Wednesday, June 5:  Auburn, California to Truckee, California
Distance:  72.8 miles
Total time: 9 hours
Riding time:  7 hours 46 minutes

This was reputedly one of the toughest of the 48 days of cycling.  I certainly hope so.  We gained over 8,000 feet of elevation as we rode to the Donner Pass.  I've never done any real climbs before, and certainly nothing to rival this series of hills.  I've been worried about this day for a long time, and am very glad it's over.  Nine hours is a long time to be out there.

This will be an abbreviated blog - the internet was out last night so I'll cover two days today.

There was some spectacular scenery on the long climb towards Donner Pass, like this:

But that doesn't mean it was fun - it wasn't, as this photo, taken at a rest stop, demonstrates:

We saw this sign as we went on to Interstate 80 for 16 noisy, uphill miles.  Luckily my bike has a chain:

You don't get the full impact of the steepness, but this is what I-80 looked like for 16 miles.

But the view from Donner Pass (7,200 feet) was stunning.  It looked like this:

If you're not aware of why the Donner Pass is so iconic, you can read this:  Let's just say I went with the vegan option for dinner: