Northern California 800 Mile Loop

There's never any shortage of motivation and inspiration on the Endurance Racing forums on MTBR.com and tonight was no exception.

The Northern California Loop

"An 800 mile loop through the most beautiful landscapes of Northern California"

This is an 800 mile loop through the best of Northern California. You start in the Central Valley and climb over the Coastal Ridge. Then you move North along the (lost) Pacific Coast and pass through Coastal Redwoods at the Avenue of the Giants.

Then you turn inland again, go around the Trinity Alps and pass over the Eddys at Park Creek Summit which leads you to the majestic Mt Shasta.

After half-circling this volcano you cross lava land and get to the other big volcano, Lassen Peak. Finally, you decent to Chester and Lake Almanor and then make one last final climb across the Northern Sierra and then down to Chico and across the Valley to close the loop.

The route is a mixture paved and dirt / gravel roads and was designed with the goal in mind to show you the best of Northern California while minimizing your exposure to motorized traffic.

I'm not suggesting I'm ready for something like this, hell no, but it's definitely something to think about for next year. It's only a self-supported ride featuring twice the distance and elevation gain of TransRockies. How hard could it be?

And that ladies and gentleman is what we writers like to call sarcasm.

But seriously, I'll be daydreaming about this thing all year. And if the first running of it in June goes off well, I'll seriously consider giving it a go next year.