I had Friday off, and so joined Pam Down's 2-day ride, helping to lead them out of San Jose. Pam had 9 people, most of whom were doing the tour, and all were new to this route, so I took the front, letting Pam lead from the rear. I left them a mile into Niles Canyon Road, stopping for a jump in the creek. I was in training for my stream jumping, and so this was my first opportunity. The water was only knee deep, but I was able to float back and forth a few times. It was good. It felt to me like my tour had already started. Then I headed back home, and finished packing for my trip.
LeRoy Rodriguez and I were the only ones of my group of 10 who were going to do the Tour. The other 8 were coming along just for the ride to Columbia. All had made arrangements with other people to have their cars driven up for them. This was a win-win situation, as the drivers were able to keep from boxing their bikes and taking the bus. This also allows the Tour to take a few more people.
My plan was to just ride my own pace, and not get sucked into chasing down the fast people. LeRoy agreed that this was a good plan, and so together we hung out at the back, just riding our own ride. We would see the others at the reststops, but once we got rolling, they would soon go off the front, out of sight.
LeRoy managed to crash on a downhill turn of Corral Hollow Rd. He lost a few layers of skin from a large portion of his right hip, plus a bit from his right arm, but didn't have any deep cuts or broken bones. LeRoy, being an EMT, carried alot of medical supplies on his bike, and so was able to do a good job of getting his wounds cleaned and bandaged up, while we got his bicycle going again. LeRoy was going to finish the tour, but was also going to do alot of hurting.
At Knight's Ferry, I made it a point of checking out the Stanislaus River, and found that it was very refreshing. This was my stream jumping for today.
We finally got into Columbia a bit after 6:00, a full hour late but still in time for dinner.
This was the first official day of the Tour. Our usual plan was to arrive late for breakfast, thereby missing the long lines, and then start riding about at the very end. We would do this for each day, and it worked well. Any impatient people were free to go off on their own, leaving only the ones that wanted to do that day's "Donny option".
We caught up with Pam and Jackie Steele at the bakery in Murphy's. Pam had come across a slipper on the road, which was made up to be a stuffed bull. This became Pam's mojo for the remainder of the tour, sitting on the back of Pam's rack. The bull's name was Bullony, a variation of the Zony that we saw last year. Later, Pam was asked, "Does your Bullony have a first name?" It's Oscar, of course. Pam and Jackie were going to go antique shopping this day, and so chose to do the short route.
My group of 13 then left, and rode out of Murphy's on Sheep Ranch Road. This year we were going to skip the Mercer Caverns, but we got Sue and Bob to visit them for us. Sue got the STTS story written by Peggy 2 year's ago, and was basing what they should be doing on what Peggy had written in her story. Sue and Bob were amazed to be able to fit real people to the accounts that were in Peggy's stories.
Our next stop was to be the stream just before Sheep Ranch, but that was still 3 uphills away. People were getting warm and over-heated on these climbs, but I felt that this was good, as the stream would feel just that much more refreshing. At the stream, I found that a dam had been built, which raised the level of the pool by over a foot, so that now the deep spots were about 5 feet deep. Nobody was in the water yet, so I led the way.
I left the others standing by their bikes in the road. I went to the edge of the water, quickly took off my shoes, socks, and tank top and went into the water. The water was a bit cold, ok for me but too cold for the others. I stayed in and floated back and forth many times with no problem. I was happy.
We tried out a new route this day. Once we got past Sheep Ranch and came to the junction with Railroad Flat Rd, we turned right instead of left. The past 3 years we turned left and went to Mountain Ranch for lunch, then continued back to the official route in San Andreas and Pardee Dam. This year I wanted to turn right, have lunch in Railroad Flat, then continue on to West Point and Hwy 88. Phil Weiss knew of some good back roads to stay off of Hwy 88 at Pine Grove, so we took Irish Town Road and Carlton Rd into Jackson, turning onto Broadway just a block from the St.Sava Mission.
We also stopped in for some creek-jumping at the Middle and North Forks of the Mokelumne River, but they were not as good as the first stream. The Middle Fork had a good pool under the bridge, but the North Fork had too much fast water to be safe, so we stayed out of it.
We again had the Tour's bike mechanic, Phil Weiss, as part of my group. He has to do the short option on the first day, to better be able to handle people's biking needs, but on the other days he is free to ride with us. Phil lives in Sutter Creek, and so we let him pick the roads for this day. As we did last year, we went up Sutter Creek- Volcano Road to Volcano. We passed by Hubcap Ranch #2, got to Volcano just as the General Store was opening (10:00 am), said hello to Rosie, checked out the Shoe Tree, then headed up Ram's Horn Grade to Daffodil Hill. We then continued climbing along the ridge, then headed down to Fiddletown. The General Store, where we ate last year, was now out of business, so we continued on to Plymouth, where we found lunch.
In Plymouth, I caught up with Pam's group, who was doing this same route, but at a slightly different pace. Pam's didn't want to be quite as social or leisurely in the reststops. But I had a good lunch with them, and they stayed until I finished mine. Pam's group had managed to see the Wagon Train Special event that was passing through. This consisted of about 10 covered wagons and horses, all escorted by police for traffic safety. All that my group saw was a sign that said "Special event ahead" and so we assumed that they must mean Us.
We were back on the official route on Latrobe Rd, and went through the location of the SAG stop just before 2:00 pm, about 2 hours after it closed.
Our scheduled stream-jumping spot for today was 4 miles up the road, at the Consumnes River. It looked like a good spot when I passed last year. We weren't disappointed. We found a good spot to hide the bikes under the bridge, then continued on down to a nice pool. The others all joined us in the water, except for LeRoy, who still had his roadrash to deal with. The water was warmer, so people were able to stay in this time. The current was a bit too strong for my liking, but the strong swimmers in our group: Peggy Abelite, Lisa Curran, and Kim Carr, all enjoyed the challenge of swimming upstream.
Once in the water, we all felt that this was the true touring experience. Nobody wanted to leave, we were very happy and content right where we were. This was the good life. I had found this out a few years ago, and was very glad to see that the others were seeing this for themselves also. We just couldn't see the need to rush off and get to the next night's campground. We were happy right where we were.
Patti Hartinian, who now lives in Folsom, joined our group for the ride this day. She knew of a good place in Folsom to eat, so our group of 15 this day all went over for breakfast. Lucie Rufiange also joined the ride for this day. Neither one could stay for the whole tour but it was good to ride with them for this little bit. Pam also rode with my group this day, so it was good to finally have a chance to ride with Pam. Our schedules finally agreed with each other.
Today is usually the day that I feel overly tired, where my lack of sleep finally catches up with me. But this year, for some reason, I managed to feel fine all day. I still had the lack of sleep. I'm thinking that maybe the real breakfast in Folsom helped me to make it through the day, while in past years we don't eat much until Sacramento.
We skipped the Sacramento stop this year, due to a large Train Event that was going on. I've been there/done that, so I didn't miss the Sacramento stop. Instead, we continued straight on to Davis, where Lisa found us a good Thai restaurant for lunch.
At the Putah Creek SAG stop, we actually found the SAG, my groups first one of the tour. The Donny options of the previous 2 days have kept us from finding a SAG until this time. Ray Rodriguez is doing SAG, accompanied by his daughter Sarah. After a few days, Ray found that he would rather be riding his bike, but was still doing his best at being a good SAG person.
At this stop we heard of some bad news. Leo Shiekman had been hit by a car in Davis and had broken his ankle. The police were able to find the car and driver about 10 minutes after she had left the scene. Also, a tandem had a crash when another bicycle turned in front of them. The woman stoker suffered a broken hip.
Today's stream-jumping was at the Solano Lake Park. This proved to be not the best place, as the water was choked with plants and was a bit on the cold side. A few of us managed anyway, but it was not as enjoyable.
The Donny option for today would include a few new roads, all of which proved to be very worthwhile.
Just outside of camp, we first had to stop in and check on the Zony that we discovered last year. The owner again came out to talk with us and would have gladly stayed there for as long as we were willing to keep listening. The Zony, half zebra-half pony, named Ziggy, is now out in the field along with 2 camels, 1 llama, 3 burros, about 6 horses, and 2 month-old colts.
After going past Monticello Dam and climbing over Cardiac Hill, we stopped in at the Moskowitz Corners store to hang out and check on their tattoos. They only had Harley Davidson tattoos, so we were a bit disappointed.
About 5 miles on up the road is a turnoff towards Spanish Flat and Lake Berryessa. This was our turn, and the start of the new route. After a few miles the road got over by Lake Berryessa, where it would stay for the next 10 miles. The plan was to find a good swimming spot somewhere along this stretch. Phil had his eyes working better than mine, so he had us stop at a place that I would have let slip on by. But, thanks to Phil, we had just found our best swimming spot of the whole tour.
We found an easy trail that we walked our bikes down a bit, just to get them out of sight from the road. Then it was on down to the water. This spot had clear water, very deep, and not cold at all. It felt like a big swimming pool. Again, everyone but LeRoy was in the water. The girls were all good swimmers and so got off by themselves about 50 yards away, while all of us boys had to stay closer in. Then we called over to them, pretending that they were from the girl's camp across the lake. They came back closer, but as soon as we were going to jump them, they were gone again. There was no way we were going to be catching them.
This was also a hard place to leave. Being here at this pool, nobody felt the need to rush off to get to Calistoga. The only thing that finally got us going again was the fact that it was getting close to noon, and that none of us had any food to eat, and it was still lots of miles to get to Angwin.
We got back on route just before the Pope Valley Store. After the traditionally good climb up Ink Grade and our lunch on the grass in Angwin, we were off on the next new road. Going north on College Ave. we started easy enough, and I assumed it would be an easy jog over to White Cottege Rd. But then we made a turn, and then another, and at each turn the road seemed to get steeper and steeper. And all of this just after we had finished eatting. But, steep grades aside, the road was great. It provided great views back down onto Angwin. Then it was a left turn onto White Cottage Road, which provided great views to the west and north. White Cottage Road then went down to cross over onto Howell Mountain Road for the great descent with views looking out to the south.
Once down onto Silverado Trail, I had remembered it being about 20 miles to get to Calistoga, but was pleasantly surprised when we got there after about 10 miles.
At the fairgrounds campground, I quickly put up my tent, showered, and then walked back into town to meet Pam and Kim, who were staying at Doc Wilkenson's Motel. I joined Kim in the pool for awhile, then hung out with the group that was forming around a few bottles of wine and some pictures that Howard had taken. Later I went with Kim and we found the rest of our group at the laundromat, where we hung out until time for dinner. Dinner for me was pizza again this year. Good as always.
I had made available the option of doing "The Terrible One", which goes over some of the same hills as the Terrible Two Double Century that is next weekend. In the days before there had been a few interested people, but then they all each decided that they wanted to just enjoy the tour and to do my option for that day.
After the stop at the JimTown Store, the 20 people on today's Donny option doubled back to Geyser Road, then continued north to Geyserville, crossing under Hwy 101 at Cannon Road, then back south on Dry Creek Road. All of these roads were recommended to me by Ray Rodriguez, and all proved to be very bicycle friendly. Little traffic and great views, winding mostly throught the grape vines. It adds about 7 miles to the route, but provides better distance between the two reststops.
We got back on route at the Lambert Bridge General Store, just after the SAG stop was scheduled to close. We found Richard Jacobs, the Tours other SAG driver still there, and willing to transport any bottles of wine back to camp.
We bought lunch to go at the store then went a few hundred yards down the road to eat on the lawn at the Dry Creek Winery. Then we all took a few minutes to have our traditional nap on the lawn.
10 miles on down the road, we turned off on Sweetwater Canyon Road. The street sign was missing, but I recognized the corner from when I came through last August. Other signs at the location said "Winding Road next 10 miles", and "Pavement ends 2 miles", so I knew we had the right road.
Our group of 14 started up Sweetwater. At the back were Larry and Violet, not really hanging with our group but just happening to be here at the right time. They thought my option seemed better, so they opted to join us.
After 2 miles we were all at the top of the first hill, where we could now see where we had to first drop down to, and then also where we had to finally climb way up to. Down we went, with me at the back, as I usually am. At the bottom, the road turned to dirt, but it was freshly graded and compacted and so was very smooth. No problem here. Then we got over to some graders, etc, where they were doing actual work, and found that the road was freshly watered. It was still ridable but now it began to be apparent that all of our bicycles were going to get quite muddy. We all kept going.
Once back on the pavement, it was just me and Peggy at the back. All of the others were already out of sight ahead. Peggy was not happy with the now-muddy condition of her bicycle, added to the new fact that the climb up the hill turned out to be a bit on the steep side. I could sense Peggy's discontent, and so the climb up was a quiet one, with me hoping that Peggy could once again be happy when she could commiserate with her friends, knowing that we had all gone through this ordeal.
Peggy was happier at the top, and people were trying hard to let me know that it wasn't all my fault that the road was muddy or steep. Then we were off down the other side.
About a mile down, Peggy and I met up with LeRoy at a turn, telling us calmly to slow down, that Kim had crashed just around the corner. We stopped and found Kim sitting on the side of the road, seemingly unhurt except for the fact that she was holding her right arm and saying that she had just broken her collar bone. Bummer. We were considering our options when we heard a car coming on down the hill. We stopped it and asked if they would be willing to take Kim on down the hill, to get closer to civilization. They agreed, and so we loaded Kim and her bike into the car. Troy took off, not feeling comfortable that our Kim was going off with some strangers. I think he managed to stay close behind the car all of the way down.
Once down off of Sweetwater, we found Kim and all the others at the Burl Shop at the junction with Armstrong Redwoods Road. It was now 2 miles to Guerneville and 10 miles to camp. Troy, Phil, and Miguel volunteered to go as fast as they could off to camp to bring back help, while the rest of us stayed with Kim. About 10 minutes later, who should show up but Ray and his SAG wagon. Seems that he was hanging out at the ice cream shop in Guerneville, and so he was found after just 2 miles of riding.
Ray took charge right away, and it was decided that he take Kim over to the hospital in Santa Rosa, about an hour away, for Xrays. Away they went.
While we were waiting, Larry and Violet came on down the hill. Once they heard of Kim's accident, they provided some good advise, as they had both experienced broken collar bones before, and this was Kim's first broken bone, although Kim is a nurse in the emergency ward. When asked about the Sweetwater Road, Larry and Violet both said that they loved it. It reminded them of the roads back in Yugoslavia.
Larry and Violet said that they would wait for Mylo Stenstrom and Steve Sloan, our last 2 members, who were busy taking pictures back up the road. Then they were going to go visit Armstrong Redwoods before coming to the camp. Steve had become a member of our group yesterday on Ink Grade. During that climb, we found Steve laying in wait for us, just to get a picture. Steve became our group's photographer for the rest of the Tour. Steve showed his dedication, we later found out, by climbing the very steep road up to Bull Frog Pond because he thought that we had gone that way. Due to this dedication, we made Steve an official member of our group.
After Ray's SAG left, the rest of us were all completely bummed over Kim's accident, and so we decided to just head on into camp. Our original plan was to check out a new swimming spot a few miles outside of Guerneville, but we abandoned this plan. Instead, we just rolled through Guerneville, picking up the others on the way and then heading on into camp. Phil got a flat tire a half mile out, and didn't want to bother changing it, and so attempted to just ride it on in. It soon became apparrent that this was not going to work, and so we stopped to fix it, even though no one really wanted to.
Towards the end of dinner, Ray, Sarah, and Kim all arrived back from the hospital. Kim instantly became the center of attention, not just by our group, but by lots of the other tour people also. Ray and Sarah mostly got left on the side, but this was not anybody's intentions. They were both wonderful to go so far out of their way to take care of Kim, to get her to and from the hospital, and to miss dinner and their small amount of free time that they had for that day. Kim was in good spirits, and decided that she would try to spend the last remaining few days with the Tour. Like us, she could not bring herself to part before the end.
This day started out overcast, but by the time that we were ready to leave the clouds were gone and it was nothing but sunshine. As Peggy says that her father used to say, "Just another shitty day in Paradise."
We planned to do the same Donny option that we did last year, going out to the coast, up Coleman Valley Rd for breakfast, then off to Freestone and Valley Ford after that. Phil had a roll of electrical tape, and so gave each of our riders a black armband of tape, which he said was in memory of Kim.
We did a few scenic viewpoint stops along Hwy 1. Then it was up Coleman Valley Rd, steep as always. But today was clear, so the views were very good. Near the top, Ray and his SAG came down the hill. Kim was with them. It was good to see them. Kim was handing out gummy bears from her window as we filed past to accept them. It was like a priest handing out communion.
Breakfast in Occidental was just as we planned. We got there, went in, and had instant seating for 10.
On the road to Dillon Beach, we came upon Richard Jacob's SAG, just 5 minutes before it was scheduled to leave. Then it was a stop at the top of the hill, where the rock formation looks just like a statue from Easter Island. Then it was into Tomales, where we finally caught up with some of the other people.
In Tomales, we decided to just take the direct route in to Olema, as the time was getting late, and no one was in a mood for some longer miles. Kim's accident was still putting a damper on our ride. Later, at camp, we found out that Ray had kept his SAG out there for an extra hour, with the thought that we might come by. But we never did, as we had taken the short route.
Again this year we went down to Stinson Beach for breakfast. This was the first year that this was an official option. I counted 43 people from the Tour sitting in the outside patio. I never checked to see how many were seated inside. The Parkside Cafe was a bit overwhelmed, but the waitresses and cooks did a very good job in making sure that we were all fed in a timely manner.
Pam and Jackie were in the first wave of our group, and so were able to get in and out without too much trouble. They then went up and all the way to the top of Mt.Tamalpais. The rest of us waited with Teri Duffy for the arrival of Jimmy Baker and Deborah Lefferts, who were supposed to drive up to San Fransicso, park at the Log Cabin, and then meet us for breakfast. They arrived a few minutes late. As they ordered and ate their food, the rest of us walked over to Stinson Beach, which was just behind the cafe. Nice beach; we'll have to do this also some day.
By the time we finally got going, there was only enough time left to go directly on to the finish. We lost Deb along the way, but finally she got found. We thought she was off the front, but then ended up coming from behind.
We got back to the Log Cabin by 1:00 pm, my scheduled time for leaving for San Jose. But lunch and good-byes came first, so it was more like 2:00 when we finally got started. Jenn Corliss rode up with 3 others to join our ride back to San Jose. We also had Lisa, Peggy, LeRoy, Troy, Teri, Jimmy, Deborah, and me; 12 people total.
My planned route down the Great Hwy met us with some delays. Seems that the Xtreme Games was doing some road-louge races there, and so the place was totally packed. We ended up going about 2 to 3 mph for about a mile before we got through it all.
We made it over to Woodside by 5:00 pm, still time for a daylight finish. Lisa and Peggy talked me into letting them drop me off, so that was our plan. The others stopped at McKenzie Park, with Jenn and LeRoy continuing to Los Gatos. We finally got over to Pam's house to pick up our bags just before 8:00 pm. We then said our goodbyes, but they were not sufficient to express our graditude for having each others company for all of this past week. It was hard to say goodbye, and to finally go our separate ways.
- LeRoy Rodriguez