Kevin thinking about a hasty retreat before anyone notices he was ever there?
9am, ready for the 8:30am roll-out
Only later did I notice the first climb was called “Big Hill”
Karl & Karen heading up "Big Hill"
About here we start paying attention to the elevation listed on the city limit signs
The over-the-shoulder shot doesn't always come out level
10 miles to Strawberry, 127 miles to Carson City, how many to Bridgeport?
About, er, hmm... 37 years ago, I had a trip to a cool place named "Bumblebee Tobagon Hill." What's left of it is on the right. It's been "for sale" for about 20 years, near as I can tell. About the last time that area saw snow.
11:10am and the group is still pretty much together
Strange how you have to go down to go up
Beautiful downtown Strawberry, last place to buy food. We didn't.
Dardanelle in 20 miles! Sonora Pass in 34. Highway 395 in 45 miles. No sign for Bridgeport.
Following the leader, Mark P at this point in time
Since there's no net gain in elevation between Strawberry and Dardanelle, the road must be flat, right? Kevin had this idea we could cover the 20 miles in something like an hour. Unfortunately, the helicopter couldn't find a place to land.
12:04 and we're back at 6000ft. How bad can another 3,730 be?
Just one beautiful vista...
...after another.
Enjoying the smooth road, beautiful views & moderate temps. This too shall pass. This spot, maybe 5 miles out of Dardanelle, affords the first clear view of what's up ahead. Quite spectacular.
The rollercoaster into Dardanelle
City limit sprint. Kevin's (on the right) going all-out. It's not his high-speed sprint(?) that gives that away; it's the fact that he's not in his aero bars.
12:44pm as we pull into Dardanelle for lunch (our last food stop until Bridgeport). The general store here was already closed for winter, but fortunately our support van was open for business!
Ralph's thank-goodness-it's-there sag wagon at Dardanelle
Laura's killer cookies
46 miles to Bridgeport!
What a nice little road... the first couple miles out of Dardanelle are quite easy.
This creek, which continues all the way to the top, would soon be my only company on the way up.
The sign warning of 26% grades ahead. No mention of snow or lightning.
This is the last I saw of these guys...
Thankfully, while there was plenty of thunder, lightning was nowhere to be seen.
Just 12 minutes into the climb and I've got the whole world to myself
45 minutes into the climb and things start to look a bit scary
First sight of snow
Imagine riding directly towards a giant wall of granite, with no exit!
Imagine no more. The first time you ride Sonora Pass, you wonder where the road goes. There seems to be no obvious or easy way out of this valley. In this case, looks are not deceiving. Just out of sight the road takes a sharp turn to the right, pitches straight up around a hairpin, and climbs upward at an average grade of 20% for 1 kilometer. At 9000ft, it's likely to be the toughest stretch of road you'll ever encounter.
The snow, which had eased off for a bit, begins to make its return in a big way. Could be that the guys ahead of me didn't get all that much; they were probably already at the top by now.
LOTS more snow
Not my fastest ride to the top, but one of the most-interesting. Anyone old enough might recognize why the Led Zepplin piece "Immigrant Song" was running through my head about now. Something about that line "We come from the land of the ice & snow..."
Extreme field-testing of Trek OCLV bicycle & components
Guess my bike's come nearly full-circle in its first year. Around Thanksgiving it found its way to Maui and climbed Haleakala where, at 10,000ft, it was 70 degrees. Unbelievably nice day for the climb. Then today, on Sonora Pass, it's a bone-chilling 30 degrees. No contest as to which was the tougher ride.
30 degrees, according to the computer
An hour & 20 minutes later and it's almost warm, almost sunny. No photos between the top of Sonora Pass and here because I was still wearing a jacket, and I'd have to stop to remove in to take a picture.
Almost sunny. Not quite. But almost. About 52 degrees at this point, which felt quite nice.
Arrival in Bridgeport!
Looks can be deceiving. Don't let them fool you.
Stunned silence as Kevin pours steak sauce on his potatoes
Beautiful downtown Bridgeport
Fishing right outside your room!
Looks like water out there, but it was a mirage. Seriously. I rode out there to check it out.
Kevin explaining why it doesn't matter that we can't get home because the passes are all closed.
Bridgeport Community Church
The alternate route out of town- the bus.
Saturday's ride from Bridgeport to Lee Vining. Those dots way up ahead... those are the people I *was* riding with.
Colorful Aspens, colorful clouds. And no rain. Yet.
The big descent into Lee Vining; time to put on extra clothing.
This sign was a welcome relief after a very long gradual uphill grade.
That's the road, way down there. Underneath those black clouds.
Kevin spoke of “virgo”, a type of rain that doesn't hit the ground. Apparently, it targets cyclists instead.
People don't seem to trust Kevin's idea about the rain somehow vanishing on its way down out of the clouds.
Unknown guy who doesn't like his picture taken.
Arrival in Lee Vining
An old friend drops by
A couple hours after our arrival at Lee Vining, it was time to head south to June Lake. At last, the weather was taking a turn for the better!
There are reasons people who live in places like this buy fast motorcycles. Very fast.
Highway 395 is an interesting road, cycling-wise. There are places like this where the shoulder isn't terribly wide, and then others where it's wide enough for a bus, but features a really-nasty rumble strip that'll break the welds on your frame if you stay on it too long.
Practicing doing donuts on a bike.
Approaching the June Lake loop intersection. The nasty rumble strip is clearly visible, well within the bike lane.
Beginning of June Lake loop
Nice waterfall on the mountain towards the right; a bit better shot of it in the next photo.
It really is this pretty on the June Lake loop, which is why I didn't mind much that the group didn't wait up for me after I stopped to take a photo. There were many times I wished I'd brought my high-end camera gear; guess I have to come back!
Continuing on June Lake loop
Heading down from the June Lake loop towards Mono Lake & Highway 395
Back at Lee Vining
Trying to open a beer bottle with a bicycle pedal. Didn't work.
The famous Whoa Nellie Dellie in Lee Vining (at the Mobil gas station. Really.)
Couldn't find 51 candles for Kevin's birthday cake. Or maybe they just wouldn't fit.
I only asked for $50 to photoshop in a bit more hair. Just $50. What a cheapskate! (Added later- Laura accused me of "Kevin Bashing." I couldn't think of anything that might fit that category... until I came to this one...)
Setting out for Tioga Pass.
One of *many* roads that look down, but actually climb.
Tioga Pass affords beautiful views
8000ft sign on Tioga Pass. There are no signs for 9000ft.
Looking back from where you came
The sign for the lake tells you you're at 9200ft (remember, there was no 9000ft sign)
Tioga Pass Resort
You might think I took this photo looking back because it was so beautiful. The reality is that I was wondering if anyone was about to catch me, with the summit just a couple hundred meters in front of me.
At last, Tioga Pass, 1 hr 20 minutes after starting out. 36-39 degrees while climbing, about 40 at the top.
Riders arriving
Tenaya Lake, a few miles down from the summit.
An unexpected meeting of Mom & Son
Looking back at Tenaya Lake
One of many nasty climbs during the “descent” from Tioga Pass
Crane Flat gas station, which was fortunately open. Fortunate because I was able to snag a Mtn Dew and a Ham & Cheese sandwich, which seemed so much better at the time than more Cytomax & Powerbars.
Lunch stop at Crane Flat; just one more stop before the finish (Groveland)
We're moving, we're happy, we're watching the miles tick off one by one!
Karl had the only flat of the ride. He & Kevin had ridden hard off the front, trying to put some distance between themselves and the rest of us. Don't know why; the weather & roads were so nice at this point that we'd pretty-much forgiven him for Friday's climb in the snow up Sonora Pass.
Long straight stretches of road that didn't seem as bad as you'd expect
Groveland pit stop. Great little park! Didn't want to leave.
On the map, Wards Ferry looks like a major road. It isn't.
Leaving Groveland
Starting Wards Ferry. The nice part. What followed was too bumpy to take photos.
Climbing out of the canyon on Ward Ferry
Unidentified rider crossing the bridge. It looks just a bit like a scene from the movie Deliverance, and later on, you could swear you heard someone playing a banjo in the distance.
Karen charging up the hill
We *thought* we were at the top. We thought wrong. Way wrong.
The road suddenly becomes a super-highway, with a WalMart sign surrealistically ahead of you
2.5 days later and back at the car!
Reflecting upon an adventure. Planning next year already?
