Onward to Nevada City

Friday, July 6th

Of course, once our ride was done, the sky turned blue and the misery of riding 44 miles in rain a distant memory.  The Boyfriend and I headed to our next destination -- Nevada City, a 2 hour drive from Graeagle, along Hwy 49, a scenic road that followed the Yuba River.

Here we are entering Downieville, a charming Victorian village in the middle of nowhere.  I wish I had taken more photos of our drive.  It was so pretty.

We're here at Piety Inn Cottages, the same place we stayed last year when we visited Nevada City.  It took us over 2 hours to get to Nevada City.  Miss P did it in 1 hr 15 min.  So, a) clearly she survived the epic rain trodden ride in Graeagle, mostly by herself for a good 30+ miles and b) she knows how to handle a car with a manual transmission, for the road along the Yuba River was a winding one. 

A pic of our shower curtain.  Each cottage is uniquely decorated.  Ours seemed to be a theme of rabbits and high heels.  Boy, it was nice taking a shower!  The BF cleaned our very dirty bikes, too.

Here's a shot of downtown Nevada City. 

Here's another shot of downtown Nevada City. 

What makes a place special and worth a visit? Preserving its place in history, in this case, a vibrant mining town.  I'm glad we all arrived safely.  With our bellies full, and a chance to rest up, we were ready for tomorrow's ride. 

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head

Friday, July 6th

We knew in advance it was supposed to be cloudy with a 10% chance of rain.  Except it wasn't cloudy.  The sky was gray and the air chilly.  Who talks about the weather in California in the summer?  I didn't have my jacket but at least I had arm warmers.  Miss P. had a vest and The Boyfriend had a jacket.  We originally planned to do an 80 mile loop but realized that wouldn't be feasible since we needed to get to our next destination, a 2 hour drive to Nevada City after the ride. There are only so many hours in a day, right. So we agreed to do a 60 mile loop thanks to Miss P. charting out an alternative. Okay, we're off, heading towards the cute town of Graeagle and onwards to Hwy 89 and Gold Lake Hwy. Well.  Let me tell you how it really went down....  

Look, Bambi poses for me.  We warmed up fairly quickly.

Maverick (aka The BF) has the lead.  Sometimes he says that about me.  The density of the forest was spectacular.  The BF remarked later when we were driving to Nevada City how it almost seemed to be fake because the trees were so darn perfect. 

A shot of a lake.  Lakes are everywhere if you take a moment to appreciate your surroundings.  By the way, this is mountain biking territory and understandably from the glimpses we had on our journey.

Me, trying to look like I know what I'm doing as we climb Gold Lake Hwy, a long but not difficult climb.

The scenery was gorgeous but let's talk about the weather.  In a nutshell, it sucked.  Somewhere along this scenic route, I smelled the rain before it started to fall.  It started with a few drops that led to a steady rain, mile after mile after mile.  It wouldn't let up.  I discovered that my arm warmers are truly water repellent.  Unfortunately, my biking shorts felt like I was wearing wet diapers.   Love the squishy noise, not. My shoes were soaked as well and my white bike was no longer white.  I can't say I was miserable and it wasn't nearly as bad as the time on Mt. Baldy in the freezing rain with the temperature hovering in the 40s.  But, it was annoying.

Again, greeted by beautiful scenery.  I biked at a cautious speed given the rain.  I wasn't in the best of moods, alone and wondering if the rain would ever let up.  At this point, lo and behold, who appeared but my knight in shining armor, aka, The Boyfriend!  He had turned around after meeting Miss P somewhere on the route to see how I was doing.  He gave me my options:  continue into the unknown or turn around but face more of the same, a dreary drenched ride. I chose to turn around since I knew what to expect.  I was psychologically downtrodden and unwilling to complete the loop. We ended up doing 44 miles of which the majority of it was in the rain.  Can we say fun, not.  Miss P. continued on to sunnier skies, doing the full 60 mile loop.  And so it goes.  What a day. Not what I expected.  But certainly an adventure.....

Graeagle Here We Come

Thursday, July 5th

Time for another biking holiday, this time, Miss P. is joining us!  After learning about a century ride there, I got it in my head that we had to visit.  According to the Wikipedia entry, it was founded in 1916.  It's situated between Truckee, CA and Reno, NV.  We're staying at the Chalet View Lodge in Graeagle, CA., a lovely place just outside of town.  Since I was driving, I said to The Boyfriend, "You best behave or else you're going in the trunk."  It was a long drive but beautiful once we hit Donner Summit (elevation 7000+ ft) on Hwy 80.  I wish we had shot a pic from the car because it was stunning to see the mountain range.

We arrived in town.  I needed to get gas.  The guy at the Chevron station said I could pump first and then pay afterwards.  Wow, talk about small town hospitality!  The slogan for this town is, "A gift of a lifetime."  Sweet.  Here's a nice page that shows more of the town.

After we settled in, we explored the tiny town with Miss P. Cute how it says "World Famous"....  The store also has an outpost, which later (next day after our epic ride) we had some damn fine coffee.

While Miss P and I checked out the shops, The BF had an ice cream.   Afterwards, we visited the nearby lake.  There are a lot of lakes in this area.  It reminded me of Switzerland with its meadows and lakes.  It is a gift of a lifetime in its natural beauty and its quietness (much appreciated).  Tomorrow, we bike.