Last weekend the boys and I did our final 50 mile training ride.  It was the first time they rode their bikes loaded up with gear.  Its distinctly different than riding an unloaded bike, so I wanted to get them some practice before we head out.  We did a fairly typical ride for us, back and forth along the California Aqueduct between Bethany Byron reservoir and the southern part of Tracy.  We mostly stayed off the road since it was Memorial day weekend and there were no doubt some drinkers out there in their cars.  Its a great route to ride but is unfortunately only open to bikes from the reservoir down to O'neil Forebay, near the base of San Luis Reservoir.  It would be nice to be able to do a multiday ride along the entire length of the aqueduct.  Some pictures appear below.

Kaden and Dante were not very impressed with the bike gates once they had to navigate them with a load.  These are intended to keep motorcycles out but allow bikes through but they are somewhat poorly designed.  They were obviously built in a time before shock forks and 135 mm rear axles, when bikes were narrower.  Even without a load we have to lift our bikes over about half of them.

Today I picked up our rental truck for the drive to our start at Klammath Falls tomorrow morning, and got some final things ready.  We are staying in a cheap motel Sunday night then starting riding first thing Monday morning.  The weather says there will be some light showers for the first couple of hours but I am hoping we will get lucky and there will end up being none.

A multiday ride will be an entirely new thing for Kaden and Dante.  Both have ridden some pretty long day rides with me but I don't think either considers themself a serious bicyclist.  Dante is somewhat light skinned and melts in the heat, so he may find the hotter days of the ride a bit of a challenge.  His favorite activity is rock climbing, both indoor and outdoor.  A video of him at our regular indoor climbing place appears below.  This particular route is way below his level due to the huge holds, but its the only relatively short video I could find quickly.

Kaden has insane cardio health due to all the time he spends on a VR game called Beat Saber, and it translates pretty directly to bicycling.  He is ranked something like 75th in the world at this game.  A video he posted on youtube in linked below.  I don't recommend watching the whole thing but maybe watch the first 15s to get an idea of what it is then jump to the 2 minute mark and imagine flailing your arms like that for another 7 and a half minutes.  All the time he spends in this game is no doubt partially why he now pulls away from me on bike rides.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJM-6S6IwfI