Day 1 Second Half....

Sorry, things have been busy and I didn't get back to this....anyway here's what happened between Genoa and Carson Pass.

Ahh, yes....confidence reigns supreme.  Only noon and we've made 50 miles out of a planned 112.  Have that beer, enjoy life, you're on a bicycle tour for crying out loud!

Departing from Genoa you head out on rural two lane roads.  There were bike lanes in some places and not in others....in all cases drivers gave us plenty of room while passing.

We spread out a bit as our own personal paces dictated, enjoyed the pastures, and the perfect weather.

After picking up route 88 (to Kirkwood), we noticed two changes...pasture land replaced with beautiful mountains and streams, and that previously flat road had a distinct upward angle!

After 20 miles of climbing a break was called....more cold pizza and some jerky was washed down with freshly filtered stream water.  **It's amazing how much water you can go through on a warm climb!**

 I had my own little adventure on this climb....I intercepted a bee with my face.  It lodged perfectly between my helmet line and sunglasses.  After processing what had happened amidst the angry buzzing, I frantically tried to get my sunglasses off while not crashing in the same motion.  I wasn't quick enough however, and the bee decided to sting the crap out of the bridge of my nose.  This does not feel good!  My riding partner Chia found it exceedingly amusing however.  I think he was just glad it made me stop and he could catch up.

This was the path that still awaited us after our break.

Unfortunately, this isn't my picture and by the time we were here the light was beginning to fade.  One does tend to forget the effect of an 80 lb loaded bike and average speed when climbing!  To make a long story short, there were a few more breaks....and some groaning about the continued climb.  I found the summit around 7 pm. 

It was fully dark for the last 40 minutes of my climb.  Luckily we both had adequate lights for some night riding.

Passive reflective surfaces are also a good idea if you get caught out late.

Chia joined me at the top about a 1/2 hour later.  A few minutes of map consultation relieved that there was still more climbing to come (like two 8000 ft peaks...how did we not know that).  Mental images of a cold beer at Cooks Station were pretty quickly snuffed out

A stock photo of Cooks Station.....a location we would fall short of.

Anyway, after collecting our wits at the summit. We reevaluated our plan and decided that we would acquire century mileage and then duck off the road for some stealth camping.  Twenty(ish) miles later with some high speed night time descents (which is kinda nerve wracking) and a few more climbs we hit 102 miles and called it a night.  I don't have any pictures....but it took about 10 minutes to pitch camp, throw down a slug of bourbon, and both of us were snoring happily away.

We'll pick it up in the morning in the next post.