My brother has the fortune of living in Roseville which offers many hilly roads at his immediate doorstep. We literally had to climb our way to the street to begin the days journey. The road surfaces around Roseville/Loomis are in excellent condition and quite often have a bike lane. Other than the occasional road construction it is a relatively safe cycling route all the way to the American River Canyon. The shoulder room is spacious and the road is frequented by many cyclists, this makes traffic aware of our presence. A big bonus is the cycling cafe along Taylor Rd., you can't miss it if your riding by, there are at least three bicycles on top of the cafe, Yeah! Literally on top of the building.
The first "real" climb of the day was our ascent up Indian Hill Rd. which is around 2.5 miles long and ranges from 3-5% to 15% in the steeper sections. It is here that my brother began to experience the pain that climbing can bring. He hunkered down and dug deep and swore at least once or twice that this climb would probably be it for the day, but he managed to push through to the top.
Notice the agony, heh. Come on' Cadel keep pushin'!!
After reaching the top of Indian Hill you take a couple rollers and a few speedy descents until you reach the city of Auburn. From here you will maneuver through the downtown toward El Dorado/Hwy 49. The descent down highway 49 is wicked fast and fun. It is just shy of 3 miles in length, but with a negative gain of 800ft it is enough to get some serious speed. The best part of the descent for me was stopping at an informal vista point and seeing the smile on my brothers face. Without a doubt this has been the highlight of both our short cycling careers. He even complained about having to slow down for vehicles occupying the lane, how awesome is that?
The dry brush behind the bikes misrepresent the beauty of the landscape, but it is absolutely gorgeous. Riding inside the American River Canyon is worth all the agony and pain that we would suffer heading out of the pit. The river bed is lined with people and the river itself appears very inviting. The bottom of Foresthill bridge is cycling central, whether it be road cycling or mountain biking, the cycling community was out in force.
Instead of continuing on highway 49 toward Cool we decided to head up Old Foresthill Rd. and loop our way back to Auburn/Folsom Rd. The climb up Old Foresthill Rd. is a steep and unrelenting 3 miles that will challenge many cyclists, the important thing for my brother and I was to keep a moderate pace and to prepare for pain. Unfortunately, he decided to attack. He probably sensed some sort of mechanical failure. He was sourly mistaken, I quickly showed him his place as a domestique.
"Let's turn around," he asked. "Turn around?," I replied, "We are in a pit, there is only one way out and thats to climb out," I replied. This was probably not the answer my brother was looking for, but an ascent up El Dorado would be much harder than Old Foresthill Rd. When you ride into a canyon the descent is like a sweet delicacy that you flavor intensely, but it has consequences. Hence, what goes down must go up, there is no other option.
Once you reach the top of Foresthill Bridge you should not be misled, there will still be a short steep climb up to Lincoln Way. The heat of the day and the intense effort level drained us of both our H20 bottles, luckily the top of Lincoln Way and Foresthill Rd. has many gas stations where one can fill up on fountain water. After a quick top-off at the gas station you should expect a few rolling hills and a long sprint down Auburn-Folsom Rd. that will be aided by the persistent tailwind. This ride was very gratifying for both of us and produced many agonizing moments for my brother, but he was able to overcome them and push his cycling to a level where it hasn't been. It met all the important requirements for a great route: significant distance, great scenery, challenging terrain, and locations to refill. While the route is at least an hour and a half away, for my brother it could serve as a great weekend route that is close to home and will help him expand his cycling.
Hopefully in the future we will have the opportunity to complete the loop around Folsom Lake. An ascent to the top of Mt. Diablo/Tam is on the to-do list this year with my bro, can't wait!
