Claymore, seems we might have driven poor old Sabine out of her thread anyuway *G*, so I'll just take the creep a bit farther to say it was indeed the Russian River, but I'd no idea about the connection with Alaska, where I'd just been. In Alaska I was always close to people who knew the territory, but I was entirely on my own in California, and the few people I got talking to didn't know much about their own surroundings. Wish I'd had your number! (I'd been planning to go out from SF to Yosemite, but a cyclist in the hostel where I stayed persuaded me to do the coast instead. I guess I'll never know how the two rides compare, but surely Yosemite could not have been more spectacular than the ride I actually did.) The gradients were tough, but nothing like coming down from Fairbanks to Haines. (But then bikes these days have insanely low gears that allow people like me to potter along at 0.001 mph.)

Sorry to hijack your thread again Sabine - maybe we should be having this chat under a slightly more appropriate subject heading, Claymore!