Lake Tahoe
74.3 mi, 4506 ft
Riding the rim of Lake Tahoe is my final training ride before the main event, the make-or-break before heading into the century brimming with either confidence or terror. Billed on a website on the internet as "America's Most Beautiful Ride", the Lake Tahoe circumference combines the heady trinity of distance, climbing and altitude.
Seven of the team bravely set out into the brisk South Lake Tahoe morning. With quite a large group, over quite a lot of hours, statistics dictates that something was bound to go wrong I excitedly noted. But what would it be?
The GPS first routed us along a bike path, and shortly thereafter onto a main road wherein a steep ascent quickly loomed. The team fell silent, huffing, puffing and chest clutching in the thin air, climbing up over Emerald Bay, fortunately without attrition. Marvellous vistas of the lake and surrounding forests rewarded the collective asthma attack, followed by a terrific hurtle down a steep straight-ish road, naughtily slightly violating the speed limit signs.
We travelled up the west side of the lake, through coniferous forests, past multi-million dollar mansions, musing how many team mates would be required to pool our collective resources to set up a Tahoe commune. Nearing the north side of the lake, the first equipment failure struck as one rider could no longer access all the gears. Fortuitously, we stumbled directly upon a bike shop that rapidly switched the gear cable and all was momentarily well.
Until the team paused at a traffic light to regroup, and one member turned up with blood aggressively spurting from the knee following a tumble. Just a scratch, she asserted, and carried right on riding.
A deeply carby lunch was pleasantly consumed at a grill in Kings Beach. The team somewhat sore following my insistence that we may not stop for copious ingestion prior to the halfway point, despite riding past several restaurants a few miles prior. Fifteen hundred calories, one salt pill and three ibuprofens later, I was once again ready to ride. The blood from injured team mate's knee had clotted into the sinister apparition of a smiley face.
The Nevada portion of the lake commenced smoothly, with terrific tail winds propelling us up hills at greater than twenty miles per hour. There was one more long climb to come, halfway down the east side of the lake. A few fistfuls of salt pills and painkillers later, and the whole team happily attained the summit.
The final section of the ride comprises a hair-raising descent down the 50 coming from Reno, which is quite positively an expressway in this section. One rider made the sage decision to get a ride back and avoid the high odds of splattering death by traffic. I cranked my bike lights up to epilepsy-inducing mode, and brought up the rear guard.
The worst section completed, the team reconvened with ten miles to go then set off again through the ghastly casino-filled border town and back into California. Upon pausing at a light, it was noted that unfortunately only half the remaining team was to be found, with three quite missing in action. We waited... and waited... and tried to call them... and... nothing. Filled with confidence that half the team were squished somewhere on the 50, the survivors made the executive decision to ride the final couple of miles back to the airbnb to procure a vehicle with which to retrieve any remains.
Fortunately, a call was then received from one of the missing party, already back at the house. All were rather alive, and had taken a different route back. A happy ending to the perfect ride.
Was it America's Most Beautiful Ride? That question will not be resolved in my mind for some time, as there are many rides I have yet to undertake in America. At this time, I will strongly intimate the following: the Lake Tahoe Rim is the most beautiful ride I have yet ridden in America, or anywhere else.
Riding the rim of Lake Tahoe is my final training ride before the main event, the make-or-break before heading into the century brimming with either confidence or terror. Billed on a website on the internet as "America's Most Beautiful Ride", the Lake Tahoe circumference combines the heady trinity of distance, climbing and altitude.
Seven of the team bravely set out into the brisk South Lake Tahoe morning. With quite a large group, over quite a lot of hours, statistics dictates that something was bound to go wrong I excitedly noted. But what would it be?
The GPS first routed us along a bike path, and shortly thereafter onto a main road wherein a steep ascent quickly loomed. The team fell silent, huffing, puffing and chest clutching in the thin air, climbing up over Emerald Bay, fortunately without attrition. Marvellous vistas of the lake and surrounding forests rewarded the collective asthma attack, followed by a terrific hurtle down a steep straight-ish road, naughtily slightly violating the speed limit signs.
We travelled up the west side of the lake, through coniferous forests, past multi-million dollar mansions, musing how many team mates would be required to pool our collective resources to set up a Tahoe commune. Nearing the north side of the lake, the first equipment failure struck as one rider could no longer access all the gears. Fortuitously, we stumbled directly upon a bike shop that rapidly switched the gear cable and all was momentarily well.
Until the team paused at a traffic light to regroup, and one member turned up with blood aggressively spurting from the knee following a tumble. Just a scratch, she asserted, and carried right on riding.
A deeply carby lunch was pleasantly consumed at a grill in Kings Beach. The team somewhat sore following my insistence that we may not stop for copious ingestion prior to the halfway point, despite riding past several restaurants a few miles prior. Fifteen hundred calories, one salt pill and three ibuprofens later, I was once again ready to ride. The blood from injured team mate's knee had clotted into the sinister apparition of a smiley face.
The Nevada portion of the lake commenced smoothly, with terrific tail winds propelling us up hills at greater than twenty miles per hour. There was one more long climb to come, halfway down the east side of the lake. A few fistfuls of salt pills and painkillers later, and the whole team happily attained the summit.
The final section of the ride comprises a hair-raising descent down the 50 coming from Reno, which is quite positively an expressway in this section. One rider made the sage decision to get a ride back and avoid the high odds of splattering death by traffic. I cranked my bike lights up to epilepsy-inducing mode, and brought up the rear guard.
The worst section completed, the team reconvened with ten miles to go then set off again through the ghastly casino-filled border town and back into California. Upon pausing at a light, it was noted that unfortunately only half the remaining team was to be found, with three quite missing in action. We waited... and waited... and tried to call them... and... nothing. Filled with confidence that half the team were squished somewhere on the 50, the survivors made the executive decision to ride the final couple of miles back to the airbnb to procure a vehicle with which to retrieve any remains.
Fortunately, a call was then received from one of the missing party, already back at the house. All were rather alive, and had taken a different route back. A happy ending to the perfect ride.
Was it America's Most Beautiful Ride? That question will not be resolved in my mind for some time, as there are many rides I have yet to undertake in America. At this time, I will strongly intimate the following: the Lake Tahoe Rim is the most beautiful ride I have yet ridden in America, or anywhere else.
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