7:41:38 am. We leave in 20 minutes. Butterflys have settled into my stomach. It rained over 1 inch yesterday, and the skys look threatening again today. What do I want to wear? If it pours like yesterday I might just wear my gortex. I don't know. It's so easy in the car. If it starts to rain turn on the wipers. If it rains harder turn on the lights.
Then there are my keys. Have you ever taken your keys out of your pocket, and then left home? I mean on purpose. I never leave my keys, yet they won't be doing me any good. That was a strange feeling.
Need to get ready, I think I'm going back to my original rain plan. Put on the light wind breaker and ignore the wet. Wet is ok as long as I am warm. Need to get dressed....
9:04:07 am ........ 8:00 am start, right on time.
(Tnx Frank for bottom photo at right.)
The day started inauspiciously with heavy rain and head winds, but our first-day enthusiasm carried us through. Actually it was mostly Frank's enthusiasm -- I was half asleep after being up late packing the night before and pulling an "all nighter" the night before that.
Fortunately it was warm. There are worse things than riding wet. For example, riding wet and cold.
The map makes it look like we were riding on I-80 heading into
Sacramento. Actually there is a bicycle causeway that travels over
the wetlands right next to the freeway. Other than the traffic noise,
it's a fine place to ride.
Both of us had bicycle vibrations at certain speeds. Frank's was
at 12-15 mph. My 1970's Schwinn Paramount touring bike has a much
bigger vibration about 17-20 mph which is just about the speed we
normally ride on the level. I need to try readjusting the loads
in my panniers. Also both of our bicycle computers had problems from
the rain. We need to think about covering them with plastic wrap.
(Tnx Frank for the photo at right.)
We had originally planned to stay the night in Davis. Until we realized that May 18 is the date of the Davis Double Century. Having 1000+ cyclists visiting a small college town doesn't leave many empty motel rooms!
So we pushed on to Sacramento, for a total of 119 miles the first day. (Now that our first burst of enthusiasm is over we'll travel saner distances in the future.) We are staying in the Hostel in downtown Sacramento. It's a very nice historic old Victorian, all fixed up inside and out with nice furniture, lace curtains in the windows and, perhaps more importantly, hot showers and a laundry. For most of the trip we will be camping, where such luxuries are not always available.
Time to go to bed. I will sleep well tonight.