Daily Mileage: 28.32 Miles
Ride Time: 4:16
Avg MPH: 6.6
Max Speed: 32.2
Climbing: 2518 feet

     Breakfast consisted of the other half of yesterday's sub and a 2nd chocolate milk I had bought at Subway. Roll out was 7:20 AM with very nice temps in the low 60's. Two miles up the road I stopped at a Circle K store to fill up the CamelBak with fresh water and picked up a bottle of V-8 and Glacier Vitamin Water to assure I had plenty of liquids. I think I shorted myself on that count yesterday in the heat.
     I passed by the entrance to Folsom Prison but could not see anything but the entrance so I took a picture of that and thought of Johnny Cash.
     Around 5 miles out of town the elevation began to incline still more. I was traveling on Green Valley Road which is the Adventure Cycling route of choice. With my lack of sufficient conditioning, the heat and the too heavy load it's a good thing I had a 22 x 34 low gear. The 60 degree temps did not last long and some hours later I was getting readings between 96 to 98 degrees.
     There is a small community by the name of Cameron Park also known as Shingle Springs I think or at least they are near each other. At any rate I stopped about 12 miles into the day's ride at a neat Vegan Bakery there for a break and partook of some tasty hummus with whole grain dipping sticks and 2 great peanut butter cookies. I got a call from Ted just outside of that stop. Both of our cell tel signals had been very spotty. I was using AT&T and I think Ted has T-Mobile. Both pretty much sucked as to coverage in these areas but everyone we meet with Verizon service had much better coverage in the places we were cycling. If I cycle out west again I think I will also take along a Verizon phone. I think there are other areas of the country where AT&T may have the better coverage. We updated each other on our progress and I continued on.
     t leveled out a bit and I made pretty good time up to a small community called Rescue where a few miles later the nice shoulder went away and steeper inclines began. I began to fell like I needed rescuing. Several more miles down the road I stopped and verified directions to Placerville with a fellow named Juan who was making some deliveries out that way. Four or 5 miles up the road I was ready for a snack and stopped at a Savemart Supermarket and picked up two Odwallas, some envelope packed tuna, some sardines, & beans.
     We split off about 5 miles outside of Folsom and about two miles later I took a wrong turn and wound up doing about 10 miles extra as I ended up on the opposite side of town from the REI I was trying to get to to pick up a Planet Bike Blaze One Watt headlight they were holding for me as well as I needed a shorter water bottle for the 3rd bottle cage on the underside of the down tube. On the wrong side of town I spotted a Taco Bell and went in and had two tacos and one of their slushy type drinks to cool off. Man, it was hot. It's a hilly town also.
     What are the odds that as I was shopping the same fellow, Juan I had talked with several miles back walked down the same isle of the grocery store? He was a bit surprised to see me since I had missed the turn he had told me to take to a road with less traffic.
     After more directions from Juan I sat outside the Savemart and ate my sardines and drank an Odwalla. I was feeling the strain of the heat and climbing already. About 3 more miles almost into downtown Placerville I encountered a steep hill that wiped me out. Parts were showing 12% grade on my cycle computer. It was a small two lane road with no shoulder and the traffic was steady both directions. It really was not terribly long but I had to stop 4 or 5 times to catch my breath and get out of the traffic before I made it to the top. At the top of the hill I stopped to rest on a bench in front of Spanky's Pizza. Another fellow was sitting on the bench having a smoke, his name also George, sees I am sweating and hot and takes me inside and gives me a large glass of ice water. Just another instance of the nice people I met along the way. He tells me where to turn for the main part of downtown. Before I proceed up the road I empty the remaining ice from my ice water into my bandanna and wrap it around my neck to cool down a bit more. If you have access to ice this works great and I have used this technique in the past to get through the scorching Hotter N/ Hell Hundred bike ride in Wichita Fall I have ridden in 14 times now. By this time because of the heat & grade I knew I did not have another 15 or 20 miles in me without risking getting too hot to the point of hurting myself. Two miles or so up the road I passed a cool looking health food store named Noah's Ark Natural Foods. I turned around and went to check it out. This is the type of store I like with a great selection of natural and organic foods, fruits, vegetables, etc. Bananas, goat yogurt, DR Krackers whole grain crackers, and a pumpkin bar were among the items I purchased there. First I ate the yogurt and banana, stowed the rest and rode into the old historic downtown Placerville. There is a very neat old hardware store there that I browsed around in and picked up some J.B. Weld. You never know when this stuff can come in handy on a bike trip.
     Just a bit up the road I stopped at the Placerville Bike Shop. I spoke with the owner, Bob, who if I remember correctly has been running it for 31 years. His son now also works there. I asked him about something minor on my bike, I forget what, and he took a look at it. We visited a bit and he gave me some good directions for tomorrows section utilizing a bike trail in town for the first few miles. He also advised me of a good motel across the street and then he got pretty busy so I thanked him and checked into the Gold Country Inn, about 4:30 PM. It is a good one with reasonable rates. I forget exactly but I think about $70.00. I really had planned to mostly camp but so far the the heat and incline just make me crave cool A/C at the end of the day. The fellow at the front desk had recommended a good Mexican restaurant across the street but after a shower I decided to just eat some of the stuff I am lugging uphill. I ate the rest of the hummus, my 2nd Odwalla I had bought earlier and some of the huge bag of trail mix I brought from Texas. It must be around 4 pounds of trail mix I made up.
     Each night I have also been washing my shorts & jersey and alternating with 2 other sets to keep them fresh and give them plenty of time to dry out. Even with that my saddle contact points are feeling it as well as my legs and I turn in early planning to get an earlier start to take advantage of the cooler AM temps realizing that the inclines get steeper as I get closer to Carson's Pass on my route across the Sierras. Hopefully to offset the steeper inclines the temps will drop a bit.