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Training Rides - Auburn to Nevada City
  Training Article Library Main Page Tweet If there was any town that defines the foothills of the Sierra’s, Nevada City gets my vote. Located in Nevada County (not the state of Nevada), it is without a doubt, one of the coolest places you would want to visit here in Gold Country, especially on a bike. My first long ride in California was Auburn to Nevada City and one of the most popular rides this past winter of my group of riding buddies. Of course we rode there for the great training, but as we discovered, we went there for the awesome coffee shop at the top of the hill named “Broad Street Books and Espresso Bar”. Great coffee and great baked goods, it’s worth the ride to sit out on their porch in the warm sunshine and enjoy the view! There are so many back roads on this route; I don’t think we ever took the same way. We begin the ride in Auburn at the Bicycle Emporium (camp sponsor!) and proceed east along the hilly frontage roads toward Colfax. Below Colfax, we descend to the Bear River and ride along narrow roads with names like “Rattlesnake” and “Dog bar.” These roads are classics, with little traffic and a lot of character. Eventually we climb our way to the top of Wolf mountain rewarding us with a great view of the Sierras and then a descent into Grass Valley, which could be considered the sister city of Nevada City. From there, we make our way towards our final destination. As you enter this Gold Rush town, you instantly appreciate all the up and down climbing it took to get there. Nevada City is special. Some of you might know the name from the famous bike race that has taken place over its historical streets for over 30 years. Every Father’s day, thousands of bike racing fans line the course to cheer the competitors over one of the US’s hardest circuit races. Names like Greg Lemond, Andy Hampstein and Lance Armstrong have competed in this race. If you every get a chance to watch, I highly recommend it. After a couple cups of extremely strong coffee, we head back towards Auburn. We make our way back thru Grass Valley onto route 174 passing by towns like Chicago Park and You Bet. Over the Bear River again, and up a great climb to Colfax and an even better view of the snow capped peaks around Lake Tahoe. From Colfax we take roads thru Weimar, Applegate and Clipper Gap back to Auburn. Definitely one of my favorite rides, I never get tired of Nevada City. The roads are perfect, the weather usually cooler on those hot summer days and of course, one of the best coffee stops in the foothills. Ride safe, ride strong Bruce About Bruce Bruce Hendler is a USA Cycling Coach and owner of AthletiCamps (this site) in Northern California. For the past 9 years, he and his experienced team have helped athletes of all levels achieve their goals in the great sport of bike racing thru cycling training camps, cycling coaching and performance testing. To contact AthletiCamps, either give us a call at 1-866-370-6516 or request more information at the Contact Us page. Check out all our training articles here... |
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