Group ride up Salmon Falls Rd. Saturday

JakesKTM

JakesKTM

Well-known member
The lead bike was a red FZ. Mixed group of about 20 sumo/sportbiles.

Your choice of road and pace was :thumbdown and made all the non-riders in my (river rafting/kayaking) group :mad - passing on double yellow on blind turns and causing a bus shuttle driver to nearly hit a bicyclist was retarded.

Salmon Falls Road from Folsom up to Coloma is a HEAVILY shared road for commercial and private whitewater rafting/kayaking groups running the South Fork of the American River Sat/Sun - May through Labor Day. It's the second most rafted river in the lower 48 states!

It is also shared by road cyclists who use Salmon Falls Rd. to train, MTB riders going to the Skunk Hollow SP and lake trails, runners, hikers, and other casual recreationalists.

Using it as your warm-up-lap-track to make your way up to Marshal Grade is beyond stupid. Your shit show resulted in the CHP being called out and (I hope) stepped up patrols. When I got to the put-in at Lotus park - other people were complaining and at least one person called the CHP as they got into cell phone range in Coloma.

I am sure it was a group out of Sacramento and not BARF, but I know some of us go that route.

If you take Salmon Fals Rd. on a Sat/Sun - expect the average speed limit to be 20 mph and a long line of shuttle vehicles.

That is my public safety announcement.
 
ScottRNelson

ScottRNelson

Mr. Dual Sport Rider
You'll probably really love the riders on Mosquito Ridge out of Foresthill then. :rolleyes

One problem with the raft haulers up there on both Salmon Falls and Mosquito Ridge is that they typically have never considered the concept of pulling off once in a while to let faster traffic by and they're harder to pass then normal cars.

I can still remember being stuck behind three of those vans with the big rafts on their roofs on Mosquito Ridge and having no safe place to get by for several miles. But luck was with us that day because we came upon a herd of cattle on the road and the bikes were able to squeeze between the cows while the vans had to wait until they moved on. :laughing

You're more likely to reach your target audience with this rant on https://sacramentocrotchrockets.com
 
Map8

Map8

I want nothing
Staff member
There aren't a lot of places to pull a rafting bus over on the twisty part of Salmon Falls Road that the those busses use. Riders just have to accept that is going to be a lot of traffic on that road on warm weekends and chill during that part. There are plenty more places to enjoy than that stretch of Salmon Falls.

Mosquito Ridge has many turnouts and a small fraction of the traffic of Salmon Falls Road.
 
flying_hun

flying_hun

Adverse Selection
When I lived in Sac, Salmon Falls was the mother lode of gold-plated squid-dom. Sounds like nothing has changed.
 
R

RocklinMike

Well-known member
Salmon Falls Rd.

I live close to Salmon Falls. If it was 10 miles further into the hills it would be fine but I avoid it like the plague on the weekends. Too much stuff goin on and close too town. Someone bites it up there every year it seems.
 
JakesKTM

JakesKTM

Well-known member
ScottRNelson said:
You'll probably really love the riders on Mosquito Ridge out of Foresthill then. :rolleyes

One problem with the raft haulers up there on both Salmon Falls and Mosquito Ridge is that they typically have never considered the concept of pulling off once in a while to let faster traffic by and they're harder to pass then normal cars.

I can still remember being stuck behind three of those vans with the big rafts on their roofs on Mosquito Ridge and having no safe place to get by for several miles. But luck was with us that day because we came upon a herd of cattle on the road and the bikes were able to squeeze between the cows while the vans had to wait until they moved on. :laughing

You're more likely to reach your target audience with this rant on https://sacramentocrotchrockets.com
Click to expand...

I posted at SCR thanks. But I know folks from the Bay Area also come to the mother lode area to ride on weekends.

I've been a commercial raft guide since '91 in the American River watershed. The Middle Fork (Mosquito Ridge Rd. to Oxbow) is very active in the summer because that is the only local Class IV run available since it is damn release. Yes - shuttle vehicles are mostly vans with boats tied on top. Mosquito Ridge Rd. has no paved turnouts. Can a van pull over? yes. Do they pull over? yes. Do they pull over every time? no. Some drivers have their hands full with a top heavy commercial vehicle winding its way down a steep canyon while chatting up 10 paying guests. Give them a break :) For the record, my company (Whitewater Excitement) is relentless about pulling over. It is our written policy.

These roads are both avoidable and less appealing when slow moving traffic is expected.

Thanks
 
mheinee

mheinee

Road tickler
Thankfully there are a lot of better roads to ride in the Sacramento foothills than Salmon Falls Rd that allows one to escape the squidfest that is Salmon Falls Rd, Foresthill/Mosquito Rd..

Mark
 
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