Day 4: Donner's Pass

Auburn to Truckee
Miles:  74.  Climb 8,450

We rode 74 miles today, with 62 Miles of climbing. This was the highest single day elevation gain of the trip.  We left the hotel at 6:30 a.m. and immediately began to climb.   The climb was long and required patience and a steady cadence.  I don't have a cadence meter with me, so to keep a steady rhythm I sang to myself.  Row, Row, Row Your Boat got me over the pass.   I am a stronger climber than many of the riders here.

The first part of the day we rode beautiful mountain roads.  Then we got on Interstate 80.  Riding an Interstate with semi trucks flying by at 70 mph was a harrowing experience.  There is debrie on the shoulder from tires that have blown and your can pick up small bits of wire in your tires that will eventually cause a flat.  We carry tweezers and at a break check for bits of wire in the tire.  If you find them and extract them before they work in deeply, you can avoid a flat.

The scenery today was beautiful and the weather was perfect. There was snow on the mountains.  I rode with a group and we made quite a fun day of it with lots of photo and food stops. The descent was far more gradual than I had anticipated and I am becoming more confident, so the ride down was quite fun. We ride  by Lake Tahoe and cross Mt. Rose tomorrow, so more climbingay  ahead, but only about half of what we did today.
(I wrote Wednesday but posted it Thursday morning.)