Former Couch Potatoes

Last year at this time, days off were for "movie days." Movie days were junk food, wine, and movies! We had no energy, but sometimes we would go for a hike, go shopping in Reno (to prepare for these movie days, and to buy food for the coming week), or we would stay the night at a casino in Reno and do the same--order a pizza or room service, wine, and movie. The next day we would feel like crap but the next week we were likely to do it all over again!

This year we have been getting out a LOT more, riding our bikes, and finding new mountain bike trails. Dave's been working non-stop on his bike: fixing the things he can fix, upgrading, and taking it to the shop when there is something he can't fix or order on his own. We've tried rides in Carson City (Ash Canyon) and rides around Tahoe (Sidewinder, South Lake Tahoe to Camp Richardson, Tahoe City). The ride we did yesterday would not have been possible last year, even if we had wanted to do something like that!

This ride was Dave's idea and he figured out the route. He had done most of this ride with his friends in July and wanted to do it again. He asked his friend Mike to go with us on this adventure... The total ride was 29 miles with 2,274 feet of elevation gain and around 4 hours of riding time (breaks and lunch not included). We use the Strava app to track our rides. I like it because it keeps track of your personal records and you can see your total for the year in miles and elevation gain.

One of our first rides in Ash Canyon, just outside of Carson City. 

Tahoe Flume Trail overlook, around 1,600 feet above Sand Harbor. To get here you have to start at Spooner Lake, ride up to Marlette Lake (4 miles of climbing over a thousand feet), and along the Flume Trail. 

This is part of the "reward" after the climbing starting from Spooner Lake. 

You ride up to and around Marlette Lake.

View of Sand Harbor below.

This was my first time ever seeing Hobart Reservoir. There is a shorter (but steep) climb from the Flume to Hobart, then a little more climbing before the rest is all downhill to Washoe Valley!

We had to walk our bikes over the Red House Dam. This was a little tricky for me at first...I think I still look like I don't know what I'm doing (I didn't!).

This view was very welcome! We were close to being finished, but from here there were probably still 10 miles to go! We rode into Lakeview and down to Washoe Valley. We live at the north end of Washoe Lake and we were planning to ride to the house! Mike thought we were all crazy by this point but he kept going. He hadn't ridden in three years or so but Dave convinced him to go with us....

The worst part of the whole ride (in my opinion) was riding along Eastlake Blvd. People drive really fast and the road doesn't have much of a shoulder to ride on. We survived though and are really sore today! I'm planning to ride again on Tuesday but right now my knees don't want me to even look at my bike for a few days!