[CR]My first ride of the new century/millennium.

(Example: Framebuilding:Tubing:Falck)

To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 20:14:36 -0800
From: Mark A. Perkins <bicyclemark@juno.com>
Subject: [CR]My first ride of the new century/millennium.

Hi fellow enthusiasts. Since a few persons have been sharing their first ride of the new year/century/millennium, I thought you might like to hear about mine. I had some chores to take care of, so I didn't leave the house until noon. I drove to Three Rivers and turned up the Mineral King road. I knew that there hadn't been any snow in the Sierra Nevada for several weeks, and I also knew that the road would be gated at some point. I had never been up this road before, and it's one of the few roads that I haven't explored in the Sequoia/Kings Canyon area, and that's why I went.

I was right, hardly any snow at all, and the road was closed at about 16 miles past Three Rivers. I parked and began my short, but beautiful ride at around 3:00 PM PST. I gave myself slightly over one hour until turn around time. My ride began at around 6000 ft elevation. As I was going in, a Ranger and also a park employee were heading out, and closing the gate behind them. There wouldn't be anyone else from here on.

At one of the camp grounds that I passed, I noticed flyers posted that warned about bears and mountain lions in the area. I wasn't too concerned because I figured the bears should be hibernating by now, unless the lack of wintery weather has disturbed their internal clock.

Anyway, I rode for 65 minutes and could have gone another 10 or 15 because it only took 20 min. to return to where I had parked. I traveled around six miles (getting older and slower), and gained around 1000 ft. of elevation. I was considering going on a little farther for a better view around the next couple of corners, when I noticed a fresh set of tracks of what could only have been either a small bear or a mountain lion, and to me they looked more like cat than bear. I didn't want to find out, since I was alone, so I headed back down the hill.

Well, that's it ! The views, during both the drive and the ride, were fantastic, and the weather was clear and fairly warm for early January, at 6000 to 7000 ft. in the Sierra Nevada. I saw a vew hawks and woodpeckers, but nothing larger, other than those tracks. And traffic was almost none. I passed 3 cars during the drive after Three Rivers, and then the two forrest or part service guys, and that was it. I'm sorry, I didn't take one of my road bikes, old or new. I rode my drum-brake equipped mountain bike, because I expected more snow than I encountered, and it was the perfect choice.

Any hill climbers out there? The 16 miles from Three Rivers is paved, and the elevation gain is somewhere between 4500 and 5000 feet. The road climbed another 1000 ft in the six miles past the closed gate, but mostly dirt with a few areas paved. And there's more around the bend that I'll have to see on another day. It would be a great place to organize a ride.

Happy New Year/Century/Millennium everyone!

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