The High Road

I went up to Tahoe for Memorial Day Weekend to do a little riding and relaxing. On the drive up Friday after work I was surprised how much snow was left in late May.

After overnight lows in the 30s, I dragged my feet a bit before I went for a ride Saturday. I geared up and headed out to do the Flume ride. Unfortunately I only made it a few miles up Tunnel Creek before encountering a lot of snow. I went back to the condo frustrated with only 10 miles to show for it.

A burrito at T's made me feel a little better.

The next day I resigned myself to the fact I would be riding on the road. I decided to ride up to the summit on 431.

There was a little cloud cover overnight so it was a little warmer, but not much. I dressed as best I could for the classic cyclist conundrum of a long climb in the cold followed by a freezing descent back down. 

I started climbing through Incline Village and warmed up quickly. By the time I reached Highway 431, I was already sweating.

Towards the top I reached the turnoff for the Rim Trail. It's out there somewhere. 

Happy to be near the summit.

Made it.

The 2600 foot descent back down to the condo was pretty miserable. It's over 10 miles of 40-mile-per-hour wind chill, but it's over fairly quickly. Still, it took a long time in the shower before I could feel my fingers and toes again.

This morning I decided that I didn't want to ride on the road again, so I headed back home early to avoid the post-weekend traffic.

Not the greatest Tahoe trip ever, but a little clean mountain air never hurts. Back to the grind tomorrow.

Later.