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| Beautiful Shot of My Bianchi Cavaria |
With 95% of the Rapha Festive 500 complete, I only needed to log 25km (15miles) today. My initial plan was to drive up to Donner Summit in Lake Tahoe to smash around in the snow to get fun pics. Unfortunately I slept in an opted for a bit different of a ride. I rode my road bike and my fixie, it was only appropriate to complete the Festive 500 with a ride on my cross bike.
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| Epic Conditions to Finish the Festive 500 |
My route went directly off my porch in to the American River Canyon featuring two big climbs and a nice jaunt through Oldtown Auburn to ice the cake.
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| Today's Route Map |
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| Poached Section, Topo View |
One mile out my door I descended in to the American River Canyon poaching a horseback trail to the bottom. On the way down I ran in to a few horseback riders who were a bit unhappy about my presence on their trail.. I greeted them with a smile and hopped off my bike. Like a true Jedi cross racer I threw the bike on my shoulder, dodged the hecklers and hopped back on my ride to complete the descent. It was a slick move, the Belgians would've been proud of that one!
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| American River |
This is a shot from the poached section, it captures the beauty of the area.
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| Confluence at The Base of The Canyon |
Once at the river level, I smashed out to the confluence and up to the first climb.
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| Lake Clementine Loop |
This area is called the Lake Clementine Loop, a 9.6km (6 mile) loop with 243m (800ft) of climbing. At the base (seen in blue) a dirt trail goes out 2.4km (1.5miles) climbing 106m (350ft). There is a green gate where the dirt ends and a pavement section begins. The pavement then goes up 167m (550ft)/2.4km (1.5miles) to the top. Once at the top it's all downhill, a 4.8km (3mile) Super-D descent section to the bottom. This portion of the ride is best on a full suspension mountain bike, but I don't own one of those.. I do however own a sick cross bike and don't hesitate at putting that bad boy to work. While I did not set any records on Strava, I wasn't the slowest down that section either, pushing it as fast as I could.
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| Looking at Lake Clementine From the Paved Section |
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| Portion of The Descent Section |
Lots of mud available today. Was nice to splash through the puddles and get some dirt on the bike and shoes.
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| Stagecoach Seen on Day 5 |
This is the climb I chose out of the canyon, Stagecoach which I feature on day 5. I wanted to mix it up with a different climb out, but due to time constraints I needed to take the fastest route home.
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From Stagecoach Looking South
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| Route Profile |
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| Oldtown Auburn, CA |
Heading home I was about 1 mile short to complete the Festive 500 so I did a loop through historic Oldtown Auburn. This is a great interval loop with a sweet hill for sprints. The hill sprint is highlighted in blue. From here I went home with a great sense of joy, I was just so happy to complete this Rapha challenge.
Thank you for reading today's blog, please join me for a summary on day 8 of the Rapha Festive 500!
Happy Riding!
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