Day 70: Bass Lake to Pine Lake

August 30, 2014
Bass Lake to Pine Flat Lake
60 miles

California heat will be the end of me. I got a late start and made 10 miles before stopping at a library at noon. I figured I would wait out the hottest part of the day and continue in the evening after the library closed.

When I left the library at 5:00 the temperature was still in the upper 90's. Progress was slow, and I had little water.

Fortunately I saw some paramedics as they were walking in from their ambulance and they let me fill up my bottles. Better from a bottle than an IV line.

I decided I would pedal through the night, so I whipped out the old headlamp and rear lights. Night riding is the way to go, the temperatures are a nice cool 85 degrees.

The hills are very steep, and it is hard to maintain a rhythm because you go up and then you go down and before you can shift into the proper gear you are going up again.

I got to ride through a cattle grazing land, and nearly ran over some cows that were standing in the middle of the road. That was about the most exciting part of the day. Besides the paramedics and their jokes. I love paramedics.

Extreme exhaustion combined with my fading battery power on my headlamps forced me to cowboy camp beside a turn out point along a reservoir. It was extremely rocky, nay, bouldery, but somehow I managed to fall asleep. From time to time a car would pass by and twice the drivers stopped to see if I was okay. It must have been a sight.

I also probably felt lethargic because all I ate were cookie cream sandwhiches.




If you are into this sort of landscape it would be really pretty. The roads would be amazing to bike on without all my gear!



Sun is setting and it is still 95 degrees.