8 towns, 3 surfaces, 2 memorable roadkills, and 1 happy 'cyclist

Ride# 87

Tuesday, June 28th

43 miles from Rescue to Elk Grove, CA

I should have taken a picture of the utterly totally completely flattened cat. The poor thing had expired in just the right conditions to tell that it had been a tabby while still admiring the still cat-like shape yet bookmark-thinness. There was also a very large raccoon, also dead but not nearly as flattened. The smallest dead thing I saw was some kind of small grey songbird.

I also saw plenty of live things as well: kill-deers, an egret, and lots of little finch-like birds. No rattlers.

There were also innumerable shards of glass (clear, brown, green), bicycle parts (a brake lever and a bell), car parts (license frame, tire shreds, trim), construction debris (wood, a composition shingle, unidentifed but sharp metal things) and the aforementioned roadkill on the shoulders of the roads I traveled on. I was pleased and amazed to have no flats.

My top speed was 37.6 mph, my average was  9.2, my total time with wheels turning was 4 hours and 39 minutes, the total time elapsed was 5 hours 30 minutes or so.

Although I've ridden farther in one shot on my trike (57 miles), this felt like a much longer ride: probably because of the variety of terrain and number of towns along the way.
Rescue, El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Gold River, Rancho Cordova, Vineyard, Sheldon, Elk Grove. Now, some of these (Gold River, Vineyard) only exist as separate entities when considering the census, but they show up on Google Maps. So there.

I flew down Green Valley Road (the map at the bottom shows only approximate beginning and end points), white knuckled and swearing like a sailor (I even invoked various flavors of Christian profanity, not my usual form. The rest was made up of good old Anglo Saxon four-letter words). My shoulders and neck, despite my best efforts, were tense enough to bounce rocks off of.
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In addition to all the other things, Green Valley's shoulders are littered with economy size pine cones. These, at least, were out of the way.

The only actual bouncing rocks were the fresh gravel my tires flung when I crossed the recently tended Deer Valley Road intersection. Flinging gravel while white-knuckling along at 30mph is ... interesting. Yeah. Interesting. I could hear the gravel banging through the spokes and just hoped for no gravel strikes on my tender hide.

Green Valley at 6:30am is probably not the best choice, but it is my route to Folsom. There is no bike lane, but a not terrible shoulder. There were also a LOT of cars zipping by in excess of the posted 55mph. Most of them went way around me.

The next terrain was the old familiar bike paths in and around Folsom neighborhoods. What refreshing change! I took my time and tried to relax from the adrenaline-induced hypervigilant state I found myself in.

Those clouds should have told me something.

Tailings from gold dredging. Along the feeder route from Parkshore Dr. to the bike trail along the river.

The next leg was the bike path along the south side of Lake Natoma to the Nimbus dam and then on to the Folsom South Canal path.

Looking upstream to the Hazel Bridge.

There was a strong steady wind from the southwest, so I had it in my face for the almost 2 hours I was on the canal path. Since this trail is very little used (no vehicular traffic and I saw only one cyclist) I went ahead and used my IPod to keep me moving along and un-bored. I'm sure the earbuds meant I did not hear when my brand new Sleipnir flag stopped audibly flapping behind me and took off for parts unknown. Taking the new pole and my little reflective flag went along with it. So very sad.

Weedy canal path.

Killdeer closeup

However, a friend who saw me pedaling down South Sunrise with my remaining flag (a large pink one) said I was plenty visible. And at least I know where the flags went missing.

I exited the canal at Jackson rather then continuing onto Florin Rd. as I had planned, since the already weedy canal-side road got a lot weedier after Jackson. Sunrise was a good alternative, with a nice wide shoulder, marred only by hordes of double-trailer gravel trucks.

OMG. Rain clouds?

Florin Rd. takes you by a materials reclamation site, so once I was past that the traffic dropped way down. Florin's wide shoulder disappears at Eagle's Nest road, but I was passed only a few times in the two miles to Excelsior Rd. Once by a large commercial semi, and once by a pickup. The rest were a handful of sedans and one minivan, who behaved admirably! Thank you, champagne colored van, for staying patiently behind me on the blind hill as I crept up at 10 miles per.

On Excelsoir, I got a friendly beep from a passing truck. I waved, he waved. A warm fuzzy moment.
Tuesday is trash-day in the Elk Grove area, so I dodged some trash cans. Same old same old. I have a genius for trash-day excursions.

Calvine, at least where I rode, has a splendid bicycle lane. Yay!

I used the loop behind the school at Bradshaw and Bond to avoid yet another non-bicycle-aware traffic signal (at least, I suppose it was not bicycle triggerable.) The son of the friend I was visiting was most impressed that I had bicycled right past his elementary school.

I finished my ride on quiet neighborhood streets, the white-knuckle flight down Green Valley already forgotten.

This is my last ride for a while, I'm scheduled for rotator cuff repair surgery in a few days. But I'll be back posting as soon as I am back on the bike!

Like a cat with a hairball

Ride #56
Tuesday, March 29th
25 miles on the Folsom South Canal

Yes, this is longer than we've gone on the canal, but that's not because we got past Jackson Highway, instead it is because we started at the Fish Hatchery. A beautiful sunny day, my legs a strange shade of whitish-pink from a liberal application of sunscreen, talking talking talking our way down the canal.

Then I had to go and eat a bug. I really did not want the extra protein. I think it was a leg, or something, that got stuck in my throat, right on the gag-spot. So I choked and hacked and spat my way down the canal until I guess I finally swallowed the rest of the bug. There were a lot of bugs out today. I think the rest of the several squadrons of insects were really search parties looking for their missing buddy. Sorry, boys. Not going to find him. Just declare him lost at sea. Or esophagus.

We decided a bathroom break was in order (the one flaw, a major flaw for middle-aged ladies, of the FSC is the absolute and glaring lack of even a skanky port-a-john). We discussed finding a shrub, but decided that since we were not too far from the park on Spoto, we'd detour our way over there for a bit of relief.

I tried to take a picture of some charming cows today, but by the time I was level with the cows, the grass was in the way. There are downsides to being on a low vehicle. Lots of poppies out now.

Hopefully I'll get out to enjoy the sun a little more (even with strange whitish-pink limbs) a few more times this week.

Soggy Bottom

Ride #54
Thursday, March 17th
17 miles on the South Canal

We had intended to go all the way to Sloughhouse road, but we found this in our way.

I waded in to see how deep. Too deep.

We turned around since we didn't want to carry the trikes through this twice. Damp wool socks and damp mesh cycling shoes are not too bad. 

We also saw a large bird.

I tried to catch it as it took off. I missed. Twice. Here's a wingtip consolation prize.

I have spiffy photogray (or whatever the trade name is these days) glasses. You know, the ones that turn dark from UV light? That keep you from carrying around a pair of prescription sunglasses? The ones that make it impossible to see the digital camera display?

Oh, did you catch that I said "trikes" plural? Yes!! (insert celebratory fist pump) The local triker I encountered on my last trip through town came on the ride today. So I had a cheerful person on a cheerful yellow well loved Greenspeed zipping along right beside me as well as my intrepid friend hauling the trailer full of kids. She with the trailer did not come are far as the Giant Puddle in the Middle of the Trail since she had a lot to do this afternoon.

Hopefully next time it will not have rained for a week straight and the trail will be clear.

I suspect this weekend's ride will be rained out, but I hold out hope for next week.

Happy chase-the-snakes-off-the-island-day!

We got just across Jackson Highway this time.

Chain link fence

Ride #49
Monday, February 28th
16.5 miles on the Folsom South Canal

B'bye February!

I like the South Canal but it has issues. It is flat, flat flat flat, (which actually gets a little boring at times) except for some short rises that cross various other things crossing the canal. Clear, ain't I? But anyway the mini hills give a nice view of the canal.

And starting at the Nimbus end means crossing lots of streets and and out-of-service railroad track and some more streets. Then there is the White Rock Road crossing, which right now is mostly a detour on busy streets. Not good for a crowd of beginner bikers!

I've been trying to figure out how to avoid White Rock Road, so today I started just off of North Mather Rd., which made for a very nice ride.

 Brand new smooooooooooooth asphalt bike paths through neighborhoods half ticky-tacky boxes and half vacant fields with developers' signs fading in the sun. I think this will make a good group ride, as long as it is not howling wind or sweltering summer sun.

I saw some more waterbirds perched this time on a pipe crossing the canal,

and also tried (and failed) to get a shot of some entertaining black and white water birds. I need to brush up on my bird identification: black and white birds, maybe slightly smaller than a duck, while floating around they have black topsides and a white hull (a little nautical there). Then when they take off their wings are black with a wide white band. They also make a sort of squeaky sound as they try to get up to speed on the water. I'm sure they can fly, but they seem to prefer to flap along just on the surface of the water, then settle down when they are far enough from my disturbing self.

As you might notice on the map, I took a little detour up Zinfandel (I have no idea what I was thinking about, guess I was just enjoying the sunshine). BUT on the way back I spotted a bike path unlisted on maps so went exploring. A great day for a ride. Supposed to start raining again later this week so this might be all I do for a while.

I'll take that one, and that one and - ooooh - that one...

Ride #46
Monday, February 21st

Finally home and finally no rain so finally rode! Yay!

13 miles or so on the Folsom South Canal

A bit of a headwind cramped my style heading south, but it was niiiice on the way back. I had intended to go maybe as far as Sloughhouse Rd, but turned around far short of that since my chain tube finally cried out for my attention loudly enough I could not ignore it any more.

I successfully navigated the White Rock Rd detour (only signed in some places but I have friends who told me where to go. Um, that came out wrong, didn't it?) and made my back onto the canal-side road. I had hoped to take some advanced beginners on this ride in the future, but there are no bike lanes on the detour roads. I don't mind playing in traffic and "taking a lane", but I know a number of my usual riders would not be comfortable in that situation.

Chain tubes are useful things since they help prevent chain tattoo (when the chain leaves a grease mark on a leg - often the calf with a recumbent bike). And they keep some of the muck off the chain as it whizzes along mere inches from the ground. And with a chain about 3x as long as a 'normal' bike, that's a lot of chain to keep clean! I have 2 main tubes on my trike (made from shorter segments).

As soon as I got home I wheeled the trike into the garage, popped the master link of the chain free, slid the chain tube off, sawed the ripped up split end off, flared the cut end a little (probably not enough), and reassembled my beautiful ride. Didn't take too long at all and now the top chain tube will stay well clear of the front derailer and all will be well for tomorrow's ride! I hope the weather holds - a little overcast and a chilly breeze, but no rain!

This is the whole route - my turnaround today was a little short of Douglas Road

Flat like a pancake, not a tire

Ride #44
Thursday, February 10th
9 extremely flat miles on the Folsom South Canal

I've been talking for what seems like forever about getting back out on the Folsom South Canal to ride, and I finally got around to it with a friend from one of the bike groups I hang out with. We started out from the temporary dirt parking lot near Nimbus Hatchery and played in mild traffic until we could get on the canal-side path. This ride is horrible on a hot summer day, but with the banks of grass still green it was not so bad. We saw a few pedestrians, more cyclists than I expected, and one (county?) truck using the road for service access.

Phone wires cross the canal in several places and they are usually bedecked with birds looking for their lunch.

We crept up on our 'cycles, waiting to see how close we could get before they took off. We were totally ignored, probably since we did not look like fish.

Although we had planned to go farther on the canal, the small gate at White Rock Road was closed. I suppose we could have hoisted my friend's bike over and slid my trike under the gate, but since we both had other things to do today (yes, I do have more in my life than 'cycling) we turned around and headed back.

When I bought my trike, I interrogated bike-dude if it really truly would fit between the yellow posts at the beginning of bike paths. I guess this was the path I was remembering. If I wiggle my handlebars just so, I can scrape through without leaving a mirror behind. These yellow posts are much narrower than the usual bike path posts.

Not stuck, cautious!

I like this ride, even though it is an industrial landscape, and I think the corridor has potential for a great commuting/recreation route. There was apparently in 2007 some talk of developing the south canal but I don't think anything ever came of it. Probably the housing developers who were part of the proto-planning ran headlong into the housing crisis.

Other challenges to using this path, aside from very narrow gates that are sometimes closed, are several places where the canal path users have to dash across a street through traffic. The Powers that Be added a push-button crossing at Sunrise, and there is a nice echo-y tunnel under US 50 (yes, we made silly sonar noises and sang while in the tunnel)  but some interesting roads (Douglas, for instance) have no access points to the canal path, making it less useful as a recreation and commuting option.

US 50 tunnel on left

Enough social and political maunderings, time to get some stuff around the house done! Riding again this weekend, TTFN