Prologue - San Diego

Before we began the Tecate to Sequoia Bike Tour, we spent 3 days in San Diego relaxing and doing some sight-seeing.  For me, it's been a couple decades since I've been here and a lot has changed.
Frank has never been here.

Herb spent the last three winters in San Diego and is very familiar with the city.  He has knowledge of the most scenic and safe bike routes, points of interest, and most importantly, the best-value eateries.

Over three days, we covered a lot of ground on our bikes and saw some of the best that San Diego has to offer.

To see photo highlights of our three day visit, click on "Prologue - San Diego" below
this photo:

From Prologue - San Diego

Tecate to Sequoia Tour on the ACA Cascade-Sierra Route

Have you ever wondered what lies around the next corner or over the next hill?
Discovering new roads to ride has been a driving force in my life.
But having a curious mind can lead to unintended consequences.
Remember, it was curiosity that killed the cat.

With the release of ACA's Cascade-Sierra Route, I was intrigued by the southern 800 miles of
it having never ventured into the mountains of Southern California.  I was familiar with most of
the other sections from previous bike tours over many years of touring.

I and three other touring buddies completed the Southern California section over 25 days in April and May and have three words to describe the tour - Audacious, Arduous, and Epic!

We went south to north on this route starting in Tecate, Mexico and ending in Sequoia National Park.

The mountain ranges of Southern California - Laguna, San Jacinto, San Bernardino, San Gabriel, Southern and Central Sierra are big, bodacious, long and steep.  In the US, this route could be one of the most difficult there is.  If there's another, I don't want to know about it.

We started the tour fully loaded and rode for 10 days through the Laguna and San Jacinto Mountains.
By the time we got to Idyllwild, we were whipped.  After 327 miles and 25,000' of vertical, we cried "uncle!"

By a strange but fortuitous set of circumstance (too long to explain), we arranged to have a sag wagon support us for the remainder of the tour.  Riding through these rugged mountains unloaded and with support, allowed us to finish the tour in one piece with our lives and dignities intact.

We come away from this tour with the upmost respect for the Southern California mountains.  Although extremely challenging, my compliments to ACA for stitching together a route connecting some of the most spectacular "Rim on the World" roads following ridge tops just a stone's throw away from about 30 million people.  It would be an understatement to say that his was an unbelievable tour.

Final tour stats:
78l miles
63,875' of climbing
25 days including rest days

To see photos of the tour, click on "Tecate to Sequoia Tour on the ACA Cascade-Sierra Route" below this photo:

From Tecate to Sequoia Tour on the ACA Cascade-Sierra Route

Quito

The Sactown 5 - Mike, Barbara, Tom, Lisa and I - arrived a day early to Quito before the Galapagos Tour. We had time to tour the Old Town District of Quito and Mt. El Panecillo where the Virgin of Quito sits high above the city. Click on "Quito" below the photo to view entire album.

From Quito

GALAPAGOS - Seeing the Galapagos Islands have been high on my list for decades. All the stars were aligned so this was the year to go. I talked some Sacramento friends to accompany me - Mike Broderick, Barbara Greenwood, Tom Graham and Lisa Foster. We booked the tour with Galapagos Travel who came highly recommended by several sources as the company of choice if one wanted a comprehensive tour of the islands. We were not disappointed. The tour was beyond great! We booked an 11 day tour of the islands followed by a 2 day extension to Bella Vista, an ecolodge in the high Andes Mountains. There are two blog entries on this Ecuadorean adventure - Galapagos and Bella Vista. Click on the links below each photo to view complete photo album.

From Galapagos

Bella Vista Lodge

Following the 11 day tour of the Galapagos Islands, the Sactown 5 - Tom, Lisa, Mike, Barbara and me - booked a 2 day extension at Bella Vista Lodge in the Andes Mountains to do some additional birding. Click on link "Bella Vista" below photo to view complete album.

From Bella Vista

Death Valley Campo-Velo

Winter had arrived in the Big Valley and it was time to head to warmer climes. In early December, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Herb Lee, Mike Broderick and I made the long drive to Death Valley seeking warm temperatures and sunshine. We timed the trip perfectly. With rain and temperatures in Sacramento in the low 60's, we arrived in Death Valley where day-time temps were in the 80's and the skies blue. The locals said the temperatures were at least 10 degrees warmer than normal. Over four days, we rode our Bike Fridays 2 days riding to Artist Palette and Dante's Peak. The other 2 days, we hiked Golden Canyon and Mosaic Canyon. All destinations were incredibly spectacular and can be described as almost other-worldly. I took my tear-drop trailer, endearly named "Musubi", which translates to rice-ball in Japanese, and camped at the Furnace Creek Campground. It was fabulous camping with the Milky Way washing across the night-time skies. I call these short getaways "Campo-Velos" since camping and biking are the primary reasons for the trip. Click on "Death Valley Campo-Velo" on the lower right below the photo to view the complete album from this trip.

From Death Valley Campo-Velo

The Great Parks Tour - Jasper to Jackson Hole

The Great Parks Tour started in Jasper AB and ended in Jackson Hole WY, a distance of 1,650 miles.  In between, we cycled the spine of the Rockies and visited seven national parks - four in Canada and three in the US.

The national parks in Canada were Jasper, Banff, Kootenay, and Waterton.  The three in the US were Glacier, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

In a word, the tour was extraordinary.  Our brains and senses were red-lining from the spectacular and stunning scenery.  Each national park offers its own unique features and visuals and it's hard to say which one is my favorite.  They were all great.

Outside the national parks, two areas really caught my fancy.  The high plains region around Pincher Creek in AB referred to as "Where the Mountains meet the Plains", and the Big Hole Valley in MT.  There is something soothing and sublime following meandering pavement over rolling green hills dotted with haystacks, wheat fields and forests against the backdrop of majestic mountains.

The blue line on the map below delineates the route we followed.  We used Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) Great Parks maps which were invaluable for way-finding and services.  IPhones and an IPad were helpful supplements to the maps.

The total elevation gain for the 1,650 miles was 71,300'.  Over the roughly seven weeks of the tour (7/10 - 8/29), we averaged 41 miles/day.  We camped only seven times and stayed in hostels, motels, lodges and cabins the bulk of the trip.

The participants on this tour were Jay Okada from Los Osos, Bob Anderson from Santa Rosa, Mike Broderick, Frank Gerace, Dennis Engblom, Herb Lee and myself from Sacramento.

The Tour Blog is organized in 9 entries with each covering sections of the route including getting to the ride start by train from Sacramento to Jasper.  At the end of each post, click on "older posts" to continue the tour.

You can click on any photo to view an enlargement and continue to scroll to each photo at the bottom of the page.