infinitely sustainable pace

Once upon a time I was a young woman with the ink still wet on my college degree and not enough distance behind a really awful relationship. Uncertain about what I was doing next (more snowboarding? grad school? working?) I had actually semi-decided that moving to Lake Tahoe  (sight unseen) would be a good change of pace. About that same time I met this guy, followed shortly by a job at this place, and I wound up settling in nicely in VT for the long haul.

This week I had to head out to Squaw Valley near Lake Tahoe for some business meetings and it seemed that finally I was going to get a taste of the Tahoe experience that I had so seriously considered. Apparently lots of folks from VT share this Tahoe dream. Most of the waitstaff at the hotel – from Vermont. The guy at Olympic Bike Shop who helped me out — from Waterbury/Stowe area of VT.

I rented a little wheeled, full-suspension, totally geared Trek Fuel 5.5 for the day. Except for the annoyingly small wheels, it was a good bike. Well maintained, it shifted flawlessly even though I never did get it out of the middle ring.

Barry at the bike shop gave me a whole bunch of verbal instructions for a good ride. All of which I promptly forgot as I rolled out of Tahoe City on the bike path toward the nearby trails. The first half of the ride I stumbled and fumbled around with the route. Following likely folks, trusting my instincts and even glomming onto a little group for a while. Trails were fun, west coast style and the sunshine and temperature was absolutely perfect.

not sure what trail this was, but it was fun.

After the first two hour loop, I headed back up the mountain to do another, different loop. One  that was supposed to drop me at the bike path near Squaw. Not sure what happened or what turn I missed, but I definitely missed the turn. I knew I wasn’t heading the way I wanted to go and my water was starting to run low. Seemingly stuck on a northbound fireroad I weighed my options. Turn around  and climb 4-5 miles up the fireroad to the top and go back down the way that I knew. Or continue forward and hope things worked out okay.

self portrait overlooking squaw valley

I knew that the road I was on was headed toward Truckee, and it wasn’t really that far in the big picture. It was also downhill. So I stuck with it. Already at this point I was conserving my water so it would last as long as possible. Which was good, cause this fireroad went on forever. And i never saw another person.  After several miles I finally saw some more bike tracks. And that gave me some hope and I kept following them, knowing that they had to come from somewhere. After a while, I found a nice singletrack trail with lots of tracks. So I took it. And it was good and fun. I came to an overlook and saw the river and the highway where I needed to be – way far below me. But the good news, was that it was nearby.

far, far below is where I need to go

At long last I found myself in downtown Truckee and pointed the bike onto 89 to head the 13 miles back to Tahoe City on the road. Those were a long 13 miles, though the riding was easy. I ran out of water with 3 miles to go. I hadn’t eaten well during my ride, and it caught up with me at the bitter end. My feet were burning in pain (have to figure out what’s happening with that) and my arse was destroyed from the strange saddle.

I rode a total of 57.5 miles (thanks Garmin for clocking that for me). Was out for 6.25 hours. Climbed  a reletively easy, middle ring happy, 4000+ feet and descended the same. That would make this my 2nd longest mountain bike ride, after PMBAR. It was totally awesome, even the getting lost part. Headed home to the East Coast now, but feeling pretty bummed about leaving before getting to explore more. I think I would have enjoyed doing the Tahoe thing and would love to come back and spend a week or more riding all the awesome trails.