July 29 Crossing America

Carson Pass, CA – Folsom, CA Distance 88 miles, rode them all
Total miles through today 3,784, I’ve ridden my bike 3,118 of them.

Carson Pass looking into valley on westside

The ride today is mostly downhill, there is about a 600’ climb out of camp and then a
couple little humps near the bottom of the mountain then it’s pretty much all downhill from there.  About eighty miles to ride but should be a pretty easy ride over-all.  That was the consensus of opinion of most riders after looking at the map.  When there are hills, it’s never easy for me but I took the bait and decided I’d ride today even though my hip is still a pain.  I let the crew leaders know, if I had trouble with my hip going up that first hump, I’d turn around and come back to and ride in my mini-van with Amanda today.  Bridget is riding her bike this stretch of road.  There I had a good game plan for thisday.
During the night I had to get up five, that’s right five times, to go wee wee.  I didn’t even ride or drink that much yesterday.  Must be the muscle and/or pain pills I’m taking causing me to have to go potty this much.  The upside, we were camped in the middle of a
mature pine tree, sorry don’t what kind they are, forest where the average tree was 60 feet or so tall.  Looking up through the trees into the dark sky there were millions of stars shining bright giving the illusion the stars were hanging from the pines like Christmas
trees.  What a beautiful and peaceful image it conjured up in my mind.
This morning I was up and ready to ride except for stopping to eat a Pop-tart and drink a
pint of chocolate milk.  However the mosquitos were out in force for their morning breakfast feast.  On today’s menu slow roasted in the sun for 58 days succulent bicyclists.  These critters wasted no time diving in like kamikaze pilots on each of us as we exited our tents.  About the time I was having second thoughts about eating my not so favorite breakfast; Ike was already mounted on his bike and asked if I was ready to ride.  That’s all I needed to convince me to jump on my bike and head out.
The first climb of 600 feet was over the distance of 3 miles at a 7% grade, I averaged 3.7 mph humping it up.  I did it as I knew the reward was going to be a 35 mile downhill run or so I thought.  My reward ended up being a couple miles down and a mile or two up did stop and take a picture of a valley midway down from the pass, see picture, which rivals the majestic beauty of the Rockies.
Ike and I stopped at Cook’s Station about 24 miles down the mountain for breakfast.  Great place!  Cooks was established in 1863 first as a stagecoach stop, then a Pony
Express stop.  After that it had a number of different use inluding a brotherl, burnt down twice but always rebuilt on the same spot and even is said to have a couple ghosts frequenting the place.  Eric served up some mighty good and plentiful vittles.  I had eggs, sausage patties, hashbrowns, wheat toast a large Blueberry pancake with fresh blueberries in it and coffee all for under $10.00.  This is one of the least expensive and best breakfasts of the entire crossing.  If you’re riding the Western Express route be sure you make Cook’s Station one of your stop.   Again, I took a picture of the place for your viewing, the décor inside and out is rustic and a MUST STOP HERE.

Cooks Station, A must stop on the Western Express route

Maybe a half mile down from Cook’s Station is the Omo Ranch Road turn for going to
Folsom.  Now this was going to be a great downhill slicing and winding through a Cedar and Pine forest.  NOT!   The downhill grade would make for a great 15 mile run but the road was in such poor condition, with frequent potholes, cracks and upheavals in the
asphalt we had to keep our speed between 20-25 mph for most of the run.  Shame the road isn’t in better condition as it would have been one of the premier sections to ride.
Coming off Omo Ranch road we turned onto Fair Play Road where we would be challenged by those two little bumps in the road.  The first bump took your breath away climbing it, while the second was twice as long, steeper and downright as challenging to climb as any of the previous passes.  “Hey, but after these two humps it should be all downhill” Ike said.  Right I’ll believe when I see it.   Over the course of the next 40 miles every time we finished climbing a hill Ike would say, “It’s all downhill from here”.  More then once I told Ike I was going to burn his map if he said made that statement one more time.  Lucky for him not lucky for me he could easily ride away from me on every hill, so I never got close enough to follow through with the burning.
Tonight’s camping plan gone awry, looking for a somewhere for us to say or something to that extent a Twit came in from Amanda.  Guess there was a mix up with our reservation
and as this is the start of a weekend all the campsites were taken.  Finally Amanda found us a place to stay a Marriott Garden Inn, the nicest overnight accommodations of this entire crossing.  Sorry it set the cause back financially by having to pay substantially more then what a campground would have cost but it was quite the morale booster, at least for us old geezers as it felt like pure luxury for our tired and worn bodies.  Personally by the time I got to the end of this day I was hot, exhausted, sore and cranky.  I needed the luxury.  Remember we have been riding 17 days without a day of rest from the saddle and have two more days to go we needed this.  I know Amanda was frustrated and stressed over the ordeal but if you are reading this; kid you did well and all turned out good.
Thank you!
Though my hip got sore by the end of this day, it actually felt better pedaling my bike than
trying to walk.  I don’t know if I’ve said this before one of the things I have learned Crossing America on a bicycle there is no easy days, just some days are less difficult than others.  It’s a challenge both physically and mentally to get up every day and ride for 4-8 hours for 61 days.

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