Conclusion
Silver and Gold
May 11-24, 2021
12 travel days, 2 rest days
458 miles (733 km)
24,769 feet of climbing (7552 meters)
No Is Good
No flat tires. No mechanical problems at all.
No rain. No excessive heat or cold.
No troublesome headwinds or dust.
No Advil needed, but many naps needed.
No injuries, no mosquito bites, no sunburn.
Days 3 and 4 had weather close to normal. Every other day of the tour had significantly below normal temperatures. That's a GOOD thing. The gold country region is often extremely hot.
If I did it again I would:
1. Start each day much earlier to minimize traffic. An early start would allow me to finish the day's first big climb before 9:30 when all the contractors and delivery trucks get on the road. Earlier starts would also get me to my destination before the after-school and after-work rush hour.
2. Avoid 9 miles of rumble-stripped fog line on CA 49 south of San Andreas by taking Calaveritas and Dogtown roads through the village of Calaveritas. The paved detour adds 5.3 miles and 600 feet of climbing compared to staying on CA 49. It's higher in the foothills, so it's probably more scenic and probably passes more gold mining settlements.
3. Spend the second rest day (day 10) in Angels Camp instead of San Andreas. That makes day 9 more challenging: Jackson to Angels Camp is 33.2 miles with 3311 feet of ascent, including the Calaveritas detour. And it makes day 11 easier: Angels Camp to Sonora via CA 49 is 15.6 miles with 1986 feet of ascent.
4. Consider an alternate route from Angels Camp to Sonora on CA 4 and Parrotts Ferry road. The alternate route adds 3.5 miles and 370 feet of ascent. CA 49 is decent in this segment but I suspect the alternate route is more scenic and has less traffic. With the alternate, day 11 would be 19.1 miles with 2356 feet of ascent.
The 2 detours add climbing to a route that already has too much climbing. If I planned the detours in advance, I might not have felt strong enough to actually do them.
Regrets:
I wish the Calaveras County museum was open in San Andreas.
I wish I took the 1/4 mile detour to see the old courthouse in Mariposa.
Dumb mistake:
I lost my sunglasses on day 2. Presumably I set them down momentarily to see my phone/camera better, and forgot to pick them up afterwards. I never did find replacements during the tour. Fortunately the weather was mostly blue sky instead of cloudy squinty bright skies. This is the 3rd time I have lost clip-on sunglasses during a bike tour. In the future I plan to carry a spare.
Was it worth it?
The trip was expensive and 1/3 of the route has narrow roads with heavy traffic. But the continuous string of well preserved gold rush towns make it worthwhile to me.
I studied maps for alternate routes in the Grass Valley-Auburn-Placerville-Jackson corridor, but for the most part they don't exist, have too much climbing, or bypass major points of interest. For example I could follow back roads from Auburn to Placerville but the alternate route is longer, hillier, and misses the Gold Discovery state park.
I saw a wide variety of scenery. Desert mountains. High desert. High snow-capped mountains. Pine forested mountain slopes. Oak savanna hills. Semi-arid chaparral hills. Irrigated farm valleys. And many deep river canyons.
The gold rush towns may seem like a broken record but the tour also includes historic silver towns, a high desert farm town, and the Biggest Little City in the World. Lodging includes a high rise casino, farm house B&B, riverfront lodge, 1920's tourist court, 1857 historic hotel, and only one suburban motel.
At the beginning of the tour I felt like the only visitor who didn't go to Lake Tahoe. At the end of the tour I felt like the only visitor who didn't go to Yosemite. I have vivid memories of pedaling through both places on previous bike tours, but this tour has a different focus.
I didn't see or meet a single traveling cyclist during this tour. That isn't a huge surprise because so much of the route has heavy traffic, relentless hill climbing, and expensive services. In this region most touring cyclists travel east-west, not north-south.
Silver and Gold was a successful theme tour, a 2-week immersion in silver and gold mining history. I pedaled through a new, unfamiliar, and scenic place on the map. Mission Accomplished.
The Real Thing
The tour is called Silver and Gold but I never saw any actual silver or gold during the tour. After the tour I felt obligated to have a close look at the 99.9% pure silver and gold bullion coins that I inherited from my grandmother.
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