rode the American River Parkway, Sacramento today

[eddief]

took Amtrak from Berkeley to Sacto. A fine relaxing ride in itself. Then, for the first time, hit the American River Parkway. Granted, not a climb to be had in 35 miles, but what a perfectly fine and well put together/maintained 35 mile route. Entirely paved entirely smooth. For a week day, quite a few cyclists, but a perfect beauty of a hot and sweaty ride. For a quick 70 mile round trip, I'd recommend it to anybody. The organized Rex Ride is June 14. Proceeds go to not for profit orgs that support and maintain the Parkway.

[Saxon]

Almost rode the Parkway trail today! I decided to play tennis instead (which was a mistake as it's a lot cooler when you're moving on your bike). If you want some climbs, you can take the trail up to the lake and take the turn off on to the new Folsom bridge. Nice long hill on the other side of the bridge. You can also hit Auburn-Folsom road where the trail ends at Folsom lake and ride all the way (uphill)to Auburn. A fairly epic climb for me :)
Here's a vid of EPOJoe and your's truly a few months ago on the trail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfKcZGCzPEI&feature=channel_page

[maunahaole]

There's a way up the surface streets that roughly parallels the trail that has a lot of fun rollers on it. It has lots of turns on a bunch of streets, so you should have someone take you the first few times. Locally known as the "generic loop".

[EPOJoe]

You can get to another nice climb by crossing the new Folsom Dam bridge (trail runs right across the bridge), then stay straight on East Natoma street for a couple of miles till you hit Green Valley Road. Once you turn left on Green Valley you’ll be climbing all the way up to El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, or further if you want to keep climbing. No dedicated bike trail up there, just the bike lane, but it’s a pretty good climb.