While in Wisconsin I found out my left foot had a stress fracture behind my big toe. This put a huge damper on my plans. After flying back to San Francisco I was supposed to ride back into Reno, NV then head off to Burning Man. Well with a jacked up foot this wasn’t going to work. Car rental to Reno it was.
Today is the big day. I’m heading off to Black Rock Desert to be at the Burn until September 5. It took a lot of preparation and planning to pack 10 days of food and supplies on to my bike.
I have been on hiatus for the past two weeks. Temporarily back in Wisconsin until August 18. On August , 2017 my daughter had her first son. Since I was in an area easy to fly out from. I decided to fly back quickly as a surprise to see her and the baby. Everything went well for the delivery. Big health baby boy and healthy mom.
Jackson Garrett
9lb 4oz
22 inches
The Journey will begin again on August 19,2017. I am flying back into San Francisco on August 18 in the evening. The following morning I will pack up and head back towards Reno, NV. Once in Reno I am catching the bus to attend Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada. It was chore to get tickets to this event. After waiting all summer I was able to purchase a ticket on August 2. Very exciting to attend this year.
Days 89-103…. It has been a while wince I traveled outside of the San Francisco area. While I stayed by Sheri there were shorter daily rides over the short mountain pass. It is funny to me since I now look for places to climb instead of dreading climbing all day. The strength and lung capacity developed from climbing makes the effort worth my time.
Near Hayward is Lake Chabot. It was a short ride from the house. Approx a 7-8 mile ride. Beautiful lake, nice trails around the lake. On the weekends the lake is fairly full with locals. A decent marina for launching watercraft, fishing, camping, picnic etc.
The weather here in the Bay is fantastic. Probably one of my favorite places in the world to be in. Between the weather and people it’s highly likely I will end up back here at some point to live. The only downside is cost. Kinds of reminds me of Disney World. Drop your credit cards off as you enter. Pick it up as you leave. Hoping the cards still has money left.
Each morning you wake to Karl the fog. Blanketing the entire bay area. Around 9-10 am the fog lifts and the sun comes out. Picture perfect more often than not. Love it.
After spending a few weeks in around Hayward it was time to head North and hike for a few day. I was able to find a beautiful place in Mill Valley. Which had a great proximity to Muir Woods, Stinson Beach, and Muir Beach. What a gorgeous area to be in. Completely wooded, hilly and peaceful. The hiking was close to the property. Less than a quarter-mile walk to the trail heads. The first day the trail head seemed to not be where it should have been. Walking along the road a few different paths were found. Most didn’t lead to anything special. I guess bushwhacking could have been on the list but since there were actual trails somewhere, it would be great to find those.
Once inside of Muir woods everything changes. This is a Nation Monument and a tourist haven. You pay a small fee to walk on the boardwalk around the big trees. Luckily the beauty surpasses the stress of people being everywhere. As you walk through the park there are trails that lead up and out of the area.
The third day of hiking was in Pointe Reyes. Totally different foliage. The entire area reminded me of Kettle Moraine South in Wisconsin. Karl the Fog was very prevalent along the coast. Creating a nice cooling blanket of fog. Blocking out the sun and making it cool enough for a light jacket.
Day 88…. In Salt Lake City I had the pleasure of meeting Sheri at the AirBNB. She was kind enough to invite me back to stay in Castro Valley, CA. Well today it was the goal to ride from Sacremento and Castro Valley. At 106 miles and 1427 feet of climbing this is the longest distance I have traveled on a fully loaded touring fat bike. Centuries are no small feat on a road bike. Add 110 lbs to that on a fat bike, 100+ degree heat and the game changes completely.
This ride went very well for the first 60 miles. Energy levels were pretty good, the heat wasn’t to bad and it was enjoyable. The day started with the following. 100 ounces of water, 2- 23 ounce coconut waters and another 33 oz bottle in between my bars. Within the first 45 miles I stopped and refilled my 100 oz with ice and new water, a couple more coconut waters and a cold, cold Iced tea for myself. Tea is extremely refreshing during a hot ride. The second time I stopped was around 75 miles. Refilling everything again, then eating ice for over a half hour to cool off.
For the last 25 miles I stopped frequently to douse myself with water to cool off and find shade to cool down for a short bit. Between the high temperatures and the dry heat it is hard to drink enough to feel satisfied. Out of the 3 gallons of fluid I drank today, everything was sweated out. No need to pee for the entire day. Which as much as I tried to drink enough to pee, it never happened.
I happen to run into a road sign with my families name on it.
After being on the bike from 8 am until 7 pm, I was sore, dehydrated, hungry and getting tired. But I was finally at Sheri’s for the evening.
Day 87…. Planning the night before to try to beat the heat today. Weather predicts 108 by 2 pm today. Brutal to ride in. I was able to get off before 8 am. With most of the day being downhill or a little flat everything should go extremely well.
Whenever possible I use the website WarmShowers for a place to stay. The night before I had contacted 8 people on WarmShowers. Most were out-of-town or unable to host for the evening. Come morning I took a minute to contact more people in hopes that before I reached Sacramento that I would have place to stay. A WarmShowers host was not in my cards this day. Everyone was unable to host for the night. So hotel for the night it was.
The closer to Sacramento I was, the more the trails followed the river. Being Saturday afternoon the trails were quite busy with cyclist, runner, and walkers. There ended up being a group of cyclists that passed me during the day and I passed them later on that day. Once they caught up with me we started chatting about the Journey. Chris was the main guy to talk with me and we rode along for few miles talking away. Before it was finished Chris invited me out later for Burgers and Beer.
I arrived at the hotel around 2 pm. Normally the hotels are pretty nice and help me out by allowing early check in. At first this manager wasn’t friendly about early check in. Telling me that check in is 3 pm and I can wait. So I went outside and sat in the heat waiting for the next hour to pass. I am not sure what changed but before 2:30 the manager came out and offered to check me in early. What a relief. It was 108 degrees at this point and would peak at 112 before the end of day.
Chris texted me right as I was getting cleaned up to meet for food and beers. I grabbed an Uber to Burgers & Brew. Upon arriving I met the rest of the crew. Chris, Chris, Harrison and Josh all showed up to hang out. We had planned on staying till 5 pm and the conversations seemed to keep going. We ended up leaving after 6 pm. It was great to meet the group and hang out. I away enjoy meeting new people and learning about others.
Day 86…. Leaving this beautiful area of Tahoe is difficult. The people are great and scenery is magnificent. It is easy to see why people come here to visit and often don’t leave. What seems to be a more relaxed day starts out with a climb again. 1350 feet of up to start followed by a generous amount of down, ending my day with another 1200 feet up. HWY 50 (Lincoln HWY) wasn’t to bad to ride. As I met others along the way I find that this HWY isn’t used much for cycling. I could see why but it is designated as a bike route.
I ran into the first waterfall today. Not very big but nice to see and was refreshing to get wet from.
Every once in a while the scenery reminds you of what hot dry weather brings. Every area I have ventured through that was hot and dry had areas that were brunt. Even when I was in Maybell, CO the lightning started a field on fire that evening.
As I reached the mid-point today the temperatures started to climb and the wins picked up. Tahoe was a great climate. Cool at night, warm during the day. However going through the Eldorado Pass the temps climb and the scenery gets dry. We ended up hitting 107 degrees before I could stop. Not only did it get extremely hot, the last part of the day was climbing out of the valley again. Long and slow was the theme to end my day.
Day 85….Easy ride day. Heading from the North Lake Tahoe, NV to South Lake Tahoe, California…One of my favorite states. Thirty two miles was the route today. Taking my time and head out around 11 am. Stop and fill the pack ice up. Grab some food from Raley’s Grocery. Off I go for the ride.
Tahoe is one of the most beautiful areas i have traveled too. Snow capped mountains on the horizon. People boating, parasailing, jet skiing and swimming. The sun glimmers off the turquoise colored water. The water is so clear you can see 15′ deep. I don’t think I have seen such a color in freshwater before.
Half way through the ride I could hear thunder in the foreground and the clouds were darkening. I had to stop and take out the rain jacket. Within minutes of getting the jacket out it decides to start raining. I haven’t seen rain since Denver, CO. It actually felt good and was refreshing.
Stopping on the South side of Tahoe at the local campground I was quickly reminded that this is California. The campsite was $45 for a non-electric tent site. This is the most I have ever heard of a campsite costing. At least for that cost the site had nice free showers and a clean restroom. During my site setup I was able to meet other campers in the area. They stopped by to chat and see what I was doing. Ken stopped by and let me know there was a free concert series going on by the lake this evening. It would be nice to hear some live music and enjoy the company of others.
Day 84…. I didn’t mention in the last post that I ended up staying in Reno for longer than planned due to getting sick from food. Since I have food allergies and chose to eat at the hotel breakfast it ended up turning out to be a costly and time-consuming mistake. Normally I will have hard-boiled eggs and bacon from the hotel. Well they had sausage patties and within a couple of hours I was extremely sick and completely drained of energy. After eating and leaving the hotel 3 days ago I was starting to heading into Tahoe and started getting side cramps and other signs I was having a reaction to the food. Since my energy levels were zero I turned back and found a park to rest in all day until I could find a place to stay that evening. Luckily the park had a covered picnic area tat I could sleep in all day until the hotel opened up for check in. It took a lot of probiotic and hemp CBD oil to help calm me gut and get me closer to normal.
Come this morning… Time to leave Reno and head into beautiful Tahoe. The climb into Tahoe is very daunting. With 4738 feet of climbing in 23.5 miles. The day would be a long, slow, strenuous day. This ride is the most I have ever climbed in a single day. While I felt pretty good this morning I can’t say I was at 100% for this. While heading up the summit I have succumb to traveling at 4-5 mph. The weight and bike style set the pace. If you try to fight it the bike will win.
The temperature is a bit cooler than Reno but even at 70+ degrees the upper portions still have snow. I even saw a few people skiing.
Since I had been sick for the past few days I was having issues eating the amount of food normally. Typically my intake is 200-300 calories per hour plus a lot of fluids. Today I was having trouble eating 100 calories if I was lucky. When I with in 6 miles of the summit the ski resort has a nice parking lot. Great spot to stop and rest. Since I was stopped it was time to dig out a long sleeve sweater. Being soaked in sweat and the temp being cooler I was getting chilled. Warmer, relaxing and eating a sandwich on the side of a mountain, life doesn’t get much better.
Food in, time to finish the summit. As the air gets thinner the break become a little more frequent. The last size miles took over an hour. For some reason each time I make a summit all the pain, exhaustion etc go away.
The best part of a long climb… The long descent.
In total the ride took 8 hours. I was glad to be in North Tahoe, NV and stopping for the day.
Day 79-83…. Reno, Nevada. I really don’t have much that is positive for this area. The people are great, the rest of the town is uninteresting to me.
I did have a car the first day here and took the time to drive into Lake Tahoe. What a gorgeous area. I can see why this is such a coveted are to travel to or live in. Such beauty.
The sunrises over the mountains were pretty mesmerizing. Surely picture worthy.
Tomorrow morning I head out to South Lake Tahoe. It will be the highest climb and longest day on this tour. In total it will just under 6000 feet vertical and 61 horizontal miles. Should be an interesting and tiring day. Luckily the beauty of Tahoe will be worth the effort.
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