It Comes To An End

Day Off – Lake Tahoe, CA – 21 miles

We woke early so Matt, Colin, Scott, Jesse, Dustin, Shane and I could head for the marina first thing this morning. Shane’s friend Beth works at the marina and was able to get us several two-man kayaks for a ride on the lake before it got too busy. We began heading for the west side of the lake, towards an area known as Emerald Bay that Beth had told us about. About an hour into the ride we realized the harm that comes with working only one set of muscles on a daily basis. Our arms were not ready for such activity and we made it about 2/3 of the way to the bay before deciding that open water kayaking on such a big body of water was not the kind of rest we were looking for on our day off. We therefore grabbed some lunch and headed back to the beach for some relax time. We spent most of the day hanging out on the beach and at a coffee shop in town until dinner time. We started riding back to the church when I saw someone walking down the side of the road in the same direction we were heading. “That’s funny” I thought, “that looks just like Brian from Reno.” As we passed I looked back and sure enough, Brian was back in town. We walked back to the church with him and found out that since we were staying in Tahoe for an extra day due to a schedule change, he had come back with Dean and Tiffany for a short vacation. They had brought their ski boat along as well and were offering to take people out on the lake the following day so we signed up for an early ride before the wind picks up too bad.

During dinner we had our final AH meeting where we decided what to do with the money we had raised. It is a challenging task to get two people to agree on a point much less thirty one, but after several rounds of debate and narrowing down of affordable housing groups, we figured an appropriate division for the funding so that all groups who filled out grant requests got at least a small portion fulfilled.

Day Off – Lake Tahoe, CA – 30 miles

We woke early today to get on the water by 8:00 in the ski boat that Dean brought down. Brian was our tour guide for the day as Luke, Paul, Mike, Colin and myself put forth our best efforts at wakeboarding. Somehow I was able to get up a few rides despite my lack of water sports since junior high. We spent two hours taking turns and ended our ride with a circuit across the lake into Emerald Bay which was absolutely gorgeous. After the afternoon on the boat, we checked out downtown Tahoe which was way too touristy, but we managed to find a great burger place for lunch before returning to the church for a short rest.

During the afternoon, I went on a solo ride around the lake to Emerald Bay again to get a view from higher up. The road to the bay had one of the sharpest curving roads I have ridden on so it was exciting going back down, but at the top I found a trailhead to Cascade Falls. The trail was about two miles and didn’t take too long to reach the falls which was a small bubbling stream until it reached a shear 80-foot drop at which point the water spread out and rushed down the mountainside to a smaller lake below. The ride down was a blast and waiting at the church was a great dinner prepared by Hoops and Dragonslayer of eggplant parmesan. A great way to end a day off.

Day 49 – Jackson, CA – 91 miles

It seems we haven’t ridden our bikes in about a week even though it was only two days off in Tahoe. Regardless, everyone awoke ready to tackle what was promised to be an intense riding day through the Sierras. The ride was clearly broken into two parts, before and after the lunch break. Before our mile 37 lunch break, we attacked three major passes. The largest pass was Conner, with a summit of 8,600 feet. Despite the outrageous amount of climbing that we did in the first 37 miles, there was very few complaints to be heard as the scenery was out of this world. We stopped at a few points just to sit on the side of the road and enjoy the views (while catching our breath). The morning was capped appropriately when Colin and I were bombing down a 3 mile hill into lunch and an enormous (I mean huge, like… really) wolf darted across the road in front of Colin, narrowly avoiding an intense collision. A wolf of this size would not only have won the bike vs. animal contest, it would have chowed down on Colin’s face afterwards, but the only exclamation that I heard was “OH YEAH!!!”

After lunch, we expected about 50 more miles of the same, but after a relatively short climb we began our descent from around 8,000 feet. We had been told in the past that it was all downhill after the Sierras and we would laugh along as if we were in on the joke. Apparently no joke, after the Sierras it is literally downhill to the ocean. For 50 miles, excluding a few very minor hills, we dropped over 7,000 feet to Jackson at an elevation of 1,200 feet. The day got even better when we took a stop at a gas station to regroup and a kindly woman bought The Boys and Jesse cool beverages. Since we look all fancy outfits make us look like super intense cyclists, the cashier even gave us all free doughnuts. Best break ever. We finished the ride into Jackson where we stayed at the St. Patrick Church and were treated to a delicious BBQ at the park by the Sacramento Optimists club.

Day 50 – Davis, CA – 60 miles

With our days on the road swiftly drawing to a close, the Boys decided to do something a little different for today’s breakfast. Wakeup was set for 5 am so we sneakily rose at 4:30 and took over the kitchen to whip up a world-class french toast meal. A special thanks to Jane Duddenhoffer for financially backing our treat, which started the day off to a great start. The ride itself started by 6:30 despite the mess we made in the kitchen, and was finally warm enough to skip arm warmers before the sun came up. Ah the familiar joys of low-elevation cycling. The first 10 miles of the ride were absolutely gorgeous rolling countryside as we made a few short climbs and descended into the central California basin. When we came upon the Hwy 16 junction, I realized that I had dropped the pack and was alone. After a few minutes of waiting, I decided to push on but ride slowly, assuming they would catch up with me in no time. By mile 25 there was still no sign of the pack so I took a rest stop at a gas station and chalked the stop for the group. 10 minutes later there was still no sign of the group and I was beginning to get worried that something was wrong when Brian and Nikki rode by. They had passed the pack earlier and apparently Jesse had gotten a flat and Shane’s chain fell off. Relieved, I decided to ride on to lunch, stopping several times to chalk fun messages for the sweeps, who were Caitlin and Colin today.

We enjoyed lunch by another air base and so we were treated to the second private air show of the trip while munching on our PB&Js, a sure-fire crowd pleaser. Though some of our riders can’t even stand mention of peanut butter’s gooey goodness, I have managed to retain my love for it’s versatility in everyday life. The only thing I am looking forward to after this trip is getting an enormous tub of creamy JIF that I can use for everything, and not the peanut butter soup we’ve been enjoying since June.

After lunch we rode a short way further into Sacramento where we visited the capital building and the office of the Governator himself. We were unfortunately not able to meet Mr. “I’ll be back” but we were wrangled by the head of the California Bicycle Coalition who led us across the street to a meeting in progress at the Department of Transportation meeting. Somehow I was swept into action and was elected the group spokesperson so I gave a short presentation to the board on Bike & Build, as well as how our trip had gone thus far, now that we are so close to the coast. After the meeting we went to Old Sacramento where we entertained ourselves walking the streets, eating free taffee samples, and trying on silly costumes at the various shops.

We got back on the road to head for Davis, got about a half mile and were stopped by the Red Bull advertising car for free drinks and a photo from the sales rep. Another half mile brought us to a bowling alley and, in normal Bike & Build fashion, couldn’t pass up an opportunity for ridiculousness. Molly, Caitlin, Colin, Jesse, Brian and myself therefore donned even more amazing shoes than we were already wearing and hit the lanes for an hour. After our games, we finished the ride swiftly following a bike path that paralleled I-80 all the way to Davis, where we took up residence in the Hickey Gymnasium. Our dinner was provided by the Davis Cycling Club tonight in a park just off campus. Several of our riders are going on a ride with the club tomorrow morning to see the countryside. Dustin and I spent our evening in a bookstore downtown planning a ride and hike in west Sacramento County. Nothing like a bit of strenuous physical exertion on your days off!

Day Off – Davis, CA – 50 miles

The group slept in this morning until around 8 am, when we had to move our bags out of the UC Davis gym and to a church 3 blocks down the road. We hefted our bags into our new home, grabbed a quick breakfast, and hit the road for our day’s adventure. Dustin, Scott and I enjoyed about a 25 mile ride west towards Napa Valley through a plethora of fields and farms growing everything from peaches and pears to tomatoes and strawberries; gotta love California variety. We reached a small line of mountains and found the trailhead to a hiking trail that circled a preserve owned by UC Davis. The hike was hot and steep but the views of Lake Berryessa were well worth our efforts. We traveled along a ridge around 1,600 ft above the surrounding countryside, eventually descending away from the blue-within-blue waters and back to our bikes. The ride back was quick with only a short lunch stop in Winters. The evening took us to a delicious Tai restaurant for dinner, followed by a college pub where we commandeered their projection screen to watch the opening ceremony to the Olympics. USA!

Day Off – Davis, CA – 5 miles

Today was the first true day of rest I took on essentially the entire trip. Woke up late, watched the Olympics, checked out the farmer’s market, and generally lounged about. I broke up the afternoon with a quest to In-n-Out burger for my first “Double Double Animal Style” which was everything I hoped it could be and more. As I was on dinner crew for the week, Colin, Hoops and I went soliciting food options for the group. We thankfully had 15 burritos donated by Chipotle, received three meal vouchers for a burger joint and several free cones of ice cream from Baskin Robins. Our feast was completed with the traditional spaghetti dish a la bike and build. Day ended with more Olympic events and a relative early bed time to prepare for our attack on Napa Valley tomorrow morning.

Day 51 – Napa, CA – 79 miles

Dustin, Colin and I awoke at 5:00 am this morning, an hour before the rest of the riders, to get an early start on the day into Napa. We left the parking lot right as the group awoke, having forgone a delicious breakfast prepared for the rest of the group at 7:15 am by the Davis Bike Club. We quickly made our way to Lake Berryessa where we had a mile 30 snack break at a reasonably scenic overlook. We wasted no time and got back on the road to finish our climb over a small coastal mountain range and into the valley. I did not expect the valley to appear as soon as it did as we could see another mountain looming over the final ridge, but we suddenly burst out of the trees and into the northern section of the valley on hwy 128 at Silverado Trail. The scenery was absolutely phenomenal for the entire ride through the valley, and we took our time weaving through the vineyards on our way up to St. Helena. In the city, we grabbed lunch at a KFC, the only fast food joint in the valley it appears, and stopped at a wine shop to inquire about which vineyards to visit. With our recommendations in had we headed back south towards Napa proper. As we were making way towards the Mumm Vineyard, the first of our recommended stops, the golden aura of the Sutter Home Vineyard came into our sights. Without any hesitation we swooped in for the fist tasting at a fine and revered establishment. The day only turned up from there as we were treated to an in-depth tour of the Mumm Vineyard, enjoyed fantastic cabernets at the Plumpjack winery and poked around in the Clos de Val estate. The Plumpjack Vineyard was a highlight as it seemed to be owned and operated by no one over the age of 25. The atmosphere was very hip and trendy and likely to be set up by the same people who brought us Fat Bastard wines. Our evening accommodations were provided by one of Amy’s friends and we all enjoyed a feast of Pizza Hut pies for dinner.

Day 52 – San Rafael, CA – 47 miles

We were handed our cue sheets today and were shocked to find that we had a 65 mile ride ahead of us. I had looked at a map the day before and figured that our ride couldn’t be more that 40 miles at most. We found out that we were being routed in an more “scenic” direction since the most direct roads were very large and scary according to our local, Amy. The boys decided that we had taken on some pretty hectic roads and wanted an adventure on our final full day of riding so we rechecked the maps and headed off for San Rafael. We found our way onto one or two “no-bicycle” roads but survived with minimal incident and no incarceration. We would hate to have Dustin deported so close to the west coast. We even stumbled on a bike route that ran next to hwy 101 next to San Francisco bay so we were able to completely avoid on of the major roads. We stopped around mile 35 when we entered the town and grabbed some breakfast at a bagel shop before getting thoroughly lost in the city due to a few road closures and a cue sheet that may not have actually led anywhere at all. Eventually we ran into another group that had taken the shortcut and caught up with us, so Marc gave us better directions to the host. Our original plan had been to tackle Mt. Tam or Meur National Forest when we got into town but we learned that the Presbyterian church we were staying at for the evening had arranged a private pool and gourmet pizza lunch for us to relax at. We all had a blast relaxing and working on removing our tan lines, and returned to the church late in the afternoon for an amazing cookout and sing along by the church quartet after our final presentation of the summer. As it was our last night outside of the city, Dustin and I rolled out our sleeping bags on the back porch overlooking the San Francisco Bay and Richmond Bridge despite the surprisingly cold weather. Once I closed up the face-hole for my sleeping bag, I slept like a baby despite excitement over our big day tomorrow.

Day 53 – SAN FRANSISCO, CA – 19 miles

Final Day!!!!! We packed our bags for the last time this morning and suited up, taking care of chores as well as a clean out of the van and trailer. In light of the 19 mile ride into San Francisco we decided to forgo cue sheets and the gentlemen of P2SF ditched our spandex for hot pants. Sporting our mid-thigh tan lines proudly, we made our way south as a pack of 31 exstatic cyclists. Big smiles were all that motorists saw as we snaked our way, slowly due to outrageously steep hills, closer and closer. At last we came around the bend of our final climb to see the Golden Gate bridge disappearing into a thick bank of fog. It seemed surreal after having talked about it for so long to finally feel our wheels bump onto the bridge. We took so long making the crossing that by the time we finally reached the beach on the other side, family and friends had been waiting for a few hours more than anticipated. With much ado the pack ran their bikes down to the water, and splashing into the breaking waves of the Pacific Ocean. Variable levels of enthusiasm for the ocean followed as riders felt their toes going numb, but everyone was so excited to reach the finish that plenty of splashing and swimming took place.

Once we all calmed down and finished taking a hundred pictures each, we popped some Champagne courtesy of Colin’s Parents and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the beach. The group dispersed for the afternoon to explore as much of the city as possible. We headed to the Haight-Ashbury district and poked around in the shops, taking a detour to climb up into Buena Vista Park which overlooked the city. Finally we made our way back to our host for two nights in the city, the Jewish Community Center, were we settled in and had our end-of-the-summer banquet. The catering was delicious and we had the county supervisor as a keynote speaker. Finally Colin and Jesse unveiled their slideshow they had been slaving over for the past few nights which brought back many of the fond memories we had all shared over the course of the trip.

Though I’m glad to be getting back to real life, I will miss the day-to-day excitement of our summer’s adventure. I’m looking forward to getting back to the Habitat site in Gainesville and getting to work with fellow rider’s who spent the summer on other routes. I have had a blast and hope that P2SF ‘08 stays in contact. While we may not have always been the closest of groups, I was lucky to have spent the summer with so many outstanding people who I learned so much from. Yaddah Yaddah, highschool graduation speech. [Cue Green Day “Good Riddance”]

-This is Brent Finklea signing off. Its been real, America.