Today it rained…..

Day 4 – Auburn to Truckee – estimated mileage 71.9 

…but only for five minutes.

Then it turned to sleet, then hail, then snow.

Today started very early with luggage load at 6am and departure at 6.30am. The meeting last night announced that this was certainly the toughest day of the tour so far, if not the toughest day of the lot. It involved leaving the hotel then climbing for about 56 miles from Auburn up to Truckee in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Auburn is at about 2000′ above sea level and Truckee is about 6000′. But there was a mountain pass in between the two!

In a group of four, we left the town of Auburn behind and started climbing right from the start. We were all dressed in extra clothing and arm and leg warmers with extra clothing in the bags behind us as the weather forecast was not looking faviourable. The scenery was just like the Lancaster area, but the riding was like going round Dolphinholme and Abbeystead for about 20 miles. To be fair, it didn’t give me any problems, and so I was quite pleased that the training had helped and prepared me well. Well, when I say it didn’t give me any problems, I did have a puncture that needed a quick fix at the side of the road. We got the first SAG stop about 30 miles, but that had taken an age to do. At the SAG I introduced the Americans to Kendal Mint Cake. The looks of suspicion they gave me you would have thought I was handing out free diseases, but they were all converted when they had tried it and wanted to get it ’over here’ quick! Still, as it’s full of sugar, no wonder they all loved it! After the SAG, there was more uphill until we turned onto the Interstate (USA Motorway) and headed up, alongside all those huge double trucks and cars totally ignoring the 65 mph speed limit,  into ‘them thar hills’ (Well it is Gold Rush country!) Now we stayed on I-80 for about 20 miles and it was a little like going up the M62 from Milnrow over the Pennines to Halifax for all that time. As we climbed, we watched and felt the weather move in and as above, the rain was first then finally the snow. We were at a junction that the ‘Cue sheet’ we are issued with each day with the following day’s journey on, said food was available. A lot of people turned off there and stopped to fuel up, but as the weather was pulling in, I decided to carry on. By this time, I was riding with just one man, the other two having gone off for food. We rode together through the storm whilst those who had turned off, we later found out, had been delayed by 2 1/4 hours waiting for respite. Whilst we were going uphill, we stopped at the side of the road for a very short break and a drink. A car pulled in about 150yds ahead of us and an older lady, dressed in shorts, short sleeved top, a straw sun hat and carrying an umbrella, came walking towards us. Thinking she had broken down, we cycled up to her to offer help only to find that she was walking back towards us to offer us ‘garbage (bin) bags’ with head and arm holes cut into them as ‘you’ll need these on the way down because it gets very cold’. Her generosity was incredible. Couldn’t see that happening in England, could you?

Eventually we got off the Interstae and went onto a road that ran alongside it, and continued to climb. The air was getting thinner and riding was therefore harder, but we helped each other and rode together to get to the top of the Donner Pass to our second SAG stop. Another couple of miles saw us at the head of the pass amongst the Californian ski resorts. I must admit that today was about getting there, not in any fast time, but doing the ride whilst keeping enough energy for the rest of the ride. On numerous occasions, when I looked down at my speedo, I was down to 4 mph and our climbing speed that we agreed on when we could get working together was between 5 and 6 mph. My room mate and the people he was riding with got into the hotel about 2.30pm. I got in at 5.30pm with a memory card of pictures, and some fantastic views still in my mind.

The head of the pass (7,490′) was about 51 miles from the start of the day but the reward for all the climbing was an unbelievable view of the Donner Lake and across to Truckee and the Eastern mountains. The bad weather had stayed on the West side of the mountains but to the East, sunshine picked out lakes, mountains and, more importantly, the road down and that was the second part of the reward. We were warned that this was a ‘fast descent’ that needed caution. It was a bit bendy and the surface alternated between wet and dry so that made it a bit more difficult still, but it was still an absolutely cracking ride down, then alongside the shores of Donner Lake and into Truckee, another town born around the gold rush.

A good day’s ride where two people from different backgrounds got together and helped each other achieve a common goal. Both Bob, who I had ridden with, and I felt great with getting each other through a tough day.

Oh! And I never got off to walk once!

Corrections :-

Day 1 altitude should have read 2,800′ (don’t know where 8000 came from) and Day 3 altitude was 3,600′.

Distance 68.2  Ride time 7hrs 56′  Average Speed 8.6 mph Maximum Speed 43.3 mph Altitude 8625′