fausto coppi - il campionissimo

ride around lake tahoe 9.12.09

2nd annual ride around the lake! riders were greg on his full mavic rossin, curt on his bob jackson and me on the masi 3v. we started a bit late from incline village under partly cloudy skies. clouds progressively increased during the day keeping temps in perfect 60's riding range. only one problem: curt's rear brake was non functional missing a recessed nut. they tried to coerce one off the masi the night before but i was having none of that. really no problem actually even down the hwy 50 grade to lake tahoe from spooner lake - i thought if curt wore gloves he could just use 'em like the track guys do but on the back tire ;^). as it turned out he didn't even need his rear brake but we stopped for quite awhile in south lake while greg procured the correct nut to restore curt's machine back to sanity. getting to camp richardson was a priority for me after that and we wasted no time dodging cars and broken glass to beat a hasty retreat to our planned lunch stop. we ate on the front porch watching our parked bikes and the passing parade. rain was detected when someone reached their hand out from the porch, we soldiered on the bike path towards the emerald bay overlook. this is the toughest climb of the whole ride but relatively not so bad. snapped a pic at the overlook and we were gone again - still climbing and then a nice downhill. climbing up the other side of emerald bay we made it to the best downhill of the ride which is around d.l. bliss state park - greg's bike computer read 50mph here last year! this year gave us a headwind and no one had a computer so no records were broken. more bike path fun on the rubicon side of the lake until we reached tahoma and stopped to fuel up with anti-bonk substances. i didn't bonk this year but felt the same as last year around mile 50 - i was done. didn't want to ride anymore. where's the sag wagon? oh right, there isn't one. keep riding... the homewood bike path sections are a lot of fun with switchbacks crossing the highway, definitely keeps you alert. we took another break at fanny bridge in tahoe city to regroup and catch our breath and check out the --- ducks and fish ;^). the bike paths outside of tahoe city were a bit challenging due to some road construction but we finally figured them out. curt and i slowed down a bit in tahoe vista and i was pretty tired so took a break in king's beach for brockway grade coffee ice cream fuel - that got me home.

more pics here:

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

'twas a nice day gentlemen, let's do it again soon! 'til next time, "have a nice ride". -e

coraline video by JuneBug

hope you guys don't mind this vid but a friend of mine made it and i think it's HIGHLY creative, and it DOES have a penny farthing bike wheel in it...