Learning about navigation

This was a three-day training ride, our last opportunity to build just a bit more quad strength - and calluses in odd spots. Or so we thought.

It turned out to be as much of a training ride for our planning skills.

We set out from Susan's at about 10:00 after a perfect breakfast, with fresh clothes from an actual washing machine (those motel sinks just don't do the same job).

Then there were headwinds. Lots more headwinds. Ugh.

Then we discovered that some of the roads that Google had offered us as suggested bike routes were unpaved. We've spent some time searching, and it is not at all easy to determine road surface conditions. We'll be approaching the big ride much more cautiously when we are off the Adventure Cycling maps.

We had also discovered pretty early on Friday that Bruce's Garmin does not recognize bike paths. Hmm. A bike computer that keeps telling you to get back on the road? I am so glad I dug in my heels and got the routes printed out. That and a couple of actual paper maps (remember those?) made our three day trip possible. Who knows where we'd have ended up otherwise?

But once we had braved the very unpleasant traffic conditions the only paved roads to Rio Vista offered us, we turned on to River Road. Aaah. Tail winds, good pavement, minimal traffic, oh, and views, views, views. We meandered through farms, vineyards, rivers, creeks, marshland, avenues of lovely trees, most of the time on the top of levees that allowed us to see for miles. We had lunch at a really nice little bakery in Rio Vista, and wished we were hungry enough to try out several places in the small towns we passed as we headed east. We took two ferries. Even though my legs were tired, I was able to apreciate the miles we spent on the Delta Recrational Route.

After a while, though, that route ended and we headed south, hoping that we would have no other surprises before we made it back to the car.

That wish was not granted.

We took an overpass across Highway 5. I got a bit concerned when I saw the weeds growing happily up through the pavement. More concerned when the road we were on started looking like a bike trail (and there was nothing else to do, nowhere else to turn - freeway on one side, marshland on the other, Delta behind us, and in front...). We spotted a gate up front & hoped that it would just be blocking cars & would take us to a simple path across to Elk Grove.

Instead, it presented a sign. I wish we'd taken a picture. I've never seen quite such a detailed "No Trespassing" dissertation. No cars, no hikers, no, no, no. But if you kept reading, if you did the homework and looked at the whole thing (and it was long) -

Well, did you have to take that quiz in about 6th grade, the one where the top of the page told you to read all the questions first, and then come back and answer them? The one that suggested at about question 6 that you stand on your desk and shout (or something equally embarrassing)? The one where you noticed all your classmates looking furtively around to see who'd go first? The one that told you on the very last question you were supposed to have read before you plunged in that all you had to do was smile and hand your blank quiz to the teacher?

I guess I must have learned something from that quiz, because I read the whole thing, and there, down at the bottom, in smaller letters, it said, "If you really, really, really want to pass this gate in spite of all you have read, call this number and say 'pretty please'." (I may be paraphrasing a bit.)

And we called. And the lady said, sure, no problem, go on in.

And we unloaded our bikes so as to lift them over the very, very narrow pedestrian gate, reloaded them and got back on.

And in about 1/10th of a mile, discovered that our lovely path was...unpaved. We needed to follow it for three miles.

Bruce persuaded me to try to ride it. This time, the gravel was relatively small, and packed down by passing vehicles, (don't even ask me how they got in) so we rode along slowly and cautiously.

And it turned out to be the most beautiful and serene part of the whole trip, maybe of any trip we've taken. The sun was low, the light was that lovely pre-sunset color, the egrets were drifting back in for the night, the geese & ducks were waddling across the path in front of us, little rabbits were startled into running away. We could see the town we were headed for across the marshland, but it almost didn't seem to be part of the world we were crossing. And apparently no one else had called for permission to come in - we had the place entirely to ourselves.

When we reached the other side, we managed to find our way back to the streets, the Garmin kicked back in and directed us to the car. We made it.