Day 9: Folsom - Vallejo

What would today bring re: Ben's stomach ailment? Slept till 6am then decided to check with him, he gave the thumbs up so today we ride!

Jerry was going to ride with us some so that was exciting. We ate breakfast, loaded up, took photos and said goodbye to Peggy. Jerry led us down the road to the American River Bike Trail, what a great ride and change of scenery. Jerry road about 23 miles with us then returned home. We continued on to the end of the Trail then into Old Sacramento, very cool. Since Ben hadn't eaten in awhile we stopped at a Subway so he could do soup and salad.

Our goal was to make the 5:30 Ferry in Vallejo, with 78 miles left it would be tight unless it was a super fast ride all the way. We left Old Sacramento and crossed the river to West Sacramento so we were in traffic and stop lights. After leaving West Sac (that's what the locals call it) we got on the Yolo Trail that led us to Davis, CA. It was nice to leave the busyness of Sacramento behind.

The Trail was parallel to 80 but to our north it was green fields. After awhile we got away from 80 so traffic noise disappeared. By this time we were approaching Davis, the home of UC Davis. It was cool to ride through a college town and around the college, very nice.

We continued on a Trail away from Davis out into an area that was beautiful. Not only was it filled with flowers, nut trees and fruit trees but it was also the route for one of the Stages of the Tour of California bike race that is coming up this weekend and next week. Because of that we saw lots of cyclists training.

We were making good time (13.1 mph) but as we headed to Fairfield the wind and hills kicked in a bit. Before Fairfield and later that day the ride was much like riding in the East Tennessee countryside. Green, hills and cows. I love to greet the cows with a ring of my bell, I think they like it.

Once we arrived in Fairfield we knew we had to get something cold to drink and we knew that we would not make the last Ferry without trying to kill ourselves. Therefore we took advantage of Frappachino Happy Hour at the Starbucks inside Safeway. I got a venti dark cherry mocha frappachino for $2.15, what a deal! I also enjoyed some cold and juicy Ruby Red grapefruit.

After our break we set off at a relaxed pace toward Vallejo. We passed by Winters and Rockville before entering Concordia. In Concordia I had my first flat tire. I changed it quick and we set off on our last two 10 mile segments. Lopes Road rolled up and down along the Interstate until we got to Lake Harmon Road. We took a quick break at a store before climbing the hills of Lake Harmon Road. It was challenging but pretty, especially Lake Harmon. We finally got to Columbus Parkway, this would lead us to where we would be staying for the night.

112 miles after Folsom we were at our resting place. We chose it because it was only 2.8 miles from the Baylink Ferry Terminal. We checked in, cleaned up, found some pizza, caught up on blogging then called it a night.

Tomorrow we will catch the Ferry to San Francisco and enjoy a day of seeing the sights. After that we start down the CA coast to LA.

Blessings!