News and Pics and a new state

Sue sent in some new info for today. Today took them from Truckee, CA to Sparks, NV. Also, we've got our first pictures.

"We left early this morning from Truckee, up in the Sierra, temp was 30 degrees!I finally felt my toes and fingers about an hour later--rode arounf Lake Tahoe for about 20 miles, spectacular and there was no wind, blue skies then up a 10 mile climb to Mt Rose, not as bad as yesterday, think the grade was only 8 %--love those Colorado roads like this! I ws really feeling my legs today tho, after 5 days of riding, and few other places on me(ha!)We then had an 18 mile downhill that was amazing, little steep at first and I was prying that my brakes didn't wear out but made it down into Sparks, Nevada(second state, yeeha!) and about 80 degrees, stripping clothes all afternoon. We have a 90 mile day tomorow to Lovelock, probably gonna be flat, praying for a tailwind."

West Coast News

Sue just sent in this little note about the last couple of days. It sounds like today worked them pretty hard over Donner Pass. It sounds like she and her intrepid companions were able to traverse the pass without having to resort to some of the same survival means of those for whom the pass is named. Still, if it came down to it, I'd put my money on Sue as a survivor.

Thanks for the update Sue. Sounds awesome.

"Wow, just finished doing Donner Pass, 75 miles, 8000 feet of elevation gain and about 55 miles of climbing today, some at 12%, yikes. I am SO tired and I hurt EVERYWHERE!Only 47 more days of thisThe scenery has been spectacular, yesterday was a bike trail for 35 miles wound up in Auburn with time to spare. Weather has been great, making many new interesting friends. Tomorrow we do more climbing(yeeha!) and go partially around Lake Tahoe, really looking forward to that. Then I think the next day we actually start going downhill some, would be fantastic.I'm gonna try really hard to stay awake till dark tonight but no promises--thanks so much for all the emails and calls.Sounds like it's been pretty calm on the home front, I'd say I hope it stays that way but I know you guys better, you adrenaline junkies!I'm going to try to start sending some pictures, need to borrow someone's laptop to do that. Take care, be safe--"

Sacramento to Auburn

Today should have taken them from Sacramento, CA to Auburn, the self-proclaimed "Endurance Capital of the World." According to www.auburn-ca.com, "Auburn, California, Established in 1848 . Located just 30 miles northeast of Sacramento on Interstate 80, Auburn is filled with the historical reminders of California's gold rush days. As best said by local writer Tom Homer - 'Arriving in Auburn, California is like traveling back in time - a time when life moved just a little slower, when people appreciated a well-designed community building, and took time to say hello to their neighbors'.

Auburn is one of California’s earliest mining towns, situated in the heart of the Gold Country. During the Gold Rush in May of 1848, a miner by the name of Claude Chana was taking a short cut to meet his friend James Marshall and discovered gold in the Auburn Ravine. Auburn then became a shipping and supply center of hundreds of gold camps. In 1853, Auburn became the seat of Placer County, an honor befitting its stature as an important trading center and supply depot for the mines."

I think it sounds like kind of a cool town, but then again, I'm a sucker for cities that retain the visual marks of their heritage.

Website lists it as 51 miles so it shouldn't have been too bad.

jinji

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10:45 this just in

Just checked my email and got this info.

"Wow, what an amazing 2 days this has been!We left the hotel yesterday and did a butt kicking first day at 86 miles, through San Fran (the hills suck!) to the Pacific ocean, dipped our wheels in the water and then on to the Golden Gate and rode across. AMAZING experience and the first day of sunshine. Rode into Sausalito, they told us not to dally around cause we had a long day; wanted so bad to just sit on the beach and sip coffee but, no that wasn't gonna happen. After that rode miles of hills into the inland, had one flat (hope that gets THAT outa the way for a few days) and then on into Fairfield, dragging my butt . The group is really interesting, UK, Australia, Germany, Trinidad, New Zealand all represented and many really interesting others--mainly close to my age but the only other single woman is Audrey, my roommate who is 26 years old. I think I have the distinction of being the oldest woman but have been afraid to ask! Today was great, 57 FLAT miles, never seen anything like it. Hung out at the UC at Davis campus for coffee then on into Sacramento and went to Old Town Sacramento, great old place. Just got back from dinner and a couple of beers and I'm toast. Tomorrow is another short day, only 60 miles so they're kind of breaking us in gradually except for yesterday."

Fairfield, CA to Sacramento, CA

It's 8:00 pm here in the Mile High City and I haven't heard any news from Sue about how the ride to Fairfield went. Today should have taken them from Fairfield to Sacramento. So, in light of the absence of information, thought I'd put you all to a little Sacramento pop quiz. It'll go like this: there will be a question followed by four possible answers. Each possible answer is a website link. If you're correct you'll be sent to this Sacramento History Game. If you're wrong you'll be sent to vote on cute kittens. All right, here we go.

1. The Miwok Indians', indigenous to Sacramento, diet was dominated by what food.

• Maize
• Acorns
• Taco Bell 7-Layer Burrito
• Turkey

2. The guy who named the Sacramento valley was part of what religion?

• Baha'i
  
• Buddhism
• Mormonism
• Catholocism

3. Lots of people came looking for this after a guy found some at a certain Mill near Sacramento in 1848.

• Acorns
• Cross country bicycle tourers
• Gold
• Lost IRS economic stimulus checks

4. The city of Sacramento, after being raised to avoid floods by filling in it's basements, became a home for what illegal product.

• Opium
• Alcohol
• Cocaine
• Brook Trout

Good luck and enjoy your Sacramento trivia

Oh, and Sue, stay out of the tunnels in the buried basements; that stuff's no good for cycling.

Furthermore, we'd like to know the best place to eat in Sacramento.

Saturday night news from San Fran

Sue sent this in on Saturday night. Today she'll do leg one of the trip.
"Wow, today has been a little overwhelming, met 40 other people doing this ride, huge range of backgrounds ,abilities and locations, nine from out of country, all united in this one crazy dream of ours. The ride tomorrow sounds confusing, with lots of turns and directions, over the Golden Gate Bridge and into Sausalito then winding our way to Fairfax, 82 miles away. The weather is cloudy and very cool, should warm up as we get away from the coast.Spent the last couple of days exploring San Fran with my sister Mary, was awesome to have her here--we hit all the highlights and finally managed to figure out the BART, a lesson in itself! I'm excited, a little nervous, can't believe this is finally here and anxious to get started. I miss everyone already, know the Team has probably just had the mission of the year and I missed it! Take care, my thoughts are with all you guys on my very special "biketrip list. I'll write more tomorrow after one full day on the bike, only 51 to go!"