Friends in High Places (June 9, 2014)

Sarah, Alex and I had shared the sometimes agony and the joy of having passed over the 9945' Tioga Pass exiting Yosemite National Park, so at a later Pass (of roughly 4500') I left a note on the sign post stating "Big Deal"!

After my short riding day into South Lake Tahoe, and Sarah and Alex's same day longer ride to Truckee, they have been bringing friendship and joy into my days' rides by leaving notes taped to "summit" signs ... and in this case, a Pacific Crest Trail (hiking) sign.  I have been riding about a day behind Sarah and Alex, and the friendship exhibited by their leaving notes has brought happiness into my heart ... or it could be that they used the leaving of notes as a means of taking a breather at the end of long climbs.  Regardless of the motive, the notes are greatly appreciated.

Since leaving South Lake Tahoe, I have been putting in sizable mileage days in the hopes of reconnecting with Sarah and Alex ... they in turn have been putting in equally sizable mileage days in order to meet pre-arranged dates for meeting friends at specific locations (or possibly to avoid my reconnecting ...).  My days have been, from Tahoe, 43 miles to Truckee, 73 miles to Quincy, 74 miles to Lassen National Park, 50 miles to a RV Park (somewhere out in the middle of nowhere), then 83 miles to Weed (just north of Mt. Shasta).  In lieu of giving miles, I really should list the number of climbs (with summit signs gratefully adorned with notes), but simple numbers would not convey the sometimes agony of reaching that wonderful "6% slope (down) for next 6 miles" sign.  Painful.

For the most part, the terrain and flora are similar to the areas around Flagstaff, AZ, or upper reaches of the Mt. Lemmon sky island.

Again, there have been many, many, many climbs in the past several days, but the climb into Lassen National Park was probably the most notable.  At mile 66 of the day's ride, the road turned upward (one more time).  It was getting late in the afternoon, and I knew I was facing a seven mile climb to get to the Park Entry Gate ... seven miles at 3 to 4 MPH.  The map indicated a restaurant at the Park Visitor Center, so I used that as motivation to put in  the miles.  At mile 3 of the climb, there is one of those signs with a downward facing semi truck on the hypotenuse of a right triangle ... glorious steep downhill!!  Unfortunately the turn-off to the park was directly after the the sign's location.  Anyway, four more miles to the oft repeated mantra of my food related motivation ... big juicy cheeseburger, big pile of french fries, a couple of very cold bottles of beer, and a large helping of soft-serve ice cream.  Say that over and over and over again.

So after the seven miles of climbing I arrive at the Park Entry, which consists of a large welcome sign ... said Visitor Center was another 1.4 miles (up, naturally).  Finally, I pull up to the Visitor Center at about 6:15 .... and the food service had every one of my hoped for items of my motivational meal ... unfortunately, they close at 5:00!  So I quickly setup my tent, cooked my miserable dinner, climbed into the ol' sleeping bag around 8:00 ... and awakened at 6:00 the next morning.  To say I was tired after the riding is an understatement ... guys my age typically need to get up at least once during the night to empty the bladder ... either I was extremely tired or extremely dehydrated.  Either way, the full night of sleep was greatly appreciate. The riding has been hard, but beautiful.  Today I head to Ashland, OR ... Sarah and Alex are taking a day of rest to enjoy some of the Shakespeare Festival, so I will be reconnecting with them which makes me happy.

There are so many things I think about while riding that should be included in this journal, but due to the lack of wifi and the general lack to energy at day's end most of the thoughts go away.  One thought that sticks with me is to wish Bob Rogers a Happy Birthday ... the man just turned 70 and can outride most people I know ... inspiration, for sure.  Happy Birthday, Bob.

Ashland awaits ... time to load the bike and start riding.  The ever genteel and refined Sarah sent me a text yesterday describing the major climb between Mt. Shasta and Ashland ... I won't use the words she offered up, but the initials are "M.F.!!!!!!