with spring melt.

Next came lunch at Sunnyside Lodge -- a favorite spot of our friends Marc and Susie Mumby.

Please forget you saw this pic cuz it just might turn into a Holiday card.

This is the ferocious guard dog someone assigned to protect our bike during lunch.  What a sweetie!

Before lunch, we visited the Olympic Bike Shop in Tahoe City -- great shop!  Best of all, it had the exact saddle I needed.  WTB Laser V old version.  I've had about 5 of these over the years and came on this ride with the WTB Laser V new version, which is a bad saddle for me.

 The saddle went right from the case in the store to our bike.  And I'm a happy guy.  Hopefully, my butt will be happy, too.

Tomorrow, we go a short distance to Sorensens, a resort of sorts up the mountain at about 7 some-thousand feet.  Then the next day we have the MEGA ride up Ebbett's Pass followed by Pacific Grade with its 24% grade switchbacks.  This should be our biggest day of climbing.  Then only 2 days of riding left!

Day 18 Quincy to Truckee 71.4 miles, 6271' climbing.

Today started quietly.  We had breakfast at The Courthhouse Cafe in Quincy.  We were soon joined by about 15 fire fighters.  It was a great spot.  I had eggs, oats, cottage fries, and a beef patty!  Half the patty and most of the taters went to the fire fighters.

We knew this would be a tough day but we didn't know it would be the wind chewing us up. Headwinds can make a flat road feel like a hill and a hill feel like a wall, and side winds can cause cramping in places that never cramp on a ride.  Lean, lean!! At one point it felt like we were leaning 25 degrees to the right to keep from getting flattened.  We figure the winds were 25 gusting to 35 or 40.  That was before we hit the 8-mile climb up to an unnamed pass at 6410'.  We decided to name it Mt. Davidson after Chris Davidson because it was "a bit of a climb."  Then came a little descent and another climb to 6462' at Little Truckee Summit.

The reason we don't have a lot of photos is, the guy on the front of the bike was focused on this, which was attached to hi handlebars. 

There is our elevation profile for the day.  Start low; finish high and climb a bunch in between.  When we got the C-store shown in the picture below, we were at mile 47+.  We had just finished with the nasty side winds that threatened to blow us off the road.  It was a welcome spot because it had FOOD.  We shared a huge tuna salad sandwich and bag of chips.  Plus I had a 30-ounce Coke/Diet Coke mix.  And while we were figuring out what to eat, we went through a small bag of trail mix containing nuts, raisins, M&Ms,  etc.

While we were riding, Kris used her iPhone to take some pics of the scenery.

We finished the day with Patrice and soon the others arrived.  Well, 3 others.  The rest had had enough of the winds, traffic, and miles and took the van in from about mile 50.  John McManus will have a shot of the 6 finishers on his blog.

Tomorrow, we poke along down to South Lake Tahoe, our 9th day in a row on the bike.  We're ready for a rest day the day after!

Day 17 Childs Meadow to Quincy. 62.6 miles, 2754' climbing.

The best parts of today's ride started with our first steps out the door in the morning.  The meadow across the road was covered with a layer of fog.

We had breakfast at Childs Meadow Resort.  It was simple and yummy. Scrambled eggs, hash browns and toast.  We quickly hit the road and steadied ourselves for the onslaught of logging trucks.

Having logging trucks fly by on a straight road with a shoulder is disconcerting.  Having them zoom down on you on a narrow, twisty canyon descent with no shoulder is another matter. You don't want to be on the road when they come by.  We learned how to get off the road quickly -- brake hard and dive to the rubble.  We did that more than once and stayed upright every time.  I've ridden a lot of high traffic roads and today was no picnic.  We later learned that local drivers also pull off the road when possible to stay out of the way of the logging trucks.  Despite that, there were some great opportunities to see beautiful country.

We stopped by the reservoir named Almanor Lake.  The reservoir has a capacity of 1,308,000 acre feet (1.613×10⁹ m³) and a maximum depth of about 90 feet. It is formed by Canyon Dam on the North Fork of the Feather River, as well as Benner and Last Chance Creeks, Hamilton Branch, and various natural springs.  So says Wikipedia.

Our next stop was Anna's in Greenville for lunch.  

After a half sandwich with potato salad, Kris added a slice of peach pie.  To see the mural across the street from the cafe, see John McManus's blog.  John also features profiles of our fellow riders -- very interesting stuff!

We stopped on the bridge over the Spanish River to photograph the river about 150-200' feet below.  Little did we know the river flowed to our our destination - Quincy.  A float trip would have been easier had the water level been high enough.  

The vista was nice, and a reminder of where the logging trucks were getting their logs.  We later learned that Quincy has a big lumber mill and that's where the trucks were headed.

Tomorrow will feature fewer trucks and wider shoulders but more miles (72) and more climbing (5250').  Destination:  Truckee.  I've been there a few times before; it will be fun to see how it has changed.  

Day 16. Hat Creek to Child's Meadow. 50 miles, 4770' climbing.

Tough day ahead and no internet tonight.  Report to follow tomorrow.  Here is what we're up to today.

Guess what?  I have WiFi via my Verizon phone!  

This was THE most beautiful day I've had on a bike tour.  You can tell by the number of photos we took.

The descent down from the Lassen Peak summit was stunning.  Spectacular views around every corner.  Yes, the climb was tough but it didn't maim us.  The numbers turned out to be 51.7 miles, 4878' climbing.

This is a leftover photo from last night's dinner at Hat Creek.  We had a great time!

Steve and Patti, like me, are native Iowans.  They recently retired from Carroll, where they had a photo studio, to Glenwood Springs, CO.  They are strong riders, having done several RAGBRAIs and benefitting from now living at a higher elevation.  Patti is a highly certified and experienced Yoga instructor and has led sessions on our layover days.  As you might expect, they are getting some fantastic photos.

Our entry into Lassen National Park was a highlight of the day.  We left the logging trucks behind and entered a peaceful, beautiful park full of mountains, lakes and volcanic activity.

 This 300-ton "Hot Rock" was blown out of the Lassen Peak volcano in 1913 and then carried here by an avalanche.

We snapped several pics at the summit, in part because it was a long climb to reach it. We were beyond ready for the 17-mile down that followed.

 Since Roz and Larry had a bad day the day before, they celebrated reaching the summit by standing their bike on its rear wheel.  Go, Gibels!

 Our first stop on the descent was the Sulphur Works -- a boiling puddle of sulphuric mud and water (and probably a basketful of other chemicals) that reeked of sulphur.

Lassen Peak from a distance.  Note the snow patch that forms a "J".

Lassen Peak close up.

On the trip downhill, Kris snapped several pics of the vistas.

As we neared our destination, the terrain changed.  The following are our shots of Childs Meadow Resort. "Resort" being used in a broader interpretation of the word.

 Falling down barn across the road.

This is where we ate.  Very tasty.  In addition to being the cafe, it is also the internet hotspot/office/general store/X-C ski rental center/wine store.

On a sad note, one of our riders, Brenda Cole, has picked up a horrible cold and sore throat so bad she can barely speak.  She missed riding today and will likely miss a couple more days.  We are all wishing her a speedy recovery!

Time for bed and serenade by howling coyotes.

Day 15. Burney to Hat Creek Resort. 29.8 miles, 1690' climbing.

Though short, today was the last day of the Labor Day weekend and busy with traffic and we were on a road with no shoulder for a good part of the ride.  It was also an up day elevation-wise so we rode even slower than normal. Some RV drivers came unnecessarily close to us but we survived it.  The best part of the day was crossing Hat Creek several times.  We stopped several times for pics.  The one below was best of the bunch.

Since this was a short day, we left late to arrive at JJ's Cafe at about noon.  That was a great idea.  Food there is delicious.  My turkey sandwich on homemade bread was the best I've had in a long time.  Kris had a Cobb salad that was just short of enormous and had sliced fried egg in it instead of hard cooked.  She ate the whole thing!

Patrice, Katherine, me, and Diane dining on the deck at JJ's.

Day 14. McCloud to Burney. 51.4 miles, 2861' climbing

Another cool start and hot finish.  In between, we rode California 89 South.  Normally this is a bad road because of logging trucks.  But we lucked out on this Labor Day weekend Sunday.  No logging trucks!  That does not mean we went Scott-free.  There was no shoulder for much of the ride and semis rolled each way.  We often stopped and got off the road when trucks came up from behind and they did not move to the other lane.  Most moved clear to the other side of the road.  But oncoming traffic sometimes prevented that.

Most of the great vistas were behind us.  When we looked in our rear-view mirrors and saw Mt. Shasta, we jumped off the bike for this pic.  The road builders did some nice work to keep that mountain in line with the highway.

At mile 17, we stopped for a second breakfast.  We had instant oatmeal for our first breakfast and that didn't last long.  

This is Larry after French Toast and coffee.

At about 10 miles from the end we arrived at MacArthur Burney State Park.  It is one of the busiest starte parks in California.  All 104 campsites are booked most nights.  Burney Falls is one of the reasons.

If you look closely, you can see two fisherman wading the stream at the top of the falls.

Here is a digital zoom to help you see them.  Dang, I love my Canon S95!

Larry, Roz, Kris and Katherine at the overlook of Burney Falls.  Tomorrow we have a short day -- 30 miles -- and we are ready for that.