Day Five

We managed to slow Robb long enough for a photo.

That's why they call it Tahoe Blue.

Always time for a bakery stop.

Even our ace mechanic, Gerard, gets flats.

This is for Charlie...I'm the one on the left.

Scott is so happy today.

Robb halfway up the climb literally taking a breather.

Pam, one of the ABB guides, showing the legs that push HUGE gears.

Did we have to pick the highest one?

Electric soles, leg warmers, and Tahoe Blue.

Upper 30’s instead of low 30’s this morning so it wasn’t quite as cold a forecast but everyone pulled out all their warm gear (including electric soles) to get started a bit after 7am. I lead a nice leisurely pace through Truckee under bright blue skies and then Robb jumps out for an “8-mile-let’s-catch-everyone-on-road” run to Squaw Valley where we watched them light the flame from the 1960 Olympics (I thought it was never supposed to go out??).

Having had enough of that pace I decide to go to the lead again on probably one of the most beautiful bike paths I’ve ever ridden…pooling water and gently flowing streams running out of Tahoe toward the Pacific. The path took us to Lake Tahoe for a fabulous run around the north side and a third of the way south for a stop at the famous Brockway Bakery so we could carbo load before the featured climb of the day over Mt. Rose Summit.

The ABB support crew is terrific about anticipating our needs because they’ve run this route so many times. Although the SAG was at the top of the mountain they kept a van at the bottom as we went by so we could shed some of that cold weather gear and refill our water. The climb was an unrelenting 8 mile, 75-minute adventure and by the time we got to the top it was pretty cold again so we all reversed the clothing process. I thought I might beat Robb on the climb because he had breathing issues today. Turns out that he’s allergic to evergreen mold which is probably at it’s height around Tahoe right now. He beat me anyway!

Today’s virtual rider is my neighbor Nick Nicholson because I can remember some years ago when he used to ride the Alternative’s Valley Friendship Tour with us. The first year he was upset with himself because he struggled on Klondike Hill in Grafton so the next year he trained specifically to make the hill. Nick is now 90 and rides his special 4-wheeler every chance he can and I rode with him at the end of my last training ride before I came out here last week. I was thinking of Nick as I slowly made my way up Mt. Rose today.

The best part of the climb of course was the insane 16 mile, 4500 foot descent to the desert floor outside Reno. Although the temperature climbed 20 degrees as we raced down we were both blocks of ice at the bottom and, despite full-fingered gloves, both my hands were totally frostbitten so that shifting and braking was difficult. Half an hour at Starbucks got everything rosy again and we had a nice finish spin to the Holiday Inn.

So we’re over our first mountain range (Sierra Nevada) and we’ve finished our first state. Tomorrow is our first long day (91 miles) but, if the weather cooperates it should be another good one.

Today’s ratings:

Scenery: 9.5

Road Conditions: 9.5

Grunt factor: 6