I'm in Lake Tahoe this week for a job. It's really lovely up here. The lake is fantastically blue and very cold. 64 degrees on average. That is, probably, the first 5 inches. It's going to be colder as you go deeper.
I had a day off onTuesday. So one of my co-workers convinced us to go mountain biking. We rented bikes from the hotel. Jeff brought his own. Tells you how seriously he takes this sport. The guy at the sport shop suggested the Flume Trail. This was how water got from a man-made lake above Lake Tahoe to Virginia City. We were told it was a bit of up hill then, all down hill. It sounded fun. I haven't mountain biked since my friend Terry tried to kill me in Colorado Springs. So, basically, I am a pussy.
A bit of uphill was actually 5 miles uphill. And I will admit, I walked the majority of that. At 7000+ feet, I was breathing hard, my heart was pounding and I wanted to go back. I told Jeff that the Donner Party would still be alive if someone had spoken up and said, "fuck it, I'm going back." But they didn't and there's a bunch of stuff named for people who died.
After the 5 mile hike up it flattened out and the thin trail went along Lake Tahoe at about 1-2000 feet above the lake on a slippery track. It was fun and beautiful. When we posed for pictures we all used Jeff's bike. It doesn't have a kickstand. (Ask a mountain biker if mountain bikes have kickstands.) Jeff had to leave us behind. He had a conference call back at the hotel at 3 pm and we were slowing him down. I stayed with Mike. That is to say, I would wait for him to catch up to me. When we got to the end of the cliff trail, it was a steep downhill that was 3.3 miles long. Since I love speed, and being reckless, I booked down the trail with little regard for my own personal safety. The danger of faling off a cliff was nil. I would stop and wait for Mike. It took him longer for him to catch up to me. I was going 20+ mph, I think.
It was fun. Didn't die. ;)
I had a day off onTuesday. So one of my co-workers convinced us to go mountain biking. We rented bikes from the hotel. Jeff brought his own. Tells you how seriously he takes this sport. The guy at the sport shop suggested the Flume Trail. This was how water got from a man-made lake above Lake Tahoe to Virginia City. We were told it was a bit of up hill then, all down hill. It sounded fun. I haven't mountain biked since my friend Terry tried to kill me in Colorado Springs. So, basically, I am a pussy.
A bit of uphill was actually 5 miles uphill. And I will admit, I walked the majority of that. At 7000+ feet, I was breathing hard, my heart was pounding and I wanted to go back. I told Jeff that the Donner Party would still be alive if someone had spoken up and said, "fuck it, I'm going back." But they didn't and there's a bunch of stuff named for people who died.
After the 5 mile hike up it flattened out and the thin trail went along Lake Tahoe at about 1-2000 feet above the lake on a slippery track. It was fun and beautiful. When we posed for pictures we all used Jeff's bike. It doesn't have a kickstand. (Ask a mountain biker if mountain bikes have kickstands.) Jeff had to leave us behind. He had a conference call back at the hotel at 3 pm and we were slowing him down. I stayed with Mike. That is to say, I would wait for him to catch up to me. When we got to the end of the cliff trail, it was a steep downhill that was 3.3 miles long. Since I love speed, and being reckless, I booked down the trail with little regard for my own personal safety. The danger of faling off a cliff was nil. I would stop and wait for Mike. It took him longer for him to catch up to me. I was going 20+ mph, I think.
It was fun. Didn't die. ;)
1 comment:
COOL trip! And you are absolutely right about the Donner party.
Post a Comment