Great timing to read this post as this afternoon I take off to tour in that region.
I'll be starting off in Quincy and making my way to Yosemite via the Eastern entrance with a group of 4 and me on my Hillborne. There will be some pushing I'm sure of my fully loaded ride. Keep an eye out for us sometime around the 15th. Cheers, Adam On Jul 1, 10:55 pm, Daddy Longlegs <frmahony...@gmail.com> wrote: > Greetings Fellow Riders, > > In celebration of the end of the 2nd fiscal quarter, the Rivendell > riders of Mono County California decided to undertake a festive jaunt > to the top of (or as close as we could get) to the top of Tioga Pass, > eastern gateway to Yosemite National Park in the beautiful High > Sierra. > From our assembly point in the June Lake Loop the ride would take us > north on Hwy 158 to the junction of US 395. North on 395 to Lee > Vining, CA ( Proud Home of the most expensive gallon of gasoline in > the U.S.) and then westward and upward to Tioga Pass. The trip was > approximately 50 miles rt with 5000' of climbing. > For those of you unfamiliar with the Eastern Sierra allow me to give > you a little background. > Mono County encompasses about 3200 sq miles from the crest of the > Sierra Nevada, eastward into the Great Basin to the Nevada border. > About 15,000 people live in the county and as far as I can tell Mrs. > Longlegs and I are the only Riv Riders here. However, on a per capita > basis of 1 Riv rider per 7,500 people, I reckon that puts Mono County > darn near the top of the class in the Riv Rider population density > category. > There are miles of open road here and very little traffic. The > possibilities for s24O's are endless (90%percent of the county is > open,gubbmint land). When we are out and about it's not uncommon to > surprise dear, bear, wild horses, coyotes, mountain lions and bobcats > along the way. As a matter of fact we watched a doe chase a bobcat > around a hillside for 10 minutes, just the other day. At the moment > wild flowers are in full bloom everywhere. It's an amazing time to > ride.. > About an hour before the MoCoRivriders were scheduled to assemble for > the ride, Mrs. Longlegs discovered that Pesty, our diabetic cat, was > out of insulin. So off she went on an emergency run and the big Ride > was down to one rider. > The 15 mile per hour tailwind heading north to Hwy 395 was not > auspicious. A beautiful day, yes. Perfect 75 degree temperature, yes. > Cranking 1000 vertical feet downhill in the first 18 miles with wind > at back, definitely excellent. > However that very same breeze, when it came time to start climbing the > pass, was now square in the face. > Normally,in these parts, the mornings during the summer are fairly > calm. Sometime around 1 pm the wind will come up, out of the mountains > and funnel down the passes, increasing in intensity as the afternoon > progresses.The ride had embarked at 10 am with the hope of avoiding > the afternoon zephyr. > As a side note: Tioga Pass(Hwy 120) is a segment of the new ACA Sierra > Cascade route. If anyone is planning to ride this section and is going > North to South we definitely recommend hitting the pass as early as > possible! > The Official Bicycle of the MoCoRivriders is a 68cm Atlantis. The > bicycle and this bulky rider cruised up the highway into the pass and > topped out at 9500' about 1/1/2 miles shy of the Yosemite Park > entrance in a little over 2 hours. the average grade, according to the > GPS was 3.9 % Some short steep portions probably hit 6%. The canyon > narrows down near the top and the wind is funneled down between the > mass of Mt Dana to the South and Tioga Peak to the North. As the road > came 'round the shoulder of Tioga Pk. into this defile the headwind > ramped up in intensity significantly. The breeze became stiff. It was > a sign. That sign said, Turn around. Haul ass down this hill and get a > well deserved cold beverage of your choice down at the gas station at > the bottom! > And so it was written. > The Atlantis performed admirably going down the highway. We flirted > several times with 50mph.The bike tracked straight,stable and true, > although the wind kicked us around a couple of times Traffic was light > enough to allow this rider to take the full lane for the majority off > the downhill run. On three occasions we pulled off to let vehicles > pass-by. The shoulders of Highway 120 above 8000' are sketchy to non > existent. Taking the lane is recommended > It's sort of like riding Devil's Slide on Hwy 1 out by Pacifica for 9 > 1/2 miles. Fun!. > Enjoyed a beer and some excellent victuals at the Tioga Mobil Mart at > the Hwy 120/395 junction and then headed home, into the wind. > Took some snapshots, they are > here:http://picasaweb.google.com/108387001740020584799/MoCoRivRiderTiogaRide > (don't know if I pasted this link correctly) > Two hopes: 1) that this is not too long a post, especially for a first > timer 2) that we'll see some of you folks for a ride in the Mono Zone > > Cheers, > Daddy Longlegs -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
