Except for a visit to Feather Falls some years ago, Jacky and I had never been to northeastern California. We thought Lassen and Shasta could focus a vacation nicely. Map study convinced me that two weeks would require long hard days, while three weeks would permit moderate days with occasional time off for local exploration or loafing. To share the load, we agreed to take the tandem.
Then there was the question of getting into shape for loaded touring in the mountains. One fine day this spring, we rode from Sonoma to Calistoga and returned via the Silverado trail through Napa, a long ride with a couple of uphill walks on the Petrified Forest road. A few weeks later, we rode up highway 4 to Bear Valley. Three weeks before the tour, we loaded up and rode over Old La Honda road through Pescadero, down highway 1 to Santa Cruz, to Boulder Creek, and camped at Big Basin Redwoods state park, returning home the next day via Saratoga. Day one turned out to be over 90 miles, and the loaded bike was heavy and hard to handle. Total exhaustion created a strong incentive to reduce weight. We needed to work on bike set-up, both for comfort and control.
The last training weekend, we drove to the foot of Mt Hamilton and rode up, unloaded. On the way down, we stopped at Grant Ranch; we accidentally tried to start up with the front shifter halfway between the middle and granny chainrings, and mangled the middle ring. By bashing it with a rock, we flattened it enough that we could use granny and the large chainring for the rest of the ride.
I was concerned about bicycle reliability. We were stressing many of the components with twice the load of a single bike, and simultaneously we were less able to control the bike precisely. As a result of the Mt Hamilton experience, I listed as many bike shops as I could find in northeastern California in my little spiral diary. Most were in the valley – Redding, Chico – where we didn’t want to go, but in an emergency, they would at least be nearby.
Because of a couple of incidents of broken spokes, I got the rear wheel completely rebuilt. At the same time, I installed index shifting. Not a month later, Shimano announced the XTR 8-speed cluster. I installed it on my own bike and loved it. A real shame I didn’t know about it when I was getting all this work done on the tandem! Gearing for the tour: 24-40-44 half step plus granny, with a 7-speed 12-32 in back.
Two days before we left, I developed what I diagnosed as a viral lung infection, which I had once before. It caused sharp chest pain whenever I inhaled deeply, sharp enough even to stop sneezes between the ka- and the -choo! How to pull a loaded tandem through the mountains without breathing hard? We’ll see! We always manage somehow.
I borrowed some northern California bumpf from Beth, picked up AAA books on motels, campgrounds, and bed and breakfasts. To avoid carrying all this paper on the bike, I copied key info into my diary. I also went to the library and found yellow pages for most of northeastern California. There were enough motels and B&Bs that we agreed to leave the camping stuff at home, in the interest of saving space and weight. I was able to fit my stuff into smaller panniers at the front of the bike. Jacky’s panniers were on the back, and the rear rack was for common things, particularly food.
I called Anna and arranged to leave our car at her place in Grass Valley. She and Mike would initially be away for a week of their own vacation, but would be home by the time we returned. We reserved a B&B in Nevada City for the first night, a short day’s ride to allow for driving time and the reputation of Nevada City as an interesting place. We reserved a B&B at Sierra City for the second night, a long day of serious climbing.
4.07 miles, 27:51, maximum speed 38, elevation gain 280'.
Left home about 8:30. Drove to Stockton, where we decided to make the day more interesting, by leaving the freeway and taking highway 88. Stopped at Sutter’s Creek for snacks. A good place for a long weekend some time.
Highway 49 north is hilly, narrow, steep. It would be hard work cycling here. This is foothill chaparral country, yielding to forest above 2000'. The sunscreen in the rack pack leaked, a combination of altitude and vibration. Cleaned up with toilet paper, smeared ourselves liberally with it.
Hot, tired, and ready for a change by the time we got to Grass Valley. Mike and Anna lived down a steep hill, unpaved, poor surface. Parked the car, loaded the bike, and we were off. On our way by 1:30. Walked out the quarter mile to the paved road. Hard work; rode short but hilly Ridge road to Nevada City.
Found Piety Hill B&B on the way into town, a shaded, comfortable collection of cottages. Guy let us claim our cabin early, 2 PM. Antiques: rag doll, ad on wall from about 1910. Unloaded, locked up the bike, walked downtown. There were brambles along the sidewalk; the berries were sour, not fully ripe yet.
Nearly every building has a plaque: built in ~1850. That includes the Theatre, still in use for both movies and plays. Entire downtown is listed in national register of historic places. City hall and courthouse are both art deco, out of place in the surroundings. Library across from courthouse is old Searls house where three generations of attorneys practiced for a total of 90 years.
Very hilly town. Almost any circuit around town would make a challenging bike race course. Picturesque, touristy. Great store with wizard dolls. Several theatrical events were on. Saw a monitor on display, and a Pelton wheel, invented here in the 1880s. A major advance in water turbine design, it accepts a high pressure water jet under the wheel – the main visible difference is bifurcated cups that deflect the recoil water off to the sides.
Mad Dogs and Englishmen pub had Old Peculier in bottles. The barmaid apologized that it wasn’t on tap: we counted 18 spigots, mostly English beers. Good stuff! Wonderful place, this town!
Tried the Mexican restaurant. No service, walked out. Went to Cowboy Pizza for curry vegetarian. Ok, but not something to make a habit of. We would have been more impressed if the curry powder hadn’t obviously come out of a can and been still powder in places.
We had seen a poster, thought we’d take in a concert tonight. The address on the poster turned out to be the business office! The performance itself was at a hall in Grass Valley. So we went to a play instead, Woman in mind, by Alan Ayckbourn. It had its moments, but not very good overall. Well done, however, including a good-sized cast, all of whom had English accents. Excellent acting, lousy resolution and sense of life.
57.24 miles, 6:04:23, maximum speed 40, elevation gain 5210'.
Up at 5. Breakfast had been left in the fridge in our room. Hot coffee/chocolate, fruit, heavy bread and muffins. Pretty decadent. Out at 6:20, cool and cloudy. The steepest hills were in Nevada City itself. Highway 49 was fine – long but moderate grades. Light rain from time to time, but warm – not a problem. There were some boat trailers as far as Bullards Bar reservoir, and light traffic beyond.
We crossed the south and middle forks of the Yuba river – long descents (800 – 1000'?) to the water, then equally long climbs out the other side. Hard work. Beautiful rivers, wide, shallow, rocky. Fishermen and gold dredgers. We didn’t regain our starting Nevada City elevation until we got to Camptonville. Stopped for muffins and coffee. Filled the water bottles, but it tasted so bad, as we discovered later, that we managed to avoid drinking it.
The road descends to the north fork of the Yuba and follows it upstream all the way to Sierra City. Lots of great river views along here. Mostly gentle grades with even a few downhills.
Popped unexpectedly over Cannon point with a historic marker overlooking Downieville. Another wonderful picturesque old town. The mountain northeast of town is called High Commission.
Started raining seriously as we rode in. Found a nook to the leave bike – guy working in the restaurant came out to see if we were molesting his bike, ended up moving his out of the way to make space for the tandem. I had chili, Jacky had a taco salad while it rained fairly hard. A vintage kitchen stove made by Wedgwood held the day’s supply of cow pies (sweet rolls).
A little boy told us several times that we had a neat bike. He put on my helmet to try the mirror. We wandered around town in our rain slickers, on the boardwalk under the overhangs. Interesting rock shop. Jacky got some postcards and a butterfly pin. Sat and watched the world go by until the rain eased up.
The last twelve miles to Sierra City were difficult but ok. Several times it rained, occasionally hard. The sun came out near the end. Sierra City has only 200 inhabitants. We passed a dozen buildings and then the town ended. We were ready to ride back and see how we could have missed the B&B; then we realized that the dozen edifices were only a preamble to the real town: two or three bars, a gas station, library, post office, laundrette. Stopped at the library to ask where Busch and Heringlake B&B was – turned out it was right across the street.
A red brick building with an Italian restaurant downstairs, five or six rooms upstairs. Traces its heritage to 1871. Originally it housed Wells-Fargo, Western Union and the E Clampus Vitus general store. According to its plaque, it used to have three stories, but a 1948 fire truncated it to two. It was about 2:30. Carlo, the proprietor, had just returned from a shopping trip to Truckee.
Despite the age of the building, the rooms were fixed up quite nicely. Unloaded all the wet stuff. No big problems, but nice to be under a roof and in town. Pas de camping! We enjoyed the two-headed walk-in shower. Naps, laundry, beer.
Ground floor of B&B is a restaurant, where we had good tortellini and spaghetti. High ceiling, massive safe at one end, antique heating stove that looked more suitable for steam generation. Handle to firebox is the head of a pick. Carlo waited tables. Very leisurely. TV in the bar had a story about a big earthquake in LA.
If you’re in a hurry,
you’re in the wrong place.
Saw a woodpecker, almost at ground level. Black body, white head with a red fringe. Wandering around in the road was a good-sized golden dog whose fur made a fluffy collar. He had absolutely no concern for traffic – figured it was the drivers’ problem, not his! Saw him face off against a little black dog. After a moment of bluff, the black bolted, the golden in hot pursuit.
Hiking, 8 miles, 1900', 4 hours.
It rained all night. We were awakened in the wee hours by the town siren. It turned out to be because of someone found lying in the road. A drunk fell, hit his head. No word on how seriously he was hurt.
Still raining in the morning. Mist obscured the hillsides. We decided to make it a layover day. We had already discussed taking a layover at Graeagle, but here is okay too.
Carlo full of talk about cross-country skiing, mountain biking. He told us of the Downieville Descent, an off-road route from Gold Lake to Downieville. He’s trying to define some classics that will put Sierra City on the map. He wanted to give us stuff for California Bicyclist. Also asked how to get B&B info onto e-mail bulletin boards in the Bay area.
Rained on and off, mostly on. Occasionally looked like clearing up, but didn’t. Jacky went out for a walk. I read… there was an interesting book on Downieville history. I especially liked the juxtaposition in a 1900 stagecoach robbery of which the authorities were notified by telephone.
Jacky went to the post office about 10, then up to the cemetery. Graves from the 1800s to today. One of the oldest stones was propped up against a tree; a foot away was a modern replica. The man was born in New Jersey in 1805. Several Fourniers, but the ones that showed a foreign birthplace were England or Scotland. A woman named DaRosa buried next to a man named Rose. A woman with first name of Nevada. Another woman born in Sierra City, lived 90 years. Children from two months to ten years. The only cause of death mentioned was a 24-year-old man killed at the Sierra Buttes mine. Many graves showed age in years, months and days – one said 58 years, 5 months, 8.7 days. Savor every minute of life!
She walked down to the east end of town, where the creek was spilling down, then hiked up to the dump. Well worth the half hour climb, she said. She could see the buttes to the east and the mountains to the south.
Still raining at noon. Jacky returned, soaked to the skin. We went the to laundromat to dry her stuff. Got cheese, tortillas, fruit for lunch, ate at the laundromat.
Can’t sit around all day! Borrowed a backpack and a topo map from mine host and set off to climb to Sierra Buttes. About a mile and a half up highway 49 to the Pacific Crest Trail, then up the trail in intermittent light rain through the woods. Wildlife count: one banana slug. We read that Jeffrey pines have a vanilla scent that distinguishes them from others. So we’re sniffing trees. Seems perverted, somehow.
My altimeter died from the rain. Damn these Avocet computers – I sure wish there were a competitor! Best guess from the topo map is that we topped out about 6100'. The weather didn’t encourage going any further up. This is the point where we came from the woods out into the open and rounded the lee of the hill. Great panoramic view. The clouds were nearly overhead, the wind was strong, the rain was horizontal. We declared victory and abandoned the field.
During the descent, the rain became steady, serious, continuous. Not bad in the woods, but the last stretch on the highway was pretty cold and wet. Back at the B&B, we stripped, took hot showers, napped. No hypothermia – great to have a roof, hot water, dry clothes, space heater. Put the altimeter in the hot air blast from the space heater. Maybe it will dry out with a few temperature cycles – it’s worth a try.
Went to the laundromat yet a third time to dry things out yet again. Veggie pizza at Carlo’s restaurant. Jacky on phone to see about July 4 reservations. Looks like getting past Lassen may be a major problem because of full-up accommodations. Finally settled on Susanville. Maybe we’ll rent a car for Lassen (heresy!).
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