After making eggs and toast for breakfast, we did a checkup on our bikes and started on our way out of Sacramento.

We had 69 miles to go to our next host in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. We were eager to get there because we knew there was food waiting for us and a rest day following.

In this 69 miles, we encountered the two extremes of bike friendliness. We started with the friendliest side of the spectrum. After crossing the highway from our host’s house, we jumped on the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail. For 30 miles, we encountered no cars as we followed the banks of the American River. We passed hundreds of cyclists and joggers who were also taking advantage of the beautiful weather and wonderful trail. We were able to hold a good pace over the mostly flat trail and made great time. It was a very great feeling to see this kind of bike culture in a city.

Cyclists consistently asked where we were headed and wished us luck on our journey. After a spectacular experience the day before, this was shaping up to be even better.

After about 30 miles, the trail came to an end. We switched to riding on the comfortably ride shoulders of some major roads. This also meant a departure from the river which unfortunately was the reason for the flatness of our route. We conquered the rolling hills but eventually got tired enough to take a long break before finishing out the day. With 28 miles to go to our lasagna dinner, we jumped on the last major road stretch excited to get there. What we did not know was that this was getting into the countryside with residents that would not be considered “pro-bike”. With little to no shoulder and a gaping ditches and barbed wire, we meandered through hills (the golden hills as they call them now during the dry season) navigating the surprisingly busy country road. We gripped our handlebars tightly as trucks and cars passed us at high speeds. We had to navigate the bike equilibrium of taking up more of the lane so that passing cars are more cautious when passing and give more distance and getting honks, hand gestures, expletives, and engine revs. It made for a miserable 18 miles. We will have more information about how to treat and respect cyclists soon, mostly based on our experiences so far.

We eventually reached the point that we needed google maps to get us to the point of our route that our hosts lived. This was a pretty big mistake. The turn by turn directions took us into a horribly maintained country road that switched between gravel and ruined asphalt and took us constantly up and down on this miserably bumpy ride. It also took an unnecessary detour down through the town that only ended up requiring us to go right back up the 200 foot hill. After arriving at our hosts’ home, we learned that we could have taken the shoulder of two very recently paved byways which had smaller hills and would have led us right to their home.

With the slow and miserable last 10 miles behind us, we were suddenly overwhelmed by the immense generosity of our hosts, Cathy and Michael Coy. They have a son who is our age that has done some bicycle touring and know what touring cyclists need after a long day and make sure you get it. They had a fridge full of drinks, a nice shower, laundry, and a huge meal waiting for us. From the time that we arrived to the end of our meals we each gained 5 pounds (we actually weighed ourselves on the scale). We enjoyed talking to them about the surrounding area and their experiences hosting cyclists from around the world.

With very tired legs, we refueled and prepared for a much needed rest 230 miles into our trip.

If you would like to learn more about how to help cyclists, both touring and recreational, click the button. It would be great if as few roads as possible felt like the one we were on. Also on the page as a shameless plug, we need more calories than we can ever plan for. If you want to help us get food, you can send us money with the options in the following link. Please include instructions for how you would like a thank you. Be Creative! By default, we can give you a shout out in our blog and a picture of us that shows the gratitude in our eyes!