Day 4 -- Auburn, CA to Truckee, CA

Miles: 73.16

Total Miles: 268.84

Time: 6:28

Average Speed: 11.3 mph

Max Speed: 36.6 mph

Flats Today: 0

Total Flats: 0

Elevation Gain: 8446 ft

Weather: Rainy in the morning, but amazing in the afternoon around 70 degrees

Today we completed the very difficult day 4. We woke up at 4:30, loaded luggage at 5:00, then ate breakfast at Denny's. We were the last one's to get served, so we didn't get out of breakfast until 6:45. We wanted to start earlier than that, but it worked out, as you will be able to tell. We started riding, and the rolling hill kind of stuff that we finished with yesterday was what we started with today. The rolling hills over here are mountains in Ohio, so it was still difficult, but we conquered that part fairly easy. They told us to drink a lot in high elevations, so we did just that. We first came upon a gas station about 15 miles in, and we already had to go to the bathroom... badly. During this time, we had a nice steady sprinkle of rather cold rain. After we headed out from there, we started going down a long, steep, curvy hill. That meant one thing... a long, steep, curvy uphill. We got exactly that. A three mile long, 10 percent grade, curvy uphill. Going at about 7 mph, it took awhile to get up that thing, but that was just the beginning.

Once we got off that hill, we got to the first sag stop, and we needed to go to the bathroom again. After the sag stop came I-80... our first interstate experience of the trip. The rain was still coming down, so we couldn't see 100 yards in front of us at times. Also, when the trucks flew by at 65 mph and only 3 feet away from us, we got sprayed by water. Wade even tried to ride in the middle of traffic at one time. If you look at the picture, you can see Wade between 2 semis. Don't worry Joan, the truck on the right is parked, and Wade isn't moving, but I hope we fooled you. The best part about our first interstate experience is that it was uphill at a 7 percent grade for the first 8 miles we were on it. We literally climbed up for 8 straight miles. Wade kept saying, "I thought mountains had peeks... I didn't know that they only went up." That's truly what it seemed like. We just kept going up until we reached an exit that we could take a potty break at. We found a Burger King after 8 miles of climbing, so we decided to stop, go to the bathroom, and have a hot chocolate. We rode with Fran today, and while we were at Burger King, he suggested that we wait out some of the rain so that we'll be able to see the views when we reach the top. We thought that was a great idea, so we waited at BK for awhile.

After 45 minutes at BK, it cleared up a little, so we headed out again, and to our surprise, there was a slight downhill on the interstate. We took a few pictures while on the interstate, but we knew some better photo opportunities were coming later, so we held up on the photo taking. When we exited the interstate, we were up with the snow. There was snow to both sides of us at times, but it was fairly warm, so the water run-off was amazing. There were rushing streams all over the place, and they were all flowing to the main stream. That main stream was magnificent. The water in it was as clear as day, the rapids were rushing around cool rock formations, the scents were great, and the noise that the rushing water made was soothing.

We rode along that stream for awhile, then of course, we had to climb again. It wasn't quite as difficult as before, but it was definitely still challenging. While we were climbing, the mountains were becoming more and more clear because the fog was rising and the rain was stopping. This was great timing for the skies to clear because just after our next sag stop came the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen.

We finally reached the top of a mountain, and the view was unforgettable. They warned us of a long curvy downhill when we reached the top, and that gave us an excuse to go slow and take numerous pictures of everything. I never thought I would say this, but I had to pull over on my bike because my forearms hurt so much from braking. The entire way down the mountain we had a beautiful view of a lake surrounded by pine trees and mountain tops in the background. I can't explain how amazingly gorgeous it was, and the pictures are nice, but they don't show the true beauty. I have never seen anything that awesome before because when you're on a bike, you are completely enveloped by the atmosphere. You smell the scents, hear the noises, and go slow enough to take it all in. It's something that you can't experience in a car.

When we finally reached the bottom of the mountain, we were right next to the lake. We took even more pictures while riding along the lake, and we had a nice tail wind as well. It was just some nice flat roads all the way to the hotel.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another hilly day, which makes sense because we're down at a lake and we're surrounded by mountains. Also, though, tomorrow is supposed to have even more great scenery than today. We can't wait, and the infamous day 4 is done!!!