Sick Air

Since we did not have any kids this past weekend we took a break in between soccer games to get a ride in. A friend of ours has been working on trails and doing an amazing job. We can get to a network of these trails right from home without driving our car in a matter of minutes.

This trail is in Ash Canyon and is named "The Creek Trail" or "Bear Creek" as it runs along a creek and there have been several bear sightings on it. In fact, the first time Brent rode this trail he had Chili Dog with him. They were minding their own business when he spotted a momma bear who ran up a tree and then her baby came right up to his wheel. He quickly back tracked and got the heck out of there and has not been back since until this day.

The trail starts from the bike path behind the community college and up a fire road. From there it is all down hill single track until you climb back out onto the fire road. From the fire road you climb back up a ways to the entrance of the trail called Deer Run, more down hill single track then to the Postal run (where I broke my ankle last year about this time) which has some off camber single track but is in much better shape this year. You end the ride with the Rabbit trail which is a very sandy twisty single track that ends with this sweet jump.

Brent and I did the jump over and over because it is that fun. Not to mention the weather has been just perfect for riding lately - we are very lucky.

Sunday on the Flume

A couple weeks ago Brent and I did the
Flume Trail for the first time this
season. We usually try to do this trail at least 4 or 5 times per summer but since we got the road bikes we have not been mountain biking nearly as much.

This is Max Jones in the background talking with Brent. Brent and Max play soccer together on a masters team (over 40) on Friday nights. As you can see here, they are in deep conversation about bikes. From what I understand, Max built the Flume trail and initially it was an illegal trail but thanks to his advocacy, it is now a legal and very widely known multi-use trail. It is open to hikers, horses, and mountain bikes in the summer and in the winter it is used for cross country skiing and snowshoeing.

There are also cabins available to rent. Brent and I actually stayed in the Wildcat Cabin one year for our anniversary. This was before I was such a biker and we had to pack our gear in on our backs. Lets just say I was crying when we arrived to the cabin and too tired to even make it to Marlette to see the lake! Times have sure changed...thank god.

We started from the parking area at Spooner Lake and headed up to Marlette Lake then took the trail clockwise around Marlette to the Flume then up a crazy amount of switchbacks and back down into Marlette for the decent back to the car. In total it was about 22 miles of goodness.

This is the other side of Marlette Lake once you are on the Flume. The trail is right at lake level here.





Here is the view of Sand Harbor from the Flume. This section of the trail is one of the most photographed of the entire route. It is a single track section that is way up in the mountain with a large drop off on one side. Our dog once chased a squirrel and fell down this section and Brent had to rescue him.

There is one section of the trail that has to be walked because it is too dangerous to ride. It was here where some dumb college kids tried to run me over because I was walking and they were not. I had to tell them that they were supposed to walk this section and they looked at me like I was retarded. Then they walked the section and realized why. It was these same college kids that I passed that were walking up the steepest section of the climb from Spooner.

Here I am climbing yet another hill. This is one of the more challenging rides that we do fitness wise, it will definitely max out your heart rate.

Here I am at the crossroads near the end of the most awesome section of downhill single track that is on the Tahoe Rim Trail. This is the reason we climbed the crazy amount of switchbacks so that we could come down this section rather than climb it.






This is a vista where you can see both Marlette Lake and Lake Tahoe. We took this picture using the delay setting on the camera, got the horizon a bit crooked which reminds me of a Todd Snider song...It's a Crooked Piece of Time that We're Livin In...

The wildflowers are still in bloom in sections of the trail. This is the last little climb out from Marlette Lake to the downhill that takes you to Spooner.

The hardest part of this trail is the climbing but there are several ways to do the loop and there is even a shuttle if you only want to do part of it. This recreation area makes me thankful I live where I do. It is only 20 minutes from our house and absolutely gorgeous.

Madison's 2nd MTB Ride

Sunday Madison and I went on her second mountain bike ride. This time I took her on another of my lunch rides the V&T or railroad grade. This trail has options to either do technical stuff or not so it was good practice for her and she did not have to do the hard stuff if she did not want to.

Here she is going down the first set of little hills. They seem little to us but to her, it was huge. She was pretty tired from the weekend (basketball and soccer games) and a late night the night before (see previous post) so she was not to hip on the climbing this time. She would hessitate for a few minutes at the top and have this scared look on her face but she would do the downhill.

Here she is at the turn around point of the trail. Taking a breather and being all proud of herself. She is still learning all the technical stuff so I warn her in advance of any obsticles and tell her how to menuver or how to avoid that section. There is one point in the trail that is real narrow and goes around a corner and on the one side is a steep hill. Here is a picture of my buddy Todd falling at that very spot. Ok, there was some snow involved, whatever. So I tell Madison about the turn and that if she gets scared she can just walk that section. I go first and stop to turn and watch her and she practically ran me over she was behind me the whole time and said that it was no big deal.

The other fear that she concured was a steep little hill with lots of loose sand on it. We walked up the hill on the way in and now it was time to go down that hill. She hesitated for quite a while on this one and was truly scared. She would not let me take her bike and have her walk she wanted to do the hill. She finally let it rip and almost lost it in the sand but recovered and made it down. Her poor little face had a look of terror on it as she was coming down but she was so happy afterwards.

She said she prefers the other trail we did but this one was ok and she would do it with me again. She also mentioned more than once that she had fun biking with me so I know it was a good experience for her. We also saw lots of butterflies and a rabbit! She loved that part as well.

Madison's 1st Mountain Bike Ride

Let me start by saying Madison (9) is a triathlete, soccer and basketball player - she is an athlete and avid bike rider. However, she (until yesterday) would not ride in the dirt. "Too scary" she would say. Being an avid mountain biker myself, this brought me much sadness.

In an effort to get her on the dirt last summer I purchased a used mountain bike from my friend Kathy.
It is a Specialized hard tail that is just her size and her first bike with actual gears and a front suspension. Brent and I took her out about a week after we bought it to the bike path that leads to our lunchtime dirt trails. In all fairness, she was still learning to shift but did try the dirt without much luck. We used the bike all summer to commute to summer camp and work respectively.

A couple of weeks ago Brent ordered her some new tires with better traction thinking that might help her concur her fear of riding in the dirt. Yesterday when she got home from her weekend with her dad I took her over to the bike path after I had already done my 9 mile solo ride so I was in post ride Zen mode - perfect for teaching.

We parked at the entrance to what I call the WNCC Marina and rode to the bike path. She was a bit nervous but excited to be out with me on bikes. She is still at the age where I know more than she does and I don't completely suck to be around. We headed north on the bike path til it ends and then made a left up the Observatory loop. She actually had a great pace going but did want to stop for water breaks. There were options to bail out but she did not take them she wanted to go all the way to the top. The downhill was a bit intimidating for her at first but she was ready to go once I told her I could take a video on my cell phone of her coming down.

My baby girl did the entire loop and did not fall once! She did better than I did the first time I rode that trail and her bike weighs more than mine does. I could not have been more proud of her than I was yesterday. We had a blast and she wants to go again next weekend. I think we will try the V&T.

I am counting the days....