This last sat., Jan 22, we had great riding weather here in the Sierra foothills. The EDNF forest road system is closed until at least march, so one has to be a bit creative making rides from a mixture of street riding and dirt county roads. If you're in the area, you probably know about the North Fork American River gorge and the roads connecting Colfax, Yankee Jims, Iowa Hill, and Sugar Pine Reservoir.

This is a view of the distinctive heat adapted vegetation in the canyons, lots of oak and grey pine. It gets hot here in the summer but was only 60 degrees today, perfect.



The bike at the bridge, old cable suspention bridge built in 1930




The bridge from the south side, a page on 4 wheeling alleges this bridge was given a safety rating of 4 out of 100



Past Sugar Pine Reservoir around 3500' was a bit of snow and a reminder it was still winter. We had a heavy December but then the jet stream went North and we haven't had hardly anything since, so the snowpack is really melting off.



One more shot of the bike. Just passed 11,500 miles and it's running better than ever. The Corbin saddle has really resolved the discomfort issues I suffered on longer rides. The panniers are one of those cheap atv tank bags from wal-mart, useful for carrying water bottles and lunch, so I don't have to wear a pack.



This was the first time I brought a camera on a ride. I was kind of inspired by the photo essays on Pashnit. But that site is really geared towards large sport touring rigs so I brought it here. I missed a lot of good shots because I discovered very quickly that I don't like stopping for pics all the time. One thing I should have captured was there are some open mine tunnels along the road, two that I explored with a flashlight. Maybe next time, before the summer heat sets in, as there was one long dirt road and a different bridge that I wasn't able to fit in on this ride.

 

VERY COOL bridge!!
Thanks for stopping and taking the pics. It's nowhere near 60degrees here, so your pic are as close to a ride as I can get.
Dan

 

The bridge is very cool.. Hey, if its been up since the 30's then I guess someone did their homework!!!! A motorcycle sure, but I wouldn't want to drive my car across it!!

5 degrees here today.... jealous of your weather!!
~Steve

 

it was -13 here on my way to work yesterday.

 

Yeah 60 is perfect! I hate anything above that.

 

I guess I should feel lucky, the coldest we get here would be the upper 20's, that feels like a pretty hard cold snap to a California boy. It does get worse at higher elevations though, in December, Tahoe was having daytime highs around 30 and over night lows a degree or two past zero.

About a month ago during the cold spell, the forecasters lied and said that on a saturday the high would be in the mid 40's, which I can handle. I got up that morning and geard up, but it was 38 when I left the house. I ended up turning around and heading home after 20 minutes because my fingers hurt so bad, even with the big oven mitts I was wearing.

By the way, that bridge isn't painted brown, that's rust. Also, the decking is like the corrugated sheet metal that would be put on a roof, but thicker. I'll have to get a shot of it next time, I've never seen anything like it.

 

With the windchill it was minus 38 this morning...long way to go before I can drive mine