Tour de Tahoe (Part 2)

When last we met, I was discussing our ride down Millionaire Mile. Man those were nice houses.

Once through that neighborhood, however, it was back to the highway. Amazingly the narrow two lane highways we were on most of the day never seemed as nerve racking as I thought they would be. Apparently, having already passed 500 riders cars had figured that there would be more, were looking for us, and gave us plenty of room.

Soon we were riding by all the cars parked above Hidden Beach (Lake Tahoe's nude beach for those not familiar with the area). So focused were we on the goal at hand, however, that even if the Hooters swim team had come hiking up tho their cars in the buff we would just have continued on towards the finish line. OK, you're right, it would have been rude not to stop for at least a couple pictures... Not an issue at any rate, there was nothing to be seen but crystal clear waters, mountains that looked like they were cut out of the sky and awesome granite boulders

After that came Sand Harbor which looked pretty busy and then the climbing began in earnest which earned this leg of the ride the theme song, AC/DC's "Highway to Hell". It was almost Johnny Cash "Ring of Fire" but after Ken suggested Highway to Hell I came up with a perfect tie in to the next leg so Highway to Hell it was.

I'm sure you're wondering how any part of this beautiful ride could be given such a tortuous sounding theme song. Let me explain. First, remember we're over 50 miles into the ride at this point. Regardless of how beautiful the route the legs are starting to tire. Second, at this point we started the LONG climb up Spooner Summit. Spooner is over 1000 vertical feet of climbing. Third, because of the time of day and the direction we were headed (south)the sun was beating directly down at us and there was very little shad despite the tall trees growing to either side of the road.

Ken had indicated that the next stop was at the top of this climb so I kept a mantra going in my head, "Just make it to the rest stop, make it to the rest stop, all down hill after the rest stop..." Of course, Ken rode on ahead to find a tree that looked like it was need of irrigation leaving me to contemplate the meaning of life and the chances this hill had no end. To say this hill was a grind was an understatement. Not only that but I kept passing and being passed by the same people. I'd pass them and a few minutes later they'd pass me, and then I'd pass them. Time seemed to stop and the only thing that still existed was the heat and the pain in my legs. But if I could just make the rest stop...

And then there it was, the shining city on the hill. Bikes were pulling off into the most beautiful oasis I had ever seen. Yes, it was just a pullout with a few tables setup but to me it was like seeing the rescue helicopter having been adrift in the ocean for weeks. I had made it! We were there! And then it happened... Ken walked up and said "Hey, how you doing, only a few more MILES to the top. Exsqueeze Me? It sounded like you said a few more MILES to the top. Red lights flashed in front of my eyes, voices in my head urged me to find the nearest large rock and bash Ken in the head repeatedly.

Luckily, more rational voices won out and I think I said something like "Oh, really, I thought you said the rest area was at THE FRIGGIN TOP OF THE HILL". At which point Ken informed me this was a new rest area they didn't have last year. Good thing I didn't listen to those voices... Anyhow, the rest area did do me some good. I downed generous quantities of liquid and felt a lot better and ready to push on.

Here's a few pics from that mid-climb rest area:

Here's the bottles of water I finished off while at this rest stop! :-)

After that it wasn't that bad a push to get up to the summit where another rest stop awaited.

At the summit some were saying it was all downhill from there. Ken urged me not to believe it as there were some more shorter uphill sections left. Having been up at Tahoe a couple days before when my wife, son, and I did a boat tour on the MS Dixie I already knew it was somewhat rolling from the bottom of Spooner back to stateline.

And so we pushed off, headed down the south side of Spooner Summit. The first few miles were a relatively steep downgrade with nice wide turns making for one smoking descent. The theme song for this section of the ride was Meatloaf's "Bat Out of Hell" (get it, Highway to Hell followed by Bat OUT of Hell?). Man was that a fun descent. The air was blowing past my face so fast my eyes were tearing like crazy and it felt like we were practically falling into the lake below us. It was sweet!

After the screaming descent it was a quick succession of ups and downs back to Stateline and the finish line at the HoHo. The one highlight was Cave Rock. At Cave Rock the highway goes through a tunnel drilled into this giant granite outcropping. Here's a picture:

As we approached the tunnel Ken called out "Make sure you honk your horn as you go through". So, there we were, riding through the tunnel, me calling out a low "HOOOONNNNKKK" while Ken chose a higher pitched "BEEEEEPPPPPP". It's the simple things that amuse us the most!

At the finish line, we rode under the FINISH arch together, then got out the camera and got pictures of each of us riding under the finish arch separately. It was an incredible ride, one that reminds you why you ride a bike in the first place. I've driven around Lake Tahoe dozens of times in my life and always been impressed but it just doesn't compare to having biked around it. And to cross the finish line with as good a friend as Ken, makes it even better.

Next ride - The Maywood Earth Century this Saturday. Updates to follow. Until then, Ride On!

Tour de Tahoe

Mark Twain once said, "To breathe the air that angels breathe, one must visit Lake Tahoe." It really is that beautiful. If nothing else I was eager for the Tour de Tahoe for the beautiful country we would be riding in. No cornfields on this ride!

I would like to say the day started bright and beautiful but that was not the case. No, the day started rather black. You could almost say it was night. OK, it was still night. We had to drive for over an hour just to get to Stateline where the ride started so we were up well before dawn, downed some breakfast and headed up into the mountains.

We arrived at the Horizon Casino Hotel (I wonder if they ever call it the Ho Ho)with a little bit of time before our scheduled start. We got the bikes out, made sure we had everything ready to go, and took a picture before the start. (WARNING: In all these pictures, Ken looks like he's ready for a Bicycling photo shoot, while I look like a swollen lemon. If you get nauseous easily, you may want to skip the pictures.)

No group start here, you got to the start and took off headed south towards the first big climb around Emerald Bay.

As we rode the route I realized that each section of the ride had its own flavor, if you will, and that a particular song described each section. For instance, the first part of the ride had me thinking of "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles. The reason I had this song in my head was because it was COLD, high 30's cold, at the start line and I knew if the sun would just make it above the ridgeline all would be good. I also knew that, sun or no sun, come the first climb I would be plenty warm.

The first part was relatively flat and Ken and I were both spinning pretty high cadences just trying to get the muscles loose and ready for the day's effort. I noticed there seemed to be ALOT of riders (as if the fact that I had number 1794 wasn't enough of a clue - YES, they started at 1).

We passed through the town of South Lake Tahoe and soon the first climb of the day loomed large before us like some menacing creature of the deep into who's venomous fangs we must ride as if the hounds of hell were at our backs (just wanted to throw in some cool alliteration (or whatever that's called) for fun).

We began the climb and I was feeling pretty good. Both of us were in our middle chain rings at the turnoff for Fallen Leaf Lake about which time Ken indicated he was going to go ahead and get in rhythm and promptly took off like a shot out of a cannon. I was able to keep him in site for awhile, however, and was just starting to think the climb wasn't too bad, and maybe I could just middle chainring it to the top when the road suddenly went up in such a manner that it made the climb up to that point look downhill. I was soon in my little chainring, big cog and pushing for all I was worth just to make forward progress. The middle of the hairpin turns felt almost vertical.

The song for this portion of the ride was REO Speedwagon's "In My Dreams". Not for the title but for the chorus, you know the part that goes:
We climb and climb and at the top we fly
Let the world go on below us, we are lost in time.
Very fitting I thought. At any rate, I felt really good to reach the rest area at the top of the climb with no stops. I was definitely breathing deeply (some might call it "sucking air" I suppose) but I felt pretty good.

Ken had been there for about 5 minutes or so already, so I found him, hit the snacks table for copious quantities of carbohydrates and large quantities of fluids (Cytomax was there sports drink of choice). The food was very good with a wide assortment of fruits, gels, bars, and even baked potatoes. Here are a few pictures showing just how many bikers there were and also what an incredibly awesome day it was.

The one bummer about this rest area, is that there's another short but fairly steep climb right out of the gate when you hit the road again. But it's not long and once you reach the top it's downhill for a few miles. There is but one song that fits the bill for this section of the ride and that is Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll! It is a rocking and rolling good time.

I will admit I was a little tentative on the downhills and a few riders blew by me as if I were standing still, but after riding in Illinois for a few years I had forgotten how intense the acceleration is and just how fast you can get going. Ken went around me and I believe he said his max speed was 46 mph. SMOKING!

The next rest area was at Homewood Mountain Ski Resort on the West Shore and it was amazing how quickly we were there. I couldn't believe it when I looked up and saw everyone turning in. Not that I was complaining about another chance to refuel.

It was at this rest area that we heard the story of the rider who had a bee fly down here jersey and stung her in the breast. Ahhh, the perils of biking. You should've seen the line of cyclists offering to suck out the stinger for her though!

This would also be a good time to mention that it was during this ride that I became aware of a certain bond that Ken and my dad share, probably without realizing it. You'll know from my earlier posts that my dad loves to visit every restroom of every stop on the bike rides we're on. Ken also visits every port-a-potty on the route. In fact, the regularly scheduled stops were not enough for Ken, throughout the ride he'd often ride on ahead so he could "water a tree" along the road when convenient.

At any rate, here's a a few pictures of the Homewood rest stop.

We were soon back on the road and headed around the Northwest portion of the lake. This was probably the flattest stage of the ride with some nice views of the lake. Temperatures were good and we were able to push a pretty big gear through this whole section. For the most part this portion of the ride was pretty relaxing and you could really pick any piece of classical music as the theme for this section.

There was, however, one piece of excitement in this section. As we rode along at a good clip we were passed by a highway patrolmen with his lights going. A little farther ahead we found where he was headed. There had been a bike wreck of some sort. There was a pickup truck that already had 4 or 5 bikes in the back, presumably the bikes of injured riders, and paramedics were tending to a female rider on the far side of the guardrail. We're not sure if she landed there after the crash or if they moved her there to get her out of traffic. At any rate, they were applying a rather large bandage to her thigh. Hope everyone was alright.

We soon arrived at our next stop, King's Beach, where our lunch was waiting for us. Lunch was advertised as submarine sandwiches, but these were more like mini-subs. Light on meat and toppings, but they hit the spot none-the-less. And what a great view we had while eating our lunch. Tahoe is one beautiful lake and it reflects the color of sky so perfectly, and on the day of the ride the sky was a deep, cloudless blue. Here's a few pictures to show what I'm talking about...

Check out what a great photographer Ken is, I think this is the best picture of me of the day!

To sum up the ride so far, everything was going extremely swimmingly. I felt energized, our pace was good, and the scenery was beautiful. You can insert the ominous, foreboding music here.

The next section from Kings Beach to the top of Spooner Summit began innocently enough. The route could be described as rolling. There were a few short climbs followed by mellow downhill sections that allowed you to put it in the big ring and crank away.

At Incline Village, we bypassed Higway 28 and rode along Lakeshore Blvd. This section of rode, nicknamed Millionaire Mile, lives up to that nickname. There are some incredibly nice houses along this section of the lake. I can't imagine what it would be like to live in that area (or to pay one of their mortgage payments for that matter).

I think I'll break here for right now and pick up the saga again, hopefully tomorrow

Aprehension

Five days until Ken and I participate in the Tour de Tahoe. It will be very interesting to see how my body responds to being back at altitude.

We arrived at my sister's house Sunday afternoon. Monday morning I went for a ride from her house up and over the hill into Lemmon Valley, rode down to the end of the road and then turned around and came back. On the way out I passed my sister returning from her early morning training run for the half marathon she'll be running in later this fall.

I hit the hill and the very cold morning suddenly felt a little warmer as my body began to feel the steepness of the climb. I was breathing in deeply but it didn't feel like I was getting much oxygen. This side of the climb is the steeper climb and I soon found myself in the little chainring big cog but I made the summit without stopping.

I zipped my windbreaker back up and started my descent to find another surprise, my brakes were woefully out of adjustment. Especially the rear brake, GREAT! I never realized this in Illinois because who uses brakes in Illinois? I stopped to adjust my brakes only instead of adjusting the barrel adjuster for the brakes, I was adjusting the barrel adjusters for the derailleurs. So now I had a bike with no brakes that wouldn't shift properly.

I coasted down to the bottom of the hill, scrubbing speed as best I could when needed. At the bottom I was able to correct my derailleur adjustment and then adjust my brakes so I had a lot more stopping power.

The trip back up the hill on the other side went pretty well, I even had a couple gears left at the top and the availability of brakes made the trip down much more enjoyable. From there it was a nice flat, quick sprint back to my sister's house.

Tomorrow, Ken and I are going to head out mountain biking. I'm looking forward to it. Maybe up in the higher country my allergies won't be bothering me quite as much as they have been here in the valley.

I'll update more tomorrow if I have the energy!

Ride on!