Friday 16 June. Groveland to Lodi
By stopping earlier yesterday the mileage for today was increased but it also gave me the chance to plan a quieter and more direct route and avoid a climb up to Sonora.

Today's ride was taking us down from the edges of the Sierras and into the foothills and then descending to the San Joaquin Valley. There were again bright blue skies and temperatures up to 97f.

We started the day with a long 2000ft descent on a smooth road and shallow bends and a maximum speed of 45 mph. We started the days ride at 6.30 without breakfast looking to get this on the route. The backroads we took did not at first prove very productive but we eventually found a cafe after 20 miles at Lake Tulloch.

We took some very quiet backroads along Salt Springs Valley with a car about every 10 minutes among ranch country. We rode via the quiet Hamlet of Felix!.

We took a long up and down ride through the edges of the foothills to eventually descend to the Cherry Trees of the San Joaquin Valley. We stopped for a late lunch and cold drinks at Linden. As we started off at 3.00 a sign across the road showed the temperature at 97f.

We took backroads among the orchards for 20 miles to our overnight stay at the Best Western in Lodi.

85 miles for the day with 2424ft of climb and 5091ft of descent.

Edwin