George's Rides

On a warm Saturday morning, I left Sacramento with an idea to ride to Quincy, CA. I grew up near Quincy, Illinois, so I thought I'd check out the California version.

To get there, I left Sacramento heading north on CA route 70. It was an enjoyable ride through the farms and orchards on the flatlands until I got to Oroville. Shortly after Oroville, the road joins the Feather River. This is a real nice ride up the canyon, with nice, easy curves. There wasn't much traffic, so I took my time and enjoyed the view.

One interesting facet of this road is the railroad on the other side of the river. The road crosses the river several times, and at least two of those times the rails cross the river at the same place, with bridges that cross each other. Kinda neat.

There are several tunnels, which cause some vision problems coming from the bright sunlight.

The snowpack is melting, and there were lots of waterfalls cascading down to the river.

I made it to Quincy, a nice mountain town, very different from its Illinois namesake. From there I continued on Rt 70, which had combined with route 89 north of Quincy. This was a more open road, with little traffic, and was pleasing to ride.

At Graeagle, 70 and 89 part, and I turned right to stay on 89. This road runs through some mountain valleys, with broad open valley floors with cattle and horse farms, with forests on the hills surrounding. I felt like I was on the set of Bonanza, and kept expecting to see Hoss and Little Joe on their horses. It was quite green and beautiful.

At Calpine, 89 meets with Route 49, where I turned right and started climbing.

Right after the turn, a sign was nailed to a tree: “Bikers Beware: Dead Mans Curves Next 15 Miles.” That's the kind of sign a motorcyclist likes to see. I rode up the mountain to the top, where there were 10' tall snowbanks next to the road, and a snowmobile park where folks were riding snow machines. As I headed down the other side I saw more waterfalls. I'm running out of words to describe the mountain roads of California without repeating myself, but they are excellent rides.

It was this stretch of road where I got 45 mpgs, mostly because I was only;y going about 45-50 mph. I usually get 37-40. I needed the mileage, because I stretched the gas stop to 180 miles. I just knew I was on fumes, but when I finally got to a station, I only put in 4 gallons. I still had 40 miles in the the tank.

Once in civilization again, I went through Grass Valley and Auburn, and took I80 back to Sacramento.

330 miles, and some real nice mountain riding. Of course, I forgot my sun block, so I had raccoon eyes. Next trip, I am going to explore some of the side roads.