Day 4 -- Auburn to Truckee -- 74 Miles

I knew today was going to be a challenge. We were slated to pedal 74 miles from Auburn to Truckee -- a trip which included nearly 9,000 feet of climbing through the Sierra Mountains -- no small feat. And if that was not enough, I (along with the rest of the gang) pedaled the first 50 miles through pouring rain, howling winds, and (relatively) cold temperatures.

The last 18 miles of this first 50 was on I-80, which, given the conditions, made things extremely interesting. To put these 18 miles in persective: Have you ever seen a movie, or tv show where a person is standing idle on the sidewalk on a rainy day, and a car buzzes by and soaks them? Well, today, that person was me. And those cars? Well, they were mostly 18 wheelers. And that person alluded to above only got soaked once. Me? 20 times minimum. It was definitely a mental challenge, and I was psyched to finally pedal off I-80 at exit 165 and finally be done with the highway.

The last 25 miles were great. Don't get me wrong, they were a challenge (climb after climb after climb). Thankfully, however, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and it made things a little more pleasant. And the views -- well, I will let you check them out yourself. The snow capped mountains, the beautiful trees, lakes and other scenery made for a beautiful ride -- worth all of the climbing (I mean that).

Once I arrived in Historic Truckee, I made a point to find Squeeze-In: home of the best omelette on the planet. Unfortunately, once I arrived the kitchen was about to close so I was not able to order on omelette as I had hoped. On the brightside, I was able to meet and get a picture with Kay, daughter of the owner of this famous breakfast spot, and one of the girls featured in the Bobby Flay Showdown filmed there.

All things considered -- the rain, the cold, the mountain climbs, etc. -- today was another fun day. Oh, except for the part when I fell off my bike going over a set of railroad tracks about 30 miles in. Whoops! No worries -- no harm done.