My friend and hardcore rider John was in town this weekend, and he invited me out for a nice little Sunday ride with him, his friend Danielle, and Doug, the Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen’s LifeCycle team captain.  “Just three hours or so, nothing you can’t handle” – but still a longer, more frightening, and more strenuous ride than I’d ever been on.  It also gave me a good preview of the AIDS/LifeCycle ride in June.

We started at the Bike Kitchen around 10:30, then rode south, skirting into Oak Park to pick up Danielle.  After that, we found our way to T St, followed it east a few miles to 65th St, then rode down Folsom Blvd to the Jackson Highway turnoff.

Highway 16, the Jackson Highway, is a rather typical California state highway.  Two lanes, a minimal shoulder, and cars flying by at 60 miles an hour.  A big chunk of the LifeCycle route will take me down roads like this, so it’s good to get any anxiety about close cars out of my system now.  Cars will be passing me (and every other rider) pretty often pretty fast, though the LifeCycle organizers will be working to make sure I don’t have to worry about getting clipped by a too-close driver’s rear-view mirror.

The four of us rode in a paceline for about nine miles or so up the Jackson Highway.  We all took turns breaking the wind to make riding easier for everyone else.  This gave weaker riders (like myself) a chance to “rest up” at the back while maintaining a fast pace, while stronger riders (like John) could spend more time riding into the wind.  It worked out well for both of us; I got a lot of endurance riding with brief spats of strength training, John more strength training, since he has little more endurance he can build.

Just before Sunrise Ave, we ducked off of noisy Highway 16 to follow a spookily empty bike trail in a gulley alongside a canal for about ten miles.  It was an odd bike trail, probably a converted service road, but its tall berms on either side of did a remarkable job of insulating trail users from most of the busy Rancho Cordova traffic, and it’s only now that I realize that the tunnel towards the end of the trail conducted us under U.S. 50 safely.

Along its ten mile stretch, we only encountered road traffic at the three places the trail crossed surface streets, and we were able to catch glimpses of stopped suburban construction and the backsides of the area’s auto junkyards from a respectable distance.  John broke the relative quiet of the canal trail to give Doug and I pointers on training; Doug for his club and race riding, me for just working up to the LifeCycle ride, and general information for both of us on training tools like pacelines.

That canal trail pretty much spits you out a half mile or so from the American River Parkway, and we decided to take that back home, with a brief stop for lunch at the vegetarian Sunflower Drive-In Restaurant in Fair Oaks.  The route to Fair Oaks took us down the Parkway trail for a couple of miles, then over the old Fair Oaks Bridge (given over to bike and pedestrian traffic once the Sunrise Ave bridge was completed a quarter mile to the west), and up into Fair Oaks.

Sunflower Drive-In Restaurant.  Fair Oaks’ famous chickens not pictured.

When I say up, I mean up.  It’s a 100 or so foot climb over 1,000 feet from the end of the bridge up to the crest of the hill just above the restaurant.  That makes it a 10% grade, much more than your average parking lot, and probably not too far off from what I can expect at a couple of points along the California coast.  I joked at the end of it that I got over the hill on pure male ego ("if Doug and John can make it…"), but I’m not sure how far off the mark that was.  Fortunately, the reward was a half hour of rest and a delicious vegetarian burrito, so I’m not going to complain too much more.

The way home was easier, since we were already at the top of a hill, but it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing.  At about the 40 mile mark on the ride, I really started tiring.  I was still able to keep going, but I kept falling in and out from behind John’s draft – I was struggling to maintain the 18+ mph pace we’d set for most of the route.  After a couple more miles, we crossed the river at CSU Sacramento’s Guy West Bridge, then looped around to take M Street back towards midtown at a more leisurely pace.  Around 45th St, John and Danielle turned off for home, Doug veered off just before the Kitchen, and I made it back home right after my bike computer clicked over the three hour mark, a few feet shy of 48 miles.

With the traffic on Highway 16, the climb through Fair Oaks, and how thoroughly I collapsed on the couch at the end of it all, I think today gave me a good feel for what the LifeCycle ride’s going to be like – from the saddle, at least.

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Time/distance/climb this trip:           3:00 /   48 mi /     700 ft
Total training time/distance/climb:     16:55 /  239 mi /   1,700 ft

Bonus:

My girlfriend and I had a simple plan for Valentine’s Day: head out to the Sacramento River for a light bike ride and a picnic.

The original plan was to drive in along California 160 past Ryde to the Hogback Island Recreation Facility on Grand Island.  There, we’d park the truck then ride up to the ferry crossing to Ryer Island and then the 20 mile road all the way around the island, stopping at some point for a nice picnic and rest.  Ryer Island only has one bridge on the north side and ferries across to the east and west – the Real McCoy on the east, connecting Ryer Island with Ryde and Isleton, and the J-Mack on the west, connecting Ryer with Rio Vista.

Unfortunately, the Real McCoy was out for repairs when we showed up, so we had to circle around and pop onto Ryer Island from Rio Vista, which added another half hour or so of driving time.  On the plus side, this made the traffic on the island even lighter; only a couple of cars passed us on the hour or so we were out.

Overall, it was a wonderful day for a bike ride.  Sunny but not too warm, only light breezes to contend with, and air clear enough that we could see Mount Diablo 30 miles to the southwest.

We rode counter-clockwise around the island for about 10 miles before stopping and eating lunch on the levee side of Cache Slough – sandwiches and chips from the Corti Brothers deli.  Then back on the road, taking a shortcut across the island rather than completing the loop so we could get off the levee roads before twilight.  All in all, quite an enjoyable day and a wonderful ride!

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Time/miles/elevation this trip:         1:00 /   15 /   1,000 ft
Total training time/miles/elevation:   13:55 /  191 /   1,000 ft

The Sacramento Valley is rather flat. The nearest legitimate riding hills are a good thirty miles away.  Until I graduate to making a sixty-mile round trip just to start riding hills, I have to cheat:

This ten story parking garage happens to be three blocks from my apartment.  Since today is Super Bowl Sunday, the garage was eerily empty.   Never one to pass up an opportunity, I snuck out there with my bicycle before the game and during half time to take a few laps – up to the top, back down, repeat.

Each lap was about 100 feet of elevation, one mile in total distance, and it took about three minutes to ascend and two to descend.  The first set of five laps went pretty well, but I started slowing down during the second set – proof that while I can hold my own on wide open flatland, I’ve got a long way to go before I’ll be ready for the hills along the California coast.

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Time/miles/elevation this trip:         1:00 /   11 /   1,000 ft
Total training time/miles/elevation:   12:55 /  177 /   1,000 ft