After hobbling around enough to loosen up my legs, I got packed up and ready to go. It would be 40 miles to Tuolumne Meadows and another 8 miles beyond that to Tioga Pass. The plan was to ride to the Meadows, look around a bit and evaluate whether we think we'll get over the pass.
Since we may camp at the meadows and everything there is closed, we leave camp with lots of extra water. My 6 liter bladder and all three water bottles are full. Bruce and Lilia also did grocery shopping for us for a few days on their way into the park (very kind of them). I leave camp carrying more groceries and more water than at any previous point on the trip. All this for a 48 mile uphill climb.
We spent the first several hours grinding away uphill. Pretty much utility riding. We were making better time than I expected so my original estimates of a 10-12 hour day were rapidly decreasing.
Soon we passed 8000 ft, only to descend about 1000 ft and have to do it again. That is how a 4000 ft elevation change turns into 5-6k ft of climbing.
Going up...
Once up into the higher areas of the park, we started to clear the trees and get some really great views.
Beautiful High Sierra views
Part 2
As we got a bit higher, we started to loop back toward the valley and see Half Dome again. Before today, the top of Half Dome was the highest point of the trip. By the time we reached the meadows we would be above it on our way to the highest point on the trip.
Half Dome...the scene of the leg abuse
There were some great views down the valley from Olmsted Point.
Yosemite is great if you like rocks
Down the valley
After leaving Olmsted Point we had only a bit more climbing to get to the meadows. The road had started to flatten out a bit with the rest of the climb to come beyond the meadows.
The road ahead
Tenaya Lake
We reached the meadows a bit before 1 which was about an hour earlier than I thought we would. We had agreed to leave a note for Randy on the gas pump at the park station to let him know if we planned to stay there or push on to Lee Vining. After leaving a note we stopped for lunch and enjoyed the views.
Looks pretty meadow-like
We thought about waiting for Randy to show up and then heading over the pass and into town together. However, after hanging around for more than half an hour, my legs were getting so stiff that I needed to get back on the road.
We soon passed through 9000 ft for the first time.
Another milestone
About halfway along the remaining ride to the pass I spotted a never before seen sight. A southbound bicycle tourist. We stopped to chat for a bit. This fellow was French Canadian and had been riding for a couple of months now. Having started in Canada, he has covered a lot of the same ground we still have in front of us. He hasn't seen any other bike touring folks on his ride either which became evident by how much he wanted to talk about all sorts of things. We stood with him for 15-20 minutes until my legs could not take the standing any longer and I had to get back on the road.
Chatty Canadian
We covered the rest of the miles without much issue and soon arrived at the highest point on our route.
Still snowy up here
The top of Tioga Pass is also the park boundary. Once we crossed we would be out of Yosemite. While not quite the end of our day, the pass had been my focus for much of the day. As long as I made it there, the rest if the day would be free downhill miles into Lee Vining.
9945ft...can't we just round it up?
It would be 12 miles downhill and quite a bit steeper than we had just climbed. We would lose several thousand feet in those short miles.
I was a little concerned when I saw that the speed limit was 50 mph outside the park instead of the 35-45mph that we have had the last few days. I wondered about cars stacking up behind me. I knew I would be taking the whole lane as I expected it to be a quick descent.
Turns out I didn't need to worry, at least about that. With the thin air and steep hill, I accelerated much more quickly than previous descents. After a couple miles the road began a 6 mile stretch of 8% grade winding down the mountainside. I was quickly over 40 mph and approaching the speed limit. No need to worry about stacked up traffic. Just need to worry about staying below 50mph on the tight turns. I glanced down at one point and saw that I was in fact at 50 mph (fastest of the trip). It was a little tricky getting the 100+ lbs Beast to behave in the corners but it did make me focused. Before very long I was through the steepest part of the road and into a nice high speed cruise down the rest.
While stopped at the bottom to remove layers and wait for the others, I looked at my computer and saw that the last 12 miles went by in 19 minutes and I had passed 1000 miles since the start of the trip.
Apparently, this town has everything.
Apparently even men and women
We cruised into town and found a spot at an RV park with tent sites. The well equipped park also had showers and laundry. We all made use if both for the first time in about a week. Several days overdue.
Glamorous laundry night
Tomorrow we head out in search if a hot spring to soothe tired legs.
No comments:
Post a Comment