Downeast Racing out West

Back in September, on the way to a 'cross race, my wife and I developed the idea of getting out of Maine in the depths of winter and enjoying the California sunshine for a week.  As we flushed out the details of the trip I started to work through the logistical challenge of getting a bike out west.  An equally daunting task was convincing my wife to let me off the leash each day of the "family vacation" so I could go push on the pedals.  There was a fair bit of back and forth, but in the end my bike was packed and shipped out west (using the service BikeFlight) and arrived a few day ahead of us.  The media has recently been covering the California drought, so it came as a huge surprise that inches of rain were falling on the greater San Fransisco area when our plane touched down.   I didn't waste anytime getting out on the bike as 9 hours after landing I was out on the roads.  Surprisingly, 50s and raining felt incredibly good compared to 20s and snowing.

The first morning in Sacramento I went out and explored some of the 1,000s of miles of bike paths.  The American River Bicycle Trail parallels the Sacramento River and will take you all the way out to Folsom Lake, if you have the time for an 80+ mile round trip ride.  In stark contrast to Maine, a 45 mile ride had less than 300' of elevation gained!

My second ride took me west through Davis, which is ranked as one of the most bike friendly towns in the country.  On my early morning ride west I saw dozens of people commuting from Davis towards Sacramento along the bike path that parallels the local highway. It is great to see Davis and Sacramento connected by not only the freeway, but bike specific lanes.  More encouraging was the number of people taking advantage of the infrastructure!

Just west of Davis is the Coastsl range, and you can find some serious climbing through this area.  I didn't have the time that day, as My final destination was the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield.  I met the family in the parking lot, did a wardrobe change and learned all about how mad scientists convert sugar into every flavor under the sun.  Sampling jelly beans and fudge was well deserved after the 75 mile ride from Sacramento to Fairfield.

Another trip west from Sacramento on day three to find some elevation change, and I found it on Mix Canyon Road.  An in depth description of the road can be found here (http://www.toughascent.com/blog/2010/08/23/vacaville-the-diabolical-duo-mix-canyon-gates-canyon-super-steep-hill-climbing/) but in summary, the last mile was an average gradient of 15% with numerous pitches over 20%.  

Downright brutal!  On the bright side, I found myself pealing off the layers and soaking up the sun in short sleeves in February!

I finished up the week with another ride along the American River Trail and enjoyed the sunrise over Sacramento, before packing up the bike and heading into the big city of San Francisco for a few days of family time and a little bit of rest. What a great way to explore a small piece of California and to get in a nice block of training.  Let's hope the blood did not get too thin in my week out west.