The Bacon Strip

workworkbeerworkbeer bike trip workworkworkbeerbeerwork….

and so the spring and summer have progressed. we’ve had a couple of great trips abroad (beyond the Basin & Range) that I haven’t chronicled. I’ve been itchin’ to get something out there and figure NOW IS THE TIME. at the moment i’m perched on a stool between the bench grinder, vise, floor fan, and stereo speakers. Wayne the Train is telling me about being “Wild, Free, and Wreckless” and i’ve got a Britney (Pabst Blue Ribbon with a wedge of lime - thank you The Imbiber!) next to the caps lock key.

summer started with a kick meeting the Garros, V Nasty & Smithers in Utah on the Markagunt Plateau for lots of killer trail riding on and around the Virgin River Rim Trail, camping, cooking, sipping barley pop, and fishin in Navajo Lake. actually, despite my Dad’s best efforts to learn me to fish as a kid, i proved to be a bit inept at the activity as an adult. Steve, on the other hand, was more like a sensi in his patience and advice… “oh, you want to face the other way” he offered as i sat down in the front of the canoe facing him. “grab the net!” as he reeled in another tasty trout, which i promptly fumbled and inadvertently released. “no worries, you touched it so it counts, besides, there’s more where that one came from” was his response. finally, i managed to send a lure 60 feet across the lake - w/o fishing line. humph, i guess riding bikes, and climbing and geeking out in the lab most of the time do a lot to help me forget the mechanics and subtitles of catching fish. thank goodness for people who know the way. the trout we all shared that evening reminded me that procuring one’s own food from the real world is a practical, tasty, and important skill.

well, at least i kept up OK on the bike rides that we all got to do. between the Virgin River Rim Trail and all of the spurs off of it, there are easily days worth of mileage out there. mileage good enough to warrant repeat visits.

all of that travelin’ is a ton of fun - helps make the stints of too much work and not enough star gazing more tolerable. then, i get the occasional weekend trail ride in close to home that totally reminds me that NW Nevada is pretty much a world class kickass place to live. Jawox and i got out for a super fun XC ride from highway 431 at Tahoe Mdws out the Tahoe Rim Trail to Marlette Lk. and what the… a rope swing, this needs further investigation!

more recently, i had a window of opportunity - Shredder took the dogs backpacking in the high Sierra leaving me to be a class-B bachelor for the weekend. i was up at 0500 Saturday, and on the trail by 0630 heading south from Tahoe Mdws on the Tahoe Rim Trail. i set out for my annual pilgrimage across the eastern horizon of the Tahoe rim, riding trail past US50, Dagget Summit, Heavenly, and finally descending past Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and down to the trailhead at Big Mdw campground. i kinda poached the first 8 mile section of the trail, that day being an even numbered calendar day and the trail open to bikes only on odd numbered days. does a bike make a sound in the forest if no one sees it pass? probably not… but karma sees you. riding south in the dawn light i couldn’t help but notice flagging along the trail and the early stages of an aide station going being staged a few miles in - i figured an XC foot race or extierra triathalon or something was going to happen that day. after 30 or 40 minutes i popped out at the Tunnel Ck Road (where the bike control ends) and found a fully full-on aide station set up in the woods. tents, pickups, and people milled about, and a runner streaked down the road just out of view. thinking i’d beat the system i rolled on south down the trail, free of conflict abatement related mtb access hang-ups, i merrily hammered on. just around the corner the first few runners approached. cool, i jump off trail and cheered them on. i passed a fellow sitting on a rock and chatted, ooooohhhhhh, 100 mile foot race, 400 participants. ever seen hundreds of people with runners’ high?

i creeped the next few miles 10 to 100 feet at a time between runners. every one of them i said hello to, clapped, cheered, and yielded the trail with enthusiasm. how cool is it to see so many people going for it?! in fact, i got meet Catra, someone i’ve read about through the Birthday Challenge webpage. man, these people doing a foot race that will last 24 hours, more or less, and Catra is “detouring” from her effort at running the length of the Pacific Crest Trail to jump in on the 100 mile race! “1200 miles into it, stopped at Sierra City to come out and run this race…” god speed, Catra, have fun out there!

the rest of my day was as good as biking gets. no flats, no crowds, just 64 miles of trail at altitude and a little bit of road as connectors. weather was calm, warm on south facing slopes, and visibility limited only by the curve of the earth. among the people i shared the trail with were a few groups of through-riders who organized themselves on the www.mtbr.com forum, a dirt unicycle rider heading for Marlette lake, 2 ladies bike touring up to Star Lake - Freel Peak, and several groups of happy backpackers.

at US89 i had a tough call to make, continue riding trail to the south and the night out (inquire about bunk space at Sorenson’s in Hope Valley?), or drop off the trail and backtrack to my vehicle. it was after 4pm and it’d been trail riding for 9 hours, so i called it and turned efforts towards closing the loop. i hit a gas station in Meyers for a tuna sandwich, water, and Gatorade. 4+ hours later i hit the flats of Tahoe Mdws, peeled off the arm warmers i’d resorted to, turned off my tail light flasher, and changed into jeans and a woolie. i was just getting dark and i was pretty darn happy. i got to ride my bike for 14 hours.