The lake from every angle

Happy 60th birthday, Dad! (We'll do our best to make it possible for you to make it to 61.)

To celebrate Dad's birthday we rode around Lake Tahoe. There were no major climbs but it was far from flat. The entire loop was about 73 miles so we were prepared for a rather long day in the saddle. We went around the lake clockwise and the first half was a bit hilly with spectacular views of the lake. We passed the very green water of Emerald Bay and the very teal water of Rubicon and Meeks Bay. Many miles of this stretch was on a paved bike path which was nice because we didn't have to deal with traffic--just children on bikes--I'm not sure which is worse. We made it to the halfway point which was North Lake Tahoe and stopped for lunch. Jonathan wanted to find a place where we could sit outside in the shade so we could keep an eye on our bikes. We came across just what he wanted. After a lovely lunch, we continued on our way into the Nevada side of the lake and around the eastern coast. There were many more spectacular views and relatively flat (or at least much smaller climbs) terrain. All was well until we got back to Route 50--we were still about 20 miles from the house and had to deal with wind, traffic, and steeper downhills. Thankfully there was very little uphill work to be done and once we were back to our familiar stretch of road about 5 miles from home, Jon decided to go for the stage win. I was just doing my best to stay on his wheel and keep the time gaps to a minimum. His reasoning for going hard was because he doesn't like that stretch of road (poor pavement and lots of traffic) so there was no reason to tarry. We were all fairly tired but felt much better than our hot day up Kingsbury grade two days prior.

Mom and Dad went out to dinner for Dad's birthday and Jon, Jessica, Maeve, and I went out for burgers. A good time was had by all. We're looking forward to seeing some large trees tomorrow with some bike riding as well.

Another day at the lake

A tale of two vacations

Since the various people on this vacation had very different days this post will have two different authors. I'll start with the cyclists.

Jon, Dad, and I set out for a 55 mile ride with two climbs--Luther Pass and Daggett Summit. The first climb wasn't too terrible and all reached the top without too much difficulty. We then had about 12 miles of downhill where Dad had a slight mechanical issue but was able to recover. After that we rode into Nevada and were in the flats for quite a bit before we started our last climb of the day--an 8 mile slog up to Daggett Summit. It was hot and no shade for the weary. We started at about 4500 ft and climbed to 7300 ft. There were several sections where we had to deal with head and crosswinds. On our return Mom asked Dad if he was going to kill himself. His response--"What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." I said, "Until it kills you..." All three of us were pretty spent after the ride and therefore, tomorrow will be a rest day. --erin

Now it's time for a non-cyclist's perspective...this morning Cindy, Maeve and I went on a cruise around Lake Tahoe to Emerald Bay. We went on "Lake Tahoe's only authentic Mississippi Paddle-Wheeler" for a 2.5 hour tour. It was a hot, sunny day, and the water and sky rivaled each other in blueness. We sat on the top deck and enjoyed the view (and the UV rays...perhaps a tad too much, though not nearly as badly as Jonathan did. He's bemoaning his sunburn as I type this.) Maeve walked around the deck, enjoying getting wet from the paddle-wheels while Mom Mom held her, while insisting on wearing my new straw hat.

As we approached Emerald Bay, we saw a small island (the only island in Lake Tahoe)which had a Bald Eagle's nest in one of the large Sugar Pine trees. The water truly was green like an emerald--so different from the deep cerulean that the rest of the lake had been. Maeve, Cindy, and I had had enough sun at that point, so we went down a level to cool off and watch a short movie about Lake Tahoe history. Maeve proceeded to charm the other travelers around her, earning potato chips and compliments on her cuteness (to which she simpered and giggled). All in all, it was a lovely day on the lake together. --Jessica

A day at the lake

It would be difficult to have a better day than today. The weather was perfect--hot but not too hot and bright blue skies. Dad, Jon and I rode to Angora Lake while Mom, Jessica, and Maeve drove there. It was only about 7 miles away but the road to it was difficult to find due to conflicting maps and conflicting directions given by people we asked on the way. We ended up riding up one relatively steep road twice before we were on the road to the lake. The road to the lake was the only one described as "steep" on the one map we had so we were only slightly concerned. Two of the people we asked for directions also said that the road was steep but we all decided that "steep" is all relative. Thankfully the climb was short--a mile or so, and not as steep as yesterday's ride, but still rather difficult. Fortunately for us, there was a payoff at the top of this hill--a great view of various lakes surrounded by mountains.

To get to the lake, you had to hike a half mile uphill from the parking lot--Jessica enjoyed doing that with Maeve on her back. The lake itself was small but stunning. There was snow on some of the rocks around the lake and waterfalls flowed down past others. The water was a bit chilly but that didn't stop us from getting in. I enjoyed jumping off of rocks (little ones--there was a cliff that we watched some guys jump from that I was not about to attempt. It looked to be about 40 feet up.) and swimming under the waterfall, and sitting in the snow in my bathing suit. You can ask Dad what his reaction to the to water was when he jumped in (it's not blog appropriate). Jon got in and promptly got out and sat on a rock with a small child who yelled back to his mom, "I'm just sitting on his rock with a guy who's afraid to jump in the water." Maeve also enjoyed a boat ride around the lake.

The rest of the afternoon was spent napping and relaxing. I ventured out on the trails around the house to go for a short run. It turns out running at 6300 ft is slightly more difficult than running at whatever Manheim is at. I was also thinking every charred tree stump and shadow was a bear. I really have no desire to see any wildlife larger than a squirrel.

Tomorrow will be filled with more riding for the riders and a boat tour of Lake Tahoe for the non-riders. A fun time should be had by all.

I thought day one was supposed to be easy

It was a beautiful day here in Lake Tahoe. We got off to a slow start with taking care of some errands in the morning and putting bikes together. We didn't start riding until after the US/Ghana game (so unfortunate) so we decided on a short, easy ride to start us off. As soon as we first started going uphill, I definitely noticed difficulty in breathing. We are starting our rides at around 6300 ft and will usually ride to between 7000-8000 ft. After a few checks of the map to make sure we were going where we wanted to, we ended up on a road that went up at a very steep gradient. The climb was only about 5 miles, but it was at a ridiculous angle. Needless to say, I did not like going up or down it. The whole ride was only 25 miles but we were pretty beat. I'm hoping for some longer more average gradient (6-8%) rides in the near future.

The evenings here are quite relaxing. Tonight Jonathan and Jessica went out for dinner to celebrate their 6th anniversary and Mom, Dad, Maeve and I had a pleasant dinner here at the house. Mom and I ended our day with a hike around the area and unfortunately both of us are lacking a sense of direction.

A new Kahler Adventure

We're no longer taking on the Alps and there are now 6 of us instead of 5 but I'm sure there will be plenty of new biking/hiking/lack of communication stories to share over the next 2 weeks or so.

Our travel day went like "clockwork" yesterday or as close to clockwork as the travel plans could have gone. Jonathan, Dad, and I arrived in Reno in the early afternoon and laughed at the poor schmucks who drove away from the airport in their rental cars as we trekked over the median and across the highway with all of our luggage to our less expensive car rental place a mile down the road. Since Dad didn't have a form of communication, we sent him in a car by himself while Jonathan and I took both of our phones in the other car. Almost immediately Dad took one exit and we took another but eventually found each other again closer to Lake Tahoe. Jonathan and I spent most of the drive trying to figure out, "If I were Dad, what would I do?"

Later in the evening, we picked up the other half of our party at the Sacramento airport where we learned that Maeve thoroughly enjoyed her first flight. She enjoyed it so much she didn't sleep at all and was wide awake as we left the airport even though it was midnight eastern standard time. We all finally made it back to the house around midnight local time and our extremely long day of travel was over.

Currently Jon is working on assembling bikes and planning some rides. The weather is beautiful and it looks to be a great time here. We'll keep you posted.