Shasta Roubaix

The Pedali Shasta-Roubaix ride -- an homage to the Paris-Roubaix race over cobblestones the following day -- started at Pete & Bonnnie's house under generally threatening skies. On the drive down, I'd witnessed howling winds in Mt. Shasta, and horizontal snow in Weed, so it looked like our Roubaix festival of suffering might actually come to pass.

As the crazed mob of cyclists rolled away for our day on the Shasta Valley's gravel backroads, we were pelted with a little ran, but afterwards, the weather turned beautiful -- a dramatic mix of clouds and sun.

The group consisted of Mark, Kristi, Pete, Cliff, Julie, Mario, Mike and your humble reporter. Just as were pushing off, Sean and Mark Hilsenberg showed up, with Sig arriving seconds later. These three rode a slightly different route to add some miles, but joined up again later in the ride before blasting off again.

For those who don't know, this is the second annual version, and this ride takes in the dirt & gravel backroads of the Shasta Valley. With the rain & snow of the prior day, I expected a muddy mess -- a ride of biblical proportions (yahoo!) -- but the roads drained great, and the going was even easier than last year. Frankly, it was easy going most of the way.

Mario suffered some saddle problems and Mark Pine punctured his mountain bike tire, but otherwise, mechanical problems didn't mar the ride. Like last year, the bikes were an interesting mix; plenty of cross bikes, a few mountain bikes, and a couple standard road bikes. Cliff again brought his cool internally geared mountain bike, and Mike Read brought a weird, carbon-fiber mountain/downhill/road bike that looked like something George Jetson would ride.

In the end, we put 55 miles under our wheels and very little mud on our frames. While this ride is a tribute to the famed race in Europe, it's also a great way to ride some roads that we simply don't see during the majority of the year. Success!

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