Day 2 (5/24/09)

The start of the day started with a dilemma, do we return to Napa to begin the ride, or just start from the hotel? By a vote of 2 - 1, the decision was made to ride from the hotel. We rationalized the "gap" in our route arguing we rode around the bay instead of taking the ferry across, as the Adventure Cycling Assoc. maps would have had us do. The morning went quickly, the road was flat and the wind at our back. We averaged about 20 mph by our first rendezvous with the van, 30 miles in. We finally got onto the mapped route at Davis, Ca. and rode into Sacramento, right by the capital building. The city was beautiful and void of any traffic; perfect timing. From Sacramento to Folsom, Ca. we followed bike paths along the American River. In Folsom, after 75 miles, we met up with the support team and had our first cold adult beverages of the trip. After Folsom, on full bellies, we finally got out of the flat country and started climbing some of the warm-up hills preceding Day 3's assault on the Sierra Nevadas. Again, great weather, wind at our backs. Stats for the day were 96.5 miles in 6:02 of ride time, 4,956' of climbing and 16.0 mph avg. speed, no idiots yelling out the window and still no dogs. Overall, another great day and a little closer to home.