Camp Far West Road and beyond.

On Camp Far West Road.

After a pretty mediocre Spring riding-wise, I'm finally starting to get some, (for me) good mileage in. Unfortunately an early heat wave has decided to settle over Northern California so I have to time the rides for as early in the morning as I can. I decided I wanted to take a couple of stretches of past rides and combine them for a sub-100 mile ride. I sort of succeeded, but did end up with a bit of a longer ride than I planned!

The route I planned would include about 6 miles of gravel above Camp Far West so I chose the Mercian Olympic I had modified with 650B wheels and Panaracer Col de Vie tires.

The 650B equipped Olympic was the ride for the day.

My plan was to ride to Lincoln then take McCourtney Road up to Camp Far West and ride the gravel road from there to Yeager road, then on to Smartsville road. From there I would turn west and take the long open stretch past Beale Air Base to near Linda, turning off on Griffith Avenue and going south to Wheatland, then back to Lincoln and Loomis. Here's the route:

Screenshot of my route (from MapMyRide).

I wanted to start as early as possible since triple digit heat was forecast in the afternoon. Well, the best I could do was to roll out the driveway at 7:30. But I was thinking it would be a 4 hour ride so I wouldn't be back too late!

The start was nice with nice mild temperatures and no wind to speak of. Eventually I came to Camp Far West Reservoir, which has a lot of water right now!

The very full reservoir at Camp Far West.

I haven't taken this route for some time now, maybe a few years, so I was pleasantly surprised to find the steep grade just past the campground entrance has be resurfaced! It's perfectly smooth right to the start of the gravel! It's still as steep as ever though!

New pavement on the climb past the campground!

After cresting this hill you drop a short distance to the start of the gravel. The condition of the gravel road is no better or worse than I remember. The first section tends to have a fair amount of washboard, probably due to heavier traffic on that stretch. After you finally turn away from the lake things begin to smooth out. The 38mm tires performed quite well on the road. In the past I've ridden with tires as narrow as 28mm, so the extra tire width was just gravy!

Camp Far West Road.

Eventually Camp Far West Road ends at a junction with Spenceville Road. Turning left, Spenceville Road travels a short distance to Waldo Junction at a small bridge.

Waldo Bridge over Dry Creek.

 After crossing this bridge you travel a short distance on some blacktop but that ends in about 100 yards and you're back on the gravel, grunting over a couple of testy little hills. Eventually you finish the gravel section of our ride at Chuck Yeager Road.

Turning left would take you to Beale AFB. Back before 9/11, I had been able to pass through the Airbase heading to Wheatland. Alas, nowadays you can't get in without a Military ID. So, we must turn right, continuing on a log climb heading northeast. Eventually you crest the hills and descend to "Hammonton/Smartsville Road.

Here I turned left climbing for a short while but soon I was on top of the ridge and looking down on the Northern Sacramento Valley! This is a spot where I have taken a photo every time I passed through!

On Smartsville Road, you can just make out the Sutter Buttes in the distance.

The rest of the ride was pretty straightforward. Past the Air Base you eventually will come to Griffith Avenue. Turn left here and proceed for a mile or so until you come to a "T" at Erle road. You turn left here and are on your way through rural roads, Eventually you are on your way to Wheatland. Instead of riding down busy highway 65, I turned off on Dairy Road which turned out to be a very pleasant alternative. Eventually I had to make a left turn to get back to town but it was definitely worth the extra few minutes.

I stopped at a convenience store while in town and filled my two empty water bottles and bought a large soda with lots of ice! By now it was 11:30, well past my planned finish time, and it was getting warm, probably the low 90s. I had over 60 miles done by then too, so it was going to be at least an 80 mile day.

For some reason I thought this would be around 60 miles,maybe a 4 hour ride. I underestimated the distance and ended up doing 82 miles in about 6 hours of riding!

Anyway, the rest of the ride was over very familiar territory, and I ended up at home in time for a late lunch.

So this was a pretty nice ride, I used sun sleeves and wore a wicking t-shirt under a white lightweight jersey and I was pretty comfortable for the most part. The Mercian performed very well with no mechanical issues at all.

Parting shot, looking back on Waldo Road at the end of the gravel section.