A flat day

Flats, actually. Two of them.

It wasn't all flat terrain, though. Actually, it started with a wonderful downhill - a lovely reversal of the climb we had done on Friday. We had set up a meeting time with Jim at the east end of Folsom Lake & we had to get there quickly. It was fun!

We were a bit late, though, and called him as soon as we arrived. He was later - he was trying to get to us on public transit along with his bike, so we stopped worrying and had a snack. We eventually figured out that his train would drop him a few miles farther down the hill, so we took off down the American River trail. It was lovely, and still mostly downhill. We eventually connected with Jim and Mark, a work friend of Jim's, and set out towards Sacramento. About 1/2 hour out, Jim had a flat. He had no spare tube, so we thought we'd patch it, but it turned out he had Schraeder valves & none of us had pumps that would work on anything but Presta. Mark's house was nearby, so he and Jim headed there to figure things out. Unfortunately, we had a lot of miles left to cover, so we couldn't wait for our ride companions.

The weather was just about perfect. Sunny, warm, a gentle breeze. Gentle at that point, anyway. (Remember when they taught us about foreshadowing in high school English???) We meandered down the trail without making any serious wrong turns until we got to Carmichael. Then we managed to end up on a busy and not very beautiful street for a few miles. That mistake brought us stops at Subway for soup & sandwich, Cold Stone Creamery, and a bike shop where Bruce found some more of the socks he likes, so we weren't too sad about it.

Back to the trail, back to the idyllic setting. Then flat #2. Bruce's rear tire. It was a sharp bit of metal that had gone straight in. He found a nice, shady spot to change the tube & it turned out to be a perfectly timed break. As he told the story the next day, he changed the tire and he changed his attitude at the same time. The day started to look pretty good again.

We reached the end of the trail (made the correct turns this time) and found our way through West Sacramento to the causeway I've always sort of wanted to ride. Well, it would probably be more fun in the winter when all the water birds are crowded into their winter quarters, but it was still nice, especially because we still had only gentle breezes (is the suspense building?). We headed to Davis for a brief break and ice cream (yes, two ice cream breaks - but we rode 90 miles!).

Then the wind found us. Once we were out of Davis, we fought strong headwinds for 20 miles. On top of the 70 we had already ridden, it was not exactly fun. No, not fun at all.

By this time, it really was flat terrain. I still don't know why headwinds are so much harder than hills, but perhaps it is partly because what you are experiencing is so different from what your eyes tell you to expect. So we're pedaling along, thinking 16-17mph, and an early arrival at our destination, but our computers and legs are telling us we'll be lucky to get 10mph. And dinner will be late.

Finally, we made it to Susan's place in Vacaville. She is a wonderful hostess and a terrific cook. Nothing exotic, but everything exactly right. That is what I always like, and at the end of a long day like this one, it's absolutely perfect. Tomato soup, roasted chicken, potatoes, a pasta dish, a salad, homemade brownies, plus all the crackers & cheese, cracked crab, snap peas, cherries, raspberries, just a perfect end to the hard day. Jim drove down to visit, so we all had a wonderful time chatting. Actually, I stayed up talking until after 10:30, which I almost never do even on a restful day. What a treat!