DAY TWO: from Sacramento to Carson City

I'm at the Carson City public library right now using the web, but unfortunately they won't let me put any of my photos onto the computer, so that'll have to wait for Cedar City, UT. Here are some highlights of Day 2:
- getting a police escort through downtown Sacramento to help us find the American River Trail
- getting on the trail, only to find that a section of it was flooded due to the record rainfall in CA this month, then FORGING the flooded part by carrying our bikes through the water, which came up to my knees. We all had water squishing in our cycling shoes the rest of the day, which really didn't matter since it rained all day
- saw a deer, some wild turkeys, and roadkilled skunk
- the most challenging athletic endeavor probably thus far in my life: the first 30 miles of our day to rest stop #1 were more or less flat and traffic-less bike trail. The next 25 were climbing 1000 feet elevation up into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Any CITs reading this? Remember the infamous "4 mile hill" and "Big Bertha" from our bike trip? I'd have to say 25 miles of mostly climbing was slightly more challenging :) Several people, chilled and tired, opted for the sag wagon, but finishing that difficult leg was something I really wanted to do and with the awesome encouragement of the support team tailing me, I finally made it to our "lunch" stop at 5 pm. After 4 hours of climbing in the pouring rain, hot tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches have never been more satisfying :)
- We had to forego the last part of our route for the day due to time constraints and inclement weather - namely, a huge snowstorm in the Sierras that forced us to chain up the vans going over the passes near Lake Tahoe. Things are great, and I'll write again soon!