We had six people in total and we were ready to roll out of Folsom at about 8:40 since two jerks showed up a little late (sorry, guys). I knew today would involve a lot of climbing - we were going through the confluence and once you get there, you can only go up, regardless of direction. What I didn't realize was that the climb on Salmon Falls Rd. was pretty long (4 miles or something?) and that there were so many little hills on Auburn Folsom Road that would catch you off guard. I took as many pics as I could on this ride, however there weren't a ton of opportunities. We rode some pretty busy roads and we spent a lot of time single file.
Here's the route:
54.24 miles, 15.2 mph avg speed, 46.9 mph max speed and 4,938 ft of climbing.
And the elevation profile:
As you can see, this ride was no joke.
The ride started off great though. We cruised out of Folsom at a nice pace. There was a big hill on Green Valley road and I underestimated how long it was, so I gave the other guys a good laugh when I stood up and started hammering towards the top. I ran out of gas, but was able to sit and spin it out. We turned left on to Salmon Falls and that's when the real fun started. We didn't have to climb much before we were flying down the road carving the corners and seeing how fast we could push the bikes. It was nice because there wasn't much traffic out there today so we weren't constantly getting pushed out of the way by vehicles. After we crossed the bridge, we took a quick break before the grind up to Pilot Hill. After a few minutes regaling each other with our stories of the ride down, we decided it was time to head up.
The climb wasn't too bad. There were definitely some steep sections but the hard part of this climb was how long it was. I took this picture as we spread out:
After some close passes by vehicles, we finally reached the top:
My friend Joe finishing with style:
After Safari Estates, we hit the Pilot Hill store for a water refill and food break.
Here's redspoke, shiz (from Vegas!) and Joel:
Because of the roads, I have no more pics till the Foresthill bridge.
After the store, we finished the climb in to Cool, and I embarked on my dumbest decision thus far in August. I was going to willingly ride down Hwy 49 between Cool and the Confluence. It's two lanes, no shoulder, lots of traffic and very, very steep. At first, the road sort of rolls for about a mile before the steep and fun begin. Traffic works as hard as they can to pass you before the downhill. As we started the curvy descent, I glanced back and saw a guy in a pickup put his hands in the air as if to say "Great, I'm stuck behind these weenies the whole way down :mad:". I knew it wouldn't be an issue for him. We started flying down the hill, and as we approached the first sharp right hand turn, I realized that I had underestimated how steep the road was, how sharp the turn was, and how fast I was going. So, you know, everything. I got on the brakes as hard as I felt was safe and finally laid the bike in to the corner when I was going slow enough. For a minute there, I thought I was going to go over the double yellow. After that, I knew to brake earlier for the turns, so I opened it up and planned ahead. I know the road well so I knew what to expect. As we careened through the second 15mph turn, I looked up the road behind me and my buddy in the pickup was nowhere to be seen. At this point, there were three of us right on the tail of a BMW Mini. That Mini tried its hardest to get away from us but it just couldn't. At the confluence, we took a break and waited till we stopped shaking from the adrenaline, then set off up Old Foresthill Rd. I've driven up and down this many, many times, but never realized how stinkin steep it is. This was a pretty serious grinder. Add to that the noon sun beating down on us with zero shade, and it was a hot ride up. About half way up, I was getting pretty hot, and was worried about the effect the heat might have on me. I haven't ever had heat stroke, and figured today wasn't a good day to try it out for the first time, so I took off my helmet and finished out the hill at a blistering 7mph. The shade at the top was very welcome. We had a nice little break and cruised down to the Foresthill bridge.
It's a looooonng way down (from the Foresthill Bridge):
(that's the Clementine trail on the right bank down there)
The valley up the American River:
From here, we rolled in to Auburn and had a break at the beautiful Chevron on the corner at Lincoln way. We ran in to a guy who was riding down from Truckee to Folsom. We weren't 100% sure on the best way through Auburn, so he offered to lead us out of town. We cruised around all the traffic, past Placer High and on to Auburn/Folsom. After a short climb or two, we were leaving Auburn. That hill was a blast. My max on the way down was 44.9mph. It was awesome! We finished out the ride in a pretty decent paceline at about 25mph all the way to Douglas. Our buddy from Truckee parted and we took the bike trail back to Bicycles Plus in Folsom to end the ride.
