Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

A couple of weeks ago we drove up to Grass Valley, CA (no jokes, now. At least, no until you realize that CA not only has Grass Valley but also Weed. Some jokes just make themselves) to ride the Gold Country Challenge Century. It's a new ride--this was only the 5th year--so it's not big, but it was worthwhile. It's also a fundraiser for the local Rotary Club, so about 30% of the entry cost goes to local projects (the rest goes to the costs of putting it on). The Gold Country is the Sierra foothills (west side), and my Ninja Librarian books are set in a town that would be something like the little places on the higher end of the area.  A few stats on the course: it is 98 miles, and every bit of it is either up or down, for a total of 9600' of climbing (or more, or less, depending on the mapping software you use). That total had me pretty intimidated, but in fact none of the hills was as steep or as long as many we ride routinely, so I wasn't as slow as I feared. It w...