May day bike ride on Tioga Road

On the weekend I found out that Tioga Road in Yosemite (which I knew had been completely plowed, but not yet open) was open to bikes. I did this ride last year (although 7 weeks later in the year) and enjoyed it enough to want to go again.

The temperature was nice (in the low 60’s) and sunny in the morning. By mid-afternoon the clouds were building and I was afraid I might get a little rain shower. The road was clean and dry except for where repair work was being done and they had scraped debris out of the edge of the road onto the road surface and were scooping it up with a skip-loader. I had about 2 miles of this and luckily didn’t pick up any sharp objects in the tires. Other than the road crews and a ranger patrol I only met 2 other cyclists.

I wish I was stronger. I’d love to be able to get to Olmsted Point. After the climb out of Yosemite Creek canyon it would be fairly level with really magnificent views. Unfortunately, after I crested the ridge at 8300 ft just before the descent to Yosemite Creek (which gives up about 900 ft), I could tell I needed to turn around. As it was, I logged 32 miles and 3300 ft of climbing.

Links
—Biking Tioga Road 2012 photo gallery