Ride Report Paskenta Century

Have you ever completed a "century" bike ride? This author has been doing them for decades.

By Mark Birnbaum

This is a shorter version of a ride I invented while going to Chico State.  Probably the first time I did it was in 1974.  Chico Velo runs a shorter version (about 70+ miles), so I always do mine on the same day.  Their ride and mine cover much of the same ground and run in opposite directions.  I start in Willows.  Chico Velo starts in Orland.  They cut the upper part of the ride short, missing about 7 miles of dirt road and some of the best scenery out there. 

Norm and I have been doing this ride together for the last 6 years.  The weather prediction was for probable rain, so Norm bailed this year.  I wasn’t nuts about riding in the rain, but the only other North Valley ride, the tour of the Unknown Valley had been cancelled, and the next few months of weekends were all spoken for.  It was either do it now or miss cycling in the Sacramento Valley for the entire year.  Riding in the North Valley is always like coming home, since for me, this is where it all started, all those years ago.  In deference to the weather prediction, I’d be doing the ride on Clyde, my 2nd century this year on him.   In what has become a ritual, I drove up to Willows on Saturday afternoon, checked into Motel 6 and walked across the freeway to Nancy’s Airport Diner.  A place from another age.  The servings are delicious and huge, and the waitresses call you “hon”.  And the price is right.  After a huge Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken, garlic bread and salad bar, I would need the century to work it off.  The slab of blueberry pie which I got for desert was excellent as well.

We set off at 5:55.  It was cloudy but dry.  Temp was probably in the low 40’s.  Great cycling weather.  It was pitch black.  After heading east for a mile or so, we turned north on Hwy 99W, the precursor to Hwy. 5.  We stayed on this for the next 28 miles, passing thru Artois, Orland, and finally Corning.  After about 7 or 8 miles it began to get light, and by the time we went thru central Orland at 6:55 it had been light for a while.  A few miles north of Orland, the road went over what is usually a dry or semi-dry wash.  It was now a river.  Shortly after that, we crossed the Tehama county line and at 7:45 we pulled into Corning.  Usually this is pit stop #1, but since my bladder wasn’t bursting, and since I had no idea how long the dry weather would hold out, we kept going.  Another 12 or so miles down the road is Fournoy, which consists of a combo store/post office and a house or two.  The stretch between Corning and Fournoy was mostly ranches, with sheep, goats, cattle and some horses.  Fournoy has become our traditional first food stop and we pulled in at 8:35.  So far so good.  It was too cold to stay long, so after a quick photo, a bagel and a few chocolate chip cookies I’d brought along, we pulled out.  Bagel #2 would be eaten while riding.

A few more miles brought us to Paskenta, where the route turns from west, to south.  As we approached Paskenta, I was treated to stunning views of the snow covered Coast Ranges.  The snow must have been down to below 2,000 feet in some places.  I’d never seen so much snow there.  It was now 9:30.  Back in my Chico days, the store at Paskenta had been my standard stop.  The store had been gone for years, but as we pulled in, I was surprised to see that the building had been remodeled and  part of it was once more a store.  I took a quick photo of Clyde in front of the store, to compare with the photo I’d taken in the exact same spot over 35 years ago. 

For the 25 miles after Paskenta, the scenery would be excellent, with rolling hills, cattle, neat rock formations and good looking trees.  A few miles out of town the road turns to gravel for 6 or 7 miles.  The quality normally varies from excellent to pretty poor along this stretch.  For whatever reason, the road was in the best shape I ever remember it being in.  We made excellent time along the entire stretch.  After getting back on pavement, a few more miles brought us to the site of Newville, which consists of a ranch and a few ruined buildings.  At this point, the official route coming from the opposite direction, where we were now headed, goes east, back to Orland, while we continued south, thru the foothills.  The next few miles are the most attractive of the whole ride.  We had the road to ourselves, as we rolled along, enjoying the great views up down and across the small valley we were in.  There weren’t many flowers, but the grass and fields were hundreds of shades of green.  It doesn’t get better than this.  After a few more miles we saw the first rider of the official ride.  We stopped in Chrome, which according to the sign I took a photo of, has now grown to 13 people.

The ride was going nicely, but time was going by, and I was getting very hungry.  After Chrome, we saw more riders, solo and in small groups.  At 11:10 (mile 75), we finally arrived at Elk Creek, where Chico Velo has a rest stop for its ride.  Several riders were there, including Mike the Plumber, who I hadn’t seen since the Sequoia Century back in June 2010.  He was talking to another guy, so I took the opportunity to check out his bike, which had been brand new last time I’d seen him.  It was top line, state of the art, with an undecipherable name in some fancy block printing.  He, being Mr. Retro, however, was still riding toe clips and straps, as opposed to clip less pedals that the rest of the world was now using.  I took advantage of their porta potty and water, killed off another bagel and a banana, and headed out to tackle the final leg of the ride.  I would eat the 2nd bagel and the remainder of the chocolate chip cookies while I rode along.  Willows was now 21 miles away.

Rested and refueled, we took off again, up the one significant climb on the whole ride, east out of Elk Creek.  After 15 or 20 minutes, we topped out, and had an enjoyable downhill, before the road flattened out.   We were now on Hwy. 162, heading east thru grassy hills that got gradually shorter as we got closer to the Central Valley.  Coming down the valley to Elk Creek, we’d had a nuisance headwind.  Coming off the hill, it turned into a monster.  Every foot of progress was a struggle.  It felt like we were moving in slow motion.  In some stretches, I had to stand up just to keep going, even though the road was not that hilly.  Time seemed to stand still.  Knowing that Willows was 16 or17 miles away and the fact that this is a good way to build muscle strength were consolations.  Eventually we came out of the hills and the wind went from ridiculous to just very hard.  Finally Willows and I5 appeared in the distance.  A final four mile, straight flat shot brought us to the I5 overpass.  A left turn 100 yards after the overpass and we were back where we had started.  The time was 1:15, and we had covered just over 96 miles.  It felt good to be out of the wind and off the bike.

All in all, it had been a very satisfying ride, a great start for the century season, and a good way to reconnect with the West Central Valley and the Coast Ranges foothills.  The scenery was better than usual, and it is always nice to do something that is a bit off the beaten track, in a different way than everyone else is doing it. 

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Mark Birnbaum has been participating in organized road rides, do-it-yourself centuries, and double centuries for over 35 years.  He is a founding member and treasurer of the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition, the umbrella bicycle advocacy group for the San Francisco Bay Area.  He has also ridden across the US twice.  Mark lives in Novato, CA and commutes to his job in San Rafael, CA by bicycle.