Goldrush: Susanville Survey

[Tom]

I plan to ride the Goldrush next month, so my wife Bobbe and I went
up to Susanville this last weekend to check out the Janesville Grade.
We stayed at the Best Western, a nice motel where the control for the
GRR is. Just to the south on Hwy 36, Main Street, are shopping areas
that include Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, Safeway, and Starbucks.
On Saturday I left the motel at 05:00 and headed south to Janesville
on Hwy 36, which continued south as Hwy 395. There was no traffic,
but Hwy 395 was a 65 mph road with rumble strips that extended most of
the way across the rough pavement of the bicycle lanes, forcing you
far to the right. There was a 300' hill to go over before reaching the
turnoff at the Chevron station (which was closed) at mile 12.
Janesville Grade climbed immediately from 4200', but I stayed on my
middle chain ring (36 t) through the residential area and reached
5100' before the road turned hard right and followed the creek for 0.7
mile while climbing 400'. It then turned left, away from the creek and
the fun began in earnest. Since it topped out at 6000', there was
only ~500' more of steep climbing, in two pitches, and it was fairly
short, about 1.5 mile in length. I didn't do any wheelies, and found
that the 24f/34r on my recumbent handled the grade easily, although
fresh legs certainly helped. I would compare the pitch to the top of
Mt Diablo in the Bay Area, steeper than Cherry Pie Hill (if you're
from Texas), and was like the steep access roads leading to many
dams. At 6000', 17 miles from Susanville, was a painted on cattle
guard, and a gravel road came in from the right while the paved road
turned left and flattened out. On Goggle maps, the gravel road is
labeled "Janesville Grade" and the paved road is "RD28N01" . I
climbed another 100' and then descended into an area of mountain
meadows that rolled on for 9 miles, finally reaching an intersection
which was well signed and turned right toward Taylorsville. This
turn took me to a steep descent through a burned area, to a T-
intersection where I turned left to go to the dam of Antelope Lake, at
5000'. The dam was 32 miles from the Susanville motel and I reached
it in 3 hours. The temperature was 47 degrees at 8 o'clock in the
morning.
My wife joined me there and we descended 15.5 miles to Genessee at
3800'. We were struck by the amount of time we had to pedal during
this "descent", the transverse cracks in the pavement which made for a
very rough ride, and the large amount of decomposed granite on the
road. We reached Genessee in about an hour.
We turned around in Genessee, a charming spot 7 miles from
Taylorsville, and rode back up to the dam. We wanted to be off of the
ridge before the gathering clouds turned into a thunder storm. The
road from Genessee climbed in two steep steps before flattening out at
4500' and rolling for mile after mile. It then jumped up 200' and
rolled until we were back at the dam. We made it in 1:45, then drove
back to Susanville. Above the dam the road popped up 200' then rolled
for 3 miles before turning right at an intersection. The pavement
changed color here. Then came a 2 mile long very steep climb of 600'
through a burned area, which was very grim. My wife thought that the
piles of sun-bleached branches looked like the bones of previous
randonneurs who had DNF'd here! In the hot sun of the afternoon on the
outbound route, this climb could be very tough. At the top of this
pitch was the second intersection where we turned left for Janesville,
and climbed another 300' to reach an elevation of 6000'. The road then
rolled for 8 miles until we reached the painted-on cattle guard and
the descent down Janesville Grade.
Back in Susanville, we had dinner at the Mazatlan Restaurant, at the
intersection of Hwys 36 and 139; it was very good. The afternoon wind
was strong enough to make walking to the restaurant uncomfortable.
On Sunday I rode from Susanville to Canby. I left at 05:00, when the
temperature was 42 degrees. The elevation of Susanville is 4250'.
Immediately out of the housing area, Hwy 139 began to climb toward
Lassen College and a great view of the valley that Susanville is in. A
descent was followed by the climb to Antelope Pass at 5427', which was
8 miles from the control. I made it in an hour; the temperature at the
pass was 38 degrees and there was no wind. I was glad to have my cold
weather gloves and vest.
The descent to the north from Antelope Pass lead to 10 miles of
beautiful high western valley, then the second climb of ~ 3 miles
followed by a 40 mph descent to Eagle Lake. The view of Eagle Lake
that you get on the way down is fabulous. I'm so glad that I got to
see it in the daylight. Once down to lake level you travel along the
east shore for 10 miles of flat cruising. I made Eagle Lake Rd, where
I think the control is, at mile 32 from Susanville, by 07:30, so had
gained 30 minutes +. There are toilets at a campground 1/4 mile down
Eagle Lake Rd. Hwy 139 had no shoulder for all of this distance, but
also had little traffic. What traffic there was was moving very fast.
There were many transverse cracks across the pavement. All of the
cattle guards were of the false, painted-on kind, and that was true
all the way to Canby.
From Eagle Lake you climb over a rise alongside a vast plain which
you then skim along the side of. Clouds of black gnats by the marshy
areas stung my face. A turn North lead to a wooded area, and reached
an elevation of 5900', almost as high as Janesville Grade summit. The
clouds were somewhat ominous here, and I could foresee afternoon
thunder showers in this area. Then there was a 15 mile descent to
Adin. The road deteriorated in here, with many patches of rough
pavement during the descent. I was going too fast to stay in the
smoother strip of road surface along the right side, so I just rode
out the rough surface in the center of the lane. I stopped at the mini
mart, only to next pass through the actual town of Adin where there
was a sit down cafe with soft ice cream, as well as a really nice deli-
market. I reached Adin, elevation 4300', at 10:20, with 45 minutes
off of the bike. I had gone 69 miles. It was 61 degrees.
From Adin you get on Hwy 299, a better road with a good shoulder
for the first 9 miles. You cross 5 miles of valley, then turn up Rush
Creek canyon for the climb to Adin Pass at 5179'. This highway had
more traffic, and after the shoulder stopped, it was a little
frightening, since the speed limit was 65 mph. North of the summit
there was an intermittent shoulder again. Canby is only 20 miles from
Adin, so the route is a simple up to the pass then down to Canby. I
reached Canby, at mile 91 at 12:15, and figured I had gained 1:45 with
1 hour off of the bike. Bobbe soon showed up and we had a nice lunch
at the funky Canby Hotel just beyond the turn-off on Centerville Rd.
The hotel has a saloon.
Lessons I learned were that Susanville to Canby was faster than I
expected from the sawtooth profile. I gained time, 1:45 in 91 miles,
despite the climbing.I never used my granny gear since all of the
grades were less than 6 %. There were long flat sections, and the
descents had broad, sweeping turns and were very fast. Of course,
night time travel will be slower.
I will use front and rear running lights during the day to help
motorists better gauge their distance so that hopefully they won't
pass while next to me on these high speed two lane roads.
I saw many large mule deer during both days of cycling. I would not
want to collide with one. There also are antelope and elk in the area.
I expect to have a headwind on the return from Alturas to Canby on
Centerville Rd. Also, the climb from Adin heading south will take a
long time, and one might encounter thunder storms at the top.
All in all, I was encouraged about my ability to complete this
arduous randonee'.
I hope that this report helps all of you randonn -eurs and-eusses
doing the Goldrush. Je vous souhaites 'bon chance'!
Le lanterne rouge.