3rd annual ride around lake tahoe 6.19.10

yes, finally - the 3rd annual ride around tahoe! we arrived pretty late friday night & had a couple chores in the morning (bell mounting, pedal swaps and tire pumping) but managed to start the ride just before 10am Saturday. greg rode his 1973 schwinn paramount factory custom piss yellow colored extra braced bicycle sculpture and i rode a 1971 raleigh super course w/custom drivetrain and "hammered into submission" rear rim. from lakeshore blvd. at incline village to hwy 28 1st thing in the morning might be my favorite part except for that incredible long descent from the hwy 50/28 junction - so cool. makes the extended climb almost worth it. ;>)... but before we could do that long, fun downhill Greg needed something and he needed it badly. i arrived at the hwy 50/28 boat inspection station to find all the car hoods up and Greg checking everyone's oil. i figured he was applying for a new job and demonstrating the extra service he could provide the inspectees vehicles but i should've known better - he was actually wiping the dipstick oil off onto his bike chain because the chain squeak was driving him batty. this took awhile, then we had a blast racing downhill and into south lake tahoe where there was (naturally) a car show going on. we checked out everything and most received thumbs up - good selection and polish this year. The sound of that old Mercury idling was music to my ears...

car show behind us we raced through south lake asap, not much to see there. arriving at our usual lunch spot in camp richardson about 1pm it was time for some bike fuel - club sandwich and sobe green tea, please. ahh, perfect. always take it easy after lunch on the bike path but there is that emerald bay road to climb, grr. this is about the hardest climb of the ride & it seems to get easier each time - interesting because i thought i was in about the worst physical shape of the 3 rides so far but the '71 super course must've been set up just right and made it the easiest of the 3. a 180mm length TA triple crankset and old broken in brooks b15 saddle are great for touring i guess... the downhill run past bliss park after the emerald bay climb was pretty epic - not much wind, clouded over & cool mid afternoon with about 3 cars behind me at the run-out. one gave a short honk & smile as he passed :>). we skipped the tahoma stop as we both felt well fed & hydrated, rolled through homewood and stopped in tahoe city for a break. it was funny seeing the fish jumping for bread crumbs thrown by the tourists at fanny bridge.

the rest of the ride was pleasurable and uneventful and we rolled back to incline together about 6pm. Greg typically has "head for the barn" syndrome after tahoe city and beats me by about 15 mins. but that 42-24 gear combo kept him down to my pace this year. ok, what's for dinner? salmon, sauteed zucinni w/onions in olive oil, wild rice combo and martinis! a just reward for the days efforts.

more pics here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericm/sets/72157624328579254/

pics from the '09 ride:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericm/sets/72157622368662010/

pics from the '08 ride:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericm/sets/72157605802075362/

'til next time, "Have a Nice Ride"...