Destination: Worton’s Market, Foresthill
Mileage: 32.7 miles
Trailhead: Auburn
Elevation: 1,264 up to 3,056 feet
For this adventure the usual stats don’t come close to giving a cyclist an idea of the ups and downs to come on this ride. It’s not a mere 1,792 foot climb to a delicious burger. There is a long climb to a brief reprieving downhill, followed by another long climb, with a little downhill, rinse, lather, repeat all the way to Worton’s.
As I was gathering data for this post I was trying to nail down that number – ha, what a joke! Endomondo tracked my data throughout the ride, please note, I typically don’t pause the time during the ride, because I know I’ll forget to turn it back on. Anyway, the reported total ascent was 2,517 feet. To check this number, I entered the route on Google Maps – 4,298 total ascent. Alright…so I got out my DeLorme mapping software and created a route – 7,756 total ascent. What?! The DeLorme route was set to hiking and only one way, but the sport shouldn’t matter and I can handle a simple times two multiplication.
Based on a little internet searching for others who have done this ride, I’d say there’s about 3,000 feet of leg-pumping ascents. DeLorme will definitely be the outlier in this equation.
Enough with the numbers, this ride starts with an adrenaline-filled descent down Foresthill Road to the Foresthill Bridge. Try not to think about the fact that you’ll have to climb back up that hill to end your ride. Nothing like a nice little cool down to lower your heart rate and relax your muscles…
Smokey Bear says keep pedaling!
This route is a great training route for hill climbs. While it is along a somewhat busy road, the shoulder is decently wide 95% of the time. Plus, due to the popularity of the route, folks that drive this road routinely are use to cyclists on the shoulder.
The ride up was filled with sweeping views of the canyon and thoughts of juicy burgers. Once we arrived at Worton’s, Route requested the biggest burger they had. Looking at the menu, the Bigfoot burger it is! All four of us ordered different burgers and all four of us devoured them. The fries however, could use a little less time in the fryer, not that we didn’t eat most of those also.
Worton’s – the best view I’ve seen while ordering a burger.
After some panoramic photo shenanigans we hoped on our bikes and flew down the mountain in about half the time, with of course the exception of the hill climb back up to Auburn.
Fancy seeing you two here!
Next stop – Tahoe!
Trails
Trails' Guide 
Next time drop into the ravine down Mosquito Ridge Road and enjoy the river at the bottom and then turn around and start the 9 mile climb back out.
Oh man, that would be a glute burner! Thanks for the tip.