The Fall River Century - 128 Miles of Smoke

Randy, Yvette, Joe, Karen, Maria, Debra, and I rode the Fall River Century last weekend. Starting out in the town of Fall River Mills, CA we rode either 100 miles or 128 miles around teh surrounding countryside. Fall River Mills itself is a pretty small town about 80 miles east of Redding. I was told the ride normally has great views of Shasta and Lassen (volcanoes) but this year the smoke from the fires in Cali was so bad that we only had a few miles of visibility for the majority of the ride. Joe and I did the double metric to complete the 128 miles. This ride seemed harder to me than the Deathride. Without the downhills to give my legs a rest I was pretty much shot by the end of the ride. The ride was well supported given the small size of it and the rest stops were run by some of the friendliest people I've ever had work a stop before. Each stop is run by the local communities around it and we got to meet the people who live in each of the tiny little towns the stops were located in. I will definitely do this ride again but I'm hoping we won't be riding in dense smoke in 90 degree temperatures again.