Day 7, the longest day so far....

6 hours and 50 mins on the bicycle, 56.6 miles, 8.2 mph average, and somewhere between 5 and 6000 total feet of climbing (GPS estimates vary depending on the interpolation they use to make the estimates). It was a very long day, probably the longest day of the trip to Sun Valley...but it was also the first day of really great, beautiful, big scale terrain.

I got up at 5, out the door by 6, and the first hour out to Bella Vista was very pleasant.  Breezed by the now famous Calatrava Sundial Bridge, but the light wasn't good for a photo, then out into shopping mall madness on the bicycle route.  Happily it was completely empty, two miles of mall, big box stores and strip malls, all totally quiet.  They're not so bad empty!

Then it was out into the country, where something I've noticed before happened again:  the meaner looking the house, the meaner the dogs that run along the fence.  Why is it that none of the nice looking houses had dogs running along the fence?  Mean dogs seem to be negatively correlated with house values in the parts of the world I've been cycling through.  There might be a nice PhD dissertation in sociology in the making....

The climb up to 1000 feet was pretty easy, and then there were lots of rollers between 1-2000 feet, as the route followed a couple of gorgeous creeks.  Most of the time there was little traffic, and I could hear the water as I pedaled along.  I don't think I've ever seen so many raptors in a day of cycling as I cycled along the creeks.  Red tailed hawks, other hawk-like creatures (ospreys?), turkey vultures, and my second bald eagle (I'm pretty sure) of my trip.  I came upon a flock of turkey vultures that were feasting on last night's deer road kill! 

 

Sights along the way

After lunch the real climb started, about 4 miles of 6-6.5% grade, real thigh buster climbing, but it was cool today, and breezy, with a nice tailwind. Just past 3000 feet you gain a lovely sloping volcanic plateau, that was largely burned down in 1992.  It's been replanted as a tree plantation, and much of the bird life seems to have disappeared, and there were very few rodents running around or as road kill (I think I must do a road kill blog entry soon, so much to report).

Finally around 3800 feet, the natural forest returned, and I cycled along the headwaters of a little stream.  At the summit, the view didn't really open up, but about a mile down the descent was an amazing vista point, from which you could see the north side of Lassen.

 From this perspective you could really see where the mountain blew out in 1912 (?) when it had its most recent eruption.  There were two Wal Mart trucks parked at the vista point, and I finally had a chance to ask why there were so many Wal Mart trucks along this isolated stretch of highway.  Turns out that they have a huge grocery warehouse in Reno, and CA 299 is the easiest route into Northern California.  If you look at a map, it's a long loop around!

Mt. Lassen

It was all descent into Burney, which seems to have fallen on harder times since I was last here in the late 80s.  Lots of empty storefronts, and people just kind of hanging out smoking cigarettes along the main street.

I'll sure sleep well tonight!  And it's so much cooler, no air conditioner running all night, and I don't have to be up before the crack of dawn.

One of these nights I'll get pictures up, but too tired tonight...