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.