spot where you could rent inner tubes for about fifty cents and float around the small pond all afternoon. As kids we always looked forward to an afternoon there with our friends.  Now there is a cyclone fence where the swimming area was.  I guess it's true, you really never can go home again. 

After leaving Conn Dam the road heads up Sage Canyon past Lake Hennessey and then climbs on to Pope Valley.  This is probably the hardest part of the ride, not because the climb is all that bad, but the road is narrow, there isn't much shade and the scenery is mostly scrub brush, dry grass and live oaks.  What many riders don’t realize is there is 1700 feet of climbing between Conn Dam and Aetna Springs and a lot of false summits.  It can be very discouraging, especially for those riders who don’t train in the mountains.  Once you get into Pope Valley you know you aren't far from Aetna Springs.  The road continues to roll up and down the remainder of the way to the lunch stop 67 miles into the ride. 

When you reach the lunch stop you have climbed 3800 feet; not all that much, but you still have about 1600 feet to climb and you need to re-hydrate and eat enough food to carry you through.  The food at the lunch stop was pretty good with a large selection of sandwiches, a great selection of melons and more of those incredible cookies and brownies.  This is a great rest spot with tables and cool, shady lawns to lounge on as you contemplate the remaining ride.  As we sit and eat our lunch Ink Grade looms big in all of our minds and we begin to dawdle, making excuses to keep from dealing with that one last hill.  By now the day has started to heat up and you can't help but wonder if you will over heat on the hill.  Luckily for us it is an usually cool summer day in the region, with temperature in the mid 80s. You need a lot of the homemade cookies and brownies to give you the strength to move on. 

However, all good things must end and that means getting your sore body on your bike and heading back the way you came, about 1 ½ miles to the last big climb of the day. As we headed up the hill a fellow rider shares the fact that a few years earlier it was 104 degrees when they reached Ink Grade; I would have just stopped and waited for the Sag at that point.  Continue ...