Johnston Ridge

Did one of our favorite rides today. Took along a riding buddy, Mike. Had a blast. Read all about it...

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 84 miles   Elevation Gain: 7,118 feet   Average Moving Speed: 14.59 mph

We were contemplating repeating the 8-mile climb like we did two years ago, but in the end we decided to keep on riding back to the van for the standard 84-mile out-and-back. It probably hurt our average speed some since for the first 60 miles we were pacing for a full century with an extra couple thousand feet of climbing. So when we opted out of the extra climb I took it upon myself to put the hammer down the rest of the way back. Didn't quite reach last year's average moving speed (14.8 mph), but hey, we had fun, got a great training ride in and didn't overdo it. My only regret on this one was not starting out with my leg warmers. It seemed plenty warm when we started, but it never really warmed up much since we were increasing our altitude. In fact my iBike said it was right around 50 for the first couple hours, which isn't bad with the sun, but it is pretty chilly when riding in a misty fog. Thankfully the fog went away once we reached Elk Rock. Speaking of Elk Rock, saw about a half dozen Elk on the way back.

Not a lot else to say about this one as I have said much of it before in 2009, twice in 2010 here and here, a full century in 2011 (adding in the extra climb mentioned above), and of course last year too. Yes, we'll do this ride again. I would have posted a picture of Amy too but they did not meet her high standards for public consumption, in spite of my protests.