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There are really three large hills on this ride, two between rest stops two and three and one between rest stop three and the end of the ride. It doesn't take long before you start the climb to the top of the New Hogan dam, which can be brutal 40 miles into the ride. This is a hill that just seems to have way too much up, but isn't unbearably steep. After getting to the top you drop back down and then make a hard right turn into a one of the subdivisions that line the side of the reservoir. This is the ugly one, it is long steep and deceptive. Just as you think you have made the top you get around the turn and see it makes another short jog up the hill. This is not long or steep, but after the hill you just finished it can be quite unpleasant. After the top of the hill there is a fast decent to the village of Valley Springs and the lunch stop.
Before you know it you have reached far side of the dam and the last short, but steep hill. As you reach the middle of the hill your legs begin to scream and you heart is beating so hard it feels like it will burst from your chest. However, it ends soon and there is a certain euphoria that you feel knowing the worst is over and you made it. The ride from there to Ione trends mostly downward and flat with just a few rolling hills. Continued ... |
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Fifty miles have now passed since the start of the ride and you know there are only sixteen miles to go. We know the real heartbreak hill is coming so it is hard to enjoy the short rest. The lunch area is at the park on a hill on the west side of town. It is a great picnic area and the food is quite good with a selection of breads, meats and cheeses as well as fruit and desserts. Its always a balance between eating to much food that can make you sick on a large hill and eating enough to keep you going until the end of the ride. 
As you leave the stop you ride through rolling hills on the way to Pardee Reservoir. As we headed onto the private park road that takes you to the dam we saw a sight that not too many years ago was just unheard of; a bald eagle soaring on the air currents. It was hard to concentrate on the road. Soon the eagle left and we had to concentrate on the issue at hand, the quick ride down to lake level and then the ride across the dam and up the last ugly hill. The road over the dam is one lane with lights at either end to keep the cars from meeting head on in the middle. 
Bikes and walkers, however, do not have to stop. The walls on the side of the road are too high to see much and it feels like riding on the top of a castle with its aged concrete sides and center tower.