Wednesday, June 9, Auburn to Truckee, CA
Hi Everyone,
What a day! 74 miles of climbing … 8500 feet to be approximate … we climbed up over Donner Pass and then dropped down into Truckee, with incredible scenery and beautiful on both sides of the road. The very strong high winds as we crested the summitt was an added plus … for the twisty, turny downhill.
Earlier in the day it was climbs of 3-21 and finally 22 per cent of grade, as we worked our way up the mountain.
We also hit some “misty cloud” rain … which managed to keep us wet and cold.
We learned the ABC bike “quick check” method … A= air, B= brakes, C= chain and cassette … always quick these on your bicycle daily before you leave.
If you think we are “tired” tonight you are absolutely correct! Every turn we made was a climb of some type … what was amazing was at first the 3% climbs seemed really tough. Yet after the 21 and 22% climbs … even the 6-8% climbs didn’t seem as tough.
It was a long day and we rode with some amazing cyclists … the faster cyclists were soon gone … out of sight and up the road. The climbs today were in terms of 8-10 miles long which slowed us down a lot. (To give you an idea … they arrived at the hotel about 2:30 p.m. and we arrived at 5:00 p.m.)
We took lots of pictures today … so don’t forget to check out our Facebook … “Give Blood”.
A special thanks to Jennifer Shoffner … who is working hard to contact the Blood Centers and do the requested follow up on our scheduled dates with them.
Thanks to the America by Bicycle staff … Michelle, Alex, Gerard, Pam, Judy who are doing an amazing job to help make this the best cross country bicycling trip ever.
Tomorrow morning we will be calling in to KZST for our weekly check in … you can use the “Listen Live” link on our website.
Talk to you tomorrow after we cycle from Truckee to Sparks, NV.