Playing Tourist Part Deux

I had so much fun yesterday, and saw even more country I needed to explore.

I started off by returning to the Folsom Handcar Derby where I watched some of the finals action.

I had seen an overpass just down the road a short distance that appeared to be a multi-use path.  I had no idea where it went, but from time to time I'd see an apparently abandoned railway that I assumed was the same railway that the handcar derby was held on.

I eventually saw signs that informed me that I was following Willow and Humbug Creeks.

After a few miles I spilled out to a street. Before too long I saw another trail.  This on was shorter, but had an interesting story. It seems that Thomas Rhoads managed to pick up 100 lbs of gold nuggets near here.

I eventually saw a road name that I recognized, and rode it back to where my pickup was waiting.  I crabbed some lunch, then drove down to old town Folsom, in search of exploring the historic powerhouse.

When I got to old town I sent a Facebook message to friend who lives somewhere near Folsom to see if he wanted to join me for an adult beverage.  While I was waiting for him to get there, I biked around the town a bit.

It seems that a railroad turntable was found by accident when some construction work was being done.

lock up your bike, or tether your horse!

Jeff arrived and we set about talking ultra bike racing, and having that adult beverage we had planned  on.   After we finished that duty I hopped on the fixed gear bike again and set off to the historic hydro plant as the sun began to dip low in the sky.

Where the canal ended and the power generation began.

You can click on any photo to view it full size, and be able to more easily read it.

The buildings, transformers, and some transmission wires are still in place.  The buildings were all locked up by the time I got there, but I believe the generators are still in place as well.  The light was dimming, and the buildings didn't provide a good angle to get many photos.

I had the Garmin on the bike, and the map of today's ride should prove to be interesting, but my cable for downloading is buried deep in my race gear box.  I'll unload that later and add the map here.

Well, I got the cable out.  I was expecting a much more interesting route. I thought I was riding a big circle shape.  The most interesting part of this route was a neighborhood where all the streets were named after rock stars.  Clapton, Isely, Knopfler, Starkey, and some I had to look up.

The second ride of the day was just a short ride to find the Fat Rabbit Public House, where I'd be meeting Jeff, followed by a ride down to the historic powerhouse.

It was a good day.  Not many miles, but interesting miles on a sunny day that reached into the mid 80's.

............Road Bike........Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ...........15................0....................0........................0...........15
Jan..............304...............15...................0......................31..........350
Feb................0..................0....................0.......................0..............0
March..........18.................0....................0........................0............18
April...........113.................0....................0........................0...........113
May...............82................0....................0........................0.............82