Ride Report RR: Sierra Cascades - Reno to Visalia

RR: Sierra Cascades - Reno to Visalia - 2013

Introduction

My cousin is a pretty seasoned tourer. He’s completed many short trips (2-3 days) as well as most of the Pacific Coast. I, on the other hand, am a noob. I’ve only been on the bike for about 1.5 years, and had never ridden more than 30 miles up until a few months ago. Even though I’m a noob, the idea of touring always intrigued me because I enjoy backpacking and I enjoy biking. Sounds like a pretty good marriage of actives, right? So when my cousin decided this was the year he finished off the Pacific Coast, I wanted in.

The Plan

The plan was Portland to SF. Sounded amazing to me. I mean who would turn down craft beers, redwoods, and coastline for days? Well, I still had to OK it with the boss (also with work) so I gave my cousin a soft “yes”. About a week later, when I got all my approvals, I called my cousin and told him I was in. Well, it turned out my cousin got drunk one night and decided he wanted to try his hand on the Sierra Cascades instead of finishing off the Pacific Coast. The nail in the coffin was that the plane ticket to Reno was less than $100. So, in a week, my trip when from craft beers, flat roads, and tons of service stops to elevation, more elevation, and sparse service. I had the time off and the wifey already OK’d it, so what was I gonna do, say no?

Section 4 of the Sierra Cascades starts in Truckee and ends at Lake Isabella. Our plan was to start in Reno and intercept the trail at Woodfords. We only had 10 days off, so I knew right away we wouldn’t make it to Isabella. It’s just too many miles and too much elevation to complete in 10 days. Plus, I wanted to make sure we got home on day 9 so I could rest on day 10, so really, we only had 8 days of ride time. Being the planner I am, I plotted the whole thing out on Google Earth. Google Earth says 430 miles with 33,000 ft of elevation gain, which comes out to about 55 miles and 4100 ft of climbing per day. Sounds reasonable, right? Well, according to my cousins Garmin, we did an extra 1500ish feet per day compared to Google Earth. Don’t know which one to trust, but I’m gonna pretend the true answer lies in the middle, so about 55 miles and 5000 ft of climbing per day on average.


The Gear

My bike is a 2005 Cannondale F300. Added a few racks, a rigid fork, new bars, disc brakes, 9 speed drivetrain, and 650B wheels. All in all, I’m very happy with my setup. Weighs in at about 30 lbs. HUGE THANKS TO FULLERTON BIKES FOR HELPING ME DIAL MY BIKE IN!!!

And Grego, the kickstand was invaluable!

In my bags were (I was wearing a shirt, shorts, socks of course):
Sleeping bag, Sleeping pad, 2 long sleeve shirts, 1 shorts, 2 underwear, 4 socks (1 thick wool), 2 thin fleece sweaters, 1 windbreaker, 1 waterproof jacket, 1 pair sweats, 1 set of knee warmers, 2 gloves (1 fingerless/1 full), 1 pair of flipflops, Basic toiletries, 1 hand towel, 1 small towel, Baby wipes, 2 packs of ramen, 10 packs of oatmeal, 2 bags of beef jerky, 1 lb of trail mix, 1/2lb of gummy bears, Knife, Bike tool, Patch kit, Spare tube and tire, Camera and plugs, Phone and plugs, 2 headlamps ,Small bag of bungee cords
I may be missing a few items, but all came in around 35-40lbs (including the bags).

 

Day 1 – Reno to Markleeville – 65 miles 3700 ft (all elevations from Google Earth)

Our flight was at 7 am and we had to pick up my cousin in Long Beach, so I had to be up at 430am, which means I only got 3.5 hours of sleep. Great start! To compound the great start, guess what was missing in that bag list. Yup. THE MAP. Needless to say, my cousin was not very happy. Especially since he said “I don’t care what you forget to bring on the trip, just don’t forget to bring my map”. Made a pit stop to REI to get a map, but no dice. Luckily for us, he had PDF’d the maps so I could look at them prior to our trip. Guess who ended up coming through for us? A LOCAL BIKE SHOP. Huge shoutout to Great Basin Bicycles (http://www.greatbasinbicycles.com/). They were kind enough to let me log into my email and print out the maps (REASON # 123947192742837492734 to support your LBS).

I didn’t take a photo of Reno because of the stress of putting the bike together and figuring out our map situation, but this is my first shot of the trip. I believe it’s the new 395 skybridge between Reno and Carson City.


F*CK headwind. Nothing feels worse than crawling on the flats because of headwind.


High Sierra Brewing in Carson City. Great burgers. Their IPA was good. Their honey blond was good too. Their DIPA was disappointing.


Biggest Trader Joe’s parking lot ever is in Carson City.


Jack Valley. Some real nice ranches in this area.


Genoa, NV’s first settlement.


Cali-NV border.


Typical Camp setup.

 

Day 2 – Markleeville to Walker – 43 miles 4690 ft

Got on the road by around 9am. We would start around 9-10 pretty much every day expect for Lee Vining. We learned 2 things today 1) Monitor pass is brutal 2) never settle for the first thing you see in a small town.

Both of our loaded bikes.


Toiyabe Forest. So prudy.

Half way up monitor and my cousin cant even muster a smile.


Aspens near the top of monitor.


Mr. Marmot greeting us at the false top of Monitor Pass.


Last Stretch before the top!


WE DID IT!


Best sign ever.


Great view of Mono County from up here. This picture looks like something out of an ACA pamphlet.


Yup, more headwind.


So this was the first store in Walker. We got a few beers and hotdogs and ate at a park.


Remember Rule #1 about small towns? Well this burger joint was a quarter mile down from the general store. We picked up burgers to take back to our campsite which was still a few miles past Walker.


One block from the burger joint. We fail so hard at Rule #1.


First campfire.

 

Day 3 – Walker to Lee Vining –48 miles 3450 ft

Not sure how this day only came out to 3400 ft. We climbed two peaks today, Devils Summit (which was 500 ft taller than what was shown on the ACA map) and Conway summit. Initially, I didn’t have glasses or long gloves, but I fixed that in Bridgeport, which was after a pretty chilly fast descent. It’s been in the low 40’s upper 30’s at night on this side of the Sierras, and we were hitting mid 40 MPH on the descents, so the gloves and glasses were welcome. On top of the cold weather, the storm clouds were gathering and we had a huge day ahead of us, so we decided to get a hotel room tonight. Worked out great because it did end up raining.

7000ft… this should have been the top!


Oh the ACA map was only off by 500 ft…


Bridgeport.


Beautiful aspen forests.


Just another summit.


A few shots of Mono Lake (notice the clouds gathering).


We get to climb this tomorrow!


Our hotel room.

 

Day 4 – Yosemite – 76 miles 5880 ft.

You know whats worse that headwinds on the flats? HEADWINDS ON TIOGA PASS! There were narrow section of Tioga Pass where the wind would get funneled and gust to 30+ MPH. Nothing worse than mashing on your granny gear and not moving forward. There were times I just wanted to climb off my bike and throw it down the mountain. Once we got passed the pass, the wind died down. I think that was the last day we saw any real headwind. Needless to say Yosemite is amazing. Also, it very crowded since this was the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Heck, even the biker/hiker site was nearly full.

The pass looks much nicer today.


Not my favorite sign of the trip.


The pass looked nice, but she's quite the B.


Near the top.


THE TOP!


I’ll let the pictures take over here.

 

Day 5 – Yosemite to Bass Lake – 54 miles 5930 ft.

The climb out of Yosemite was brutal, however, this is where I finally learned how to pedal. That’s right, up until now, I’ve just been pushing my pedal down. I finally learned to drive down on the pedal with my heel and pull with my hamstrings and calves. My days of watching my cousin pull away with 30 extra pounds of gear were behind me. Though the heat helped as well. My cousin lives in Long Beach so he’s definitely not used to anything above 85F. From this day forward, it just got hotter and hotter.

Look how crowded the hiker/biker site is.


Rained again last night. Sprinkled down in the valley, but I heard they started to require chains up on Tuolumne Meadows.


More Yosemite porn.


So the longer tunnels at Yosemite have these outlet channels.


Look what I found at the end of this tunnel!


Did you know there was an golf resort in Yosemite?


Some pitstops we made on the way to Bass Lake.


Some pics of the Bass Lake area. Wouldnt mind going back for a visit.

 

Day 6 - Bass Lake to Choinumi Park - 55 miles 4310 ft.

This day sucked. I don’t care what Google Earth says, this day had way more than 4300 ft of climbing. I’m gonna have to side with Garmin and say this day was closer to 5000+ ft. Had breakfast at a local bar in North Fork and the guys told us to be careful on the way to Auberry. Apparently, the descent is known as “Death Alley” because of all the pot holes and cars that don’t like to stay in their lanes. The heat didn’t help either, as I’m sure it was well in the 90’s when we hit the San Juaquin River Valley. After we hit the valley floor we hit a string of 200-400 foot climbs and descends with zero service stops. Thank God we ran into a nice old man near the Pine Flat Lake that gave us two ice cold bottles of water. The day ended well enough though, since the camp host doesn’t charge bikers to camp overnight. I think this is the day my cousin officially decided Lake Isabella was out of reach. It was just getting too hot and 5 more days of hard riding were not sounding fun. Vacations are still supposed to be fun!

Last view of Bass Lake.


The Buckhorn in North Fork.


This was the nice part of “Death Alley”. Got really twisty and choppy after this point.


San Juaquin River and Powerhouse.


Saved this guys life!


Auberry doesnt seem like the safest town.


Civilization is so close...if you can call Fresno civilized.


You know it's getting hot when you see this...


Pine Flat Lake.


Hot, hilly, thirsty, and unhappy.


Choinumi park.

 

Day 7 - Choinumi Park to Kings Canyon - 40 miles 7590 ft.

I’m gonna have to say Google Earth has to be wrong here. My cousin’s Garmin pegged us at 45 miles and over 10K of climbing (I remember this one clearly), which seems a bit on the high side. My guess is that we were somewhere in between. Considering we started at 500ft (Choinumi) and ended up at 6600 ft (Grant Grove), 45 miles at 9000 feet sounds about right. Enough about elevation though. The most interesting part of this day was riding pasted the Nazi Pig Farmer of Wonder Valley. Pigs, Swastikas, and creepy signs. Check out the Google street view since I was too scared to stop and take good pictures. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=wond...=bBb_fUAJotW_hQB5BecO2g&cbp=12,146.09,,0,1.61
Oh, and my cousin got chased by dogs 3 different times today (a personal record!), starting with the Nazi Pig Farmer.

Choinumi park on across the river.


River shot near Choinumi.


Frenso sure is close...too bad I’m making a left.


Wonder Valley. Of course you have to climb into a valley.


Cool barn near Wonder Valley.


Cows of Wonder Valley.


The only shot I got before I realized where I was.


It's a valley, of course you have to climb out.


Then you drop down to Squaw Valley and climb some more. and more. and more. 500ft to 6600ft.


Pinehurst Lodge. Elevations ~4000ft.


Kings Canyon!

 

Day 8 - Kings Canyon to Lemon Cove - 62 miles 3700 feet.

My cousin and I decided to part ways here. I knew a band I liked would be playing a show in Visalia around 8pm and 75 miles didn’t seem that far, so I gave it a go. My cousin had no interest in the show, so he decided to camp an extra day near Lodgepole. Worked out great for both of us, especially since I met some cyclist that were headed to Visalia after having lunch at Lodgepole. Armando and Jeff (Southern Sierra Cyclist) were finishing up a century so they let me tag along till Lemon Cove. Visalia is about 15 miles from Lemon Cove, but Armando was generous enough to give me a ride so I wouldnt have to suffer through 100+F heat on a semi-busy highway. Bikers are the best! My amazing wife found me a hotel room for the night and a SUV rental for the next day, and I found an extra ticket to the show. So I showered up and rode my bike to downtown, just in time to catch the show. Perfect ending to my epic.

Some Kings/Sequoia porn.


Lodgepole!


Many fond memories at Wolverton. Most of my backpacking trips started there.


The amazing descent! Armando and Jeff said the road had been under repair for about 2 years. Glad they repaved it just for our trip!

 

Day 8 - Continued!

Exiting the park.


Three Rivers has an amazing ice cream parlor.


So many hills just before you hit Lemon Cove. The triple digit heat wasnt helping either.


ARMANDO TO THE RESCUE!


The Airborne Toxic Event at the Fox Theater in downtown Visalia.


Quick Dinner


Day 9 - Avis Rentals - 10 miles of flats!

Picked up the car (had to wait an hour.. grrrr), picked up my cousin at Lemon Cove (coincidentally), and went home. What a great trip.

Day 10 - Rest?

Dropped off the car and cleaned my gear. So not much rest...

Final Thoughts

Glad I did it. Never wanna do it again.

I should clarify... I never wanna do it like that again. I can honestly say, some days, I was so focused on pedeling, I didn't even look up to see what was around me. Doing that many miles and elevation that many days in a row is not my idea of a vacation. When I do my next tour, I'm going to limit it to 3-4 days and 30-40 miles per day. That way I can spend as much time camping as I did riding.

Thanks for reading!

Someone pointed out that I should probably add a few pictures from of myself (from my cousins camera).

 

Incredible! Thank you for sharing that experience with us! Someday, I would love to try something like that.

 

yeah, uploading got complicated so it took a lot longer than i hoped. rest are incoming!

 

Epic!

 

Congrats on a fine adventure and thanks for posting up! Looking fwd to the forthcoming shots...

Bikepacking is such a riot. I've done a bit of it on blacktop, beginning when I was 13 and begged my parents to let me go (back when it was called bicycle camping). A few years ago, started putting together the dirt and multi-day aspects of cycling, and it's been some of the most fun I've had doing anything. I know there are a few hardy members here who do it...the RRs are inspiring and great fodder for trip psyche.

Thanks again, cheers...:beer:

 

Epically nice! Very cool adventure.

 

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!!!

 

im really looking forward to doing another trip. hopefully shorter and on dirt.

 

Would love to do a trip like this... If only I had the time... Congrats on an epic adventure!!!

 

Wow! Great report! Beautiful photos and awesome narration!

 

Awesome and Awe Inspiring...an amazing journey, thanks for taking the time to post / share this with us.
I am humbled.