I am the recent owner of a single speed hardtail mountain bike. While those non-cyclists may not understand the allure of riding with only ONE gear, I really like the simplicity, weight (light) and fact that I cannot dog it, as there's no granny gear to run to.
However, if one (read: me) is not feeling all that fresh due to a crappy night's sleep, an excess of pollen in the lungs and a 6 am riding start time, the single speed is not as fun as it usually is. I did my regular route (the only marginally hilly trail I feel comfortable on at this point) and it took a lot more effort to keep the pedals moving. Put simply, it was an ugly thing to watch, and I returned home exhausted and with lots more greenish yellow pollen in my mouth, nose and lungs.
I'm hoping that more sleep and some rain helps me do my new bike justice later this week.
The tree pollen has landed. Literally. Within the past few days, every pine tree in the region appears to be dropping its pollen simultaneously, leaving cars, driveways and sleeping dogs covered in a pale green film. If a breeze kicks up it means green clouds in the street, which is fun to watch if you're in the confines of a car or house with closed window. Less so if you're riding your bike through it.
On top of this pollen, a heat wave of sorts has hit South Lake Tahoe, with temps well into the 80s. With few homes in the area with air conditioning, this means that keeping the windows closed to keep the pollen out is simply not an option. Pollen vs. heat - it's really a case of the lesser of two evils. So I keep the windows open and accept that I'm miserable and can't breathe.
Yesterday I tried to beat the ridiculous heat and left the house early to ride uphill. While I felt pretty feeble and slow on the climb, I did have the satisfaction of passing 2 guys (one my age) on the ride down. Admittedly they appeared to be more of the roadie types (local road cycling club spandex tops, obvious discomfort on the sandy bits), but still - I passed them and made them eat my dust!!
I may suck horribly riding uphill, but my downhill skills have to be improving. Think of the possibilities once the pollen goes away!
So with the regular mountain biking I've been doing, I was feeling pretty good about my ability to keep up with others. Until this evening. I was invited to ride up Roundabout, a beginner trail at Heavenly with a neighbor and some of her friends to see the sunset. It's a standing Friday night ride, and everyone rides at their own pace up the sandy fireroad to the top of Heavenly's Groove chair. It's a little over 1,700 feet of climbing from the Heavenly parking lot within a few painfully long miles. The views at the top are stunning. But the slog to get to it is akin to carrying stones up steep, sandy hills with every step forward resulting in two steps back. And it didn't help that every single person in tonight's ride is a ski instructor (at Heavenly, natch), which gives them magical powers riding up this grunt of a hill - I swear none of the broke a sweat and they were all singing the entire way up. I was dead last within 15 seconds, and I was definitely one of the youngest riders.
Truth be told the views on the climb up are breathtaking too, with more of Lake Tahoe visible around every switchback. The problem for me was that I was sweating so hard that I was essentially blinded for most of it. To top it off, I realized 3/4 of the way up that my hamstrings were screaming because I'd not extended my seat all the way - which for non-cyclists, is a sure way to crippling yourself.
The views at the top were lovely, and the descent was a fast fireroad of sand and hard switchbacks (yes, I was last on the downhill too. Call it a well-honed sense of self preservation, and a long-standing love affair with my brakes). But I realized that I am a singletrack aficionado, and while I'd climb that same elevation in a heartbeat on well-cut singletrack, I'm not so sure I'll ride Roundabout again anytime soon. But that might just be my sour grapes talking, seeing how I got smoked by a posse of ski instructors tonight.
I've had many intentions of posting my latest cooking experiment, but the millet feta patties never quite 'pattied', and ended up a tasty but ugly mess. And the balsamic reduction over grilled fruit wasn't that pretty. That and we'd finished it before I'd remembered the camera.
With my conference now over and a very slight lull before some other projects (and vacation planning), I'm at a loss for exciting adventures to post. It's settled into a routine again - work, play, eat, sleep - and I'm not inspired enough to make my characteristic cynical observations. Maybe it's the continued rain & clouds? I say I like the change from the incessant sunshine, but maybe the greyness is taking its toll. In any case....
Our weekend was slightly stymied by the early onset of clouds & drizzle on Saturday, so we opted for a hike instead of a mountain bike ride. We headed to the Desolation Wilderness to see how snowy the trail to Lake Aloha was. It was mostly clear to the last half mile, and we would have explored further had the sleet and hail not hit us hard. Since we had the dog with us, and she doesn't have a rain jacket - oh the humanity - we turned back. It was a little under 13 miles, which is a decent hike, but not one that should have wiped the mutt out like it did.
I think this is a sign she's getting older.
Last weekend we attended the local roller derby team's first home bout. It was a great opportunity for me to see the rules of play in action, since I had seen and read about the game, but not seen it live. Before the bout began the announcer and teams ran through a demo 'jam' to show spectators what the game is about. I got it on film, with my shaky camera hand and all. A better video is the one that was put together by a local website, Tahoeticker. They had music and interviewed Sister Slayer, the president of the team. It's a good group of women who have really welcomed this (tattoo-less) noob, and I'm looking forward to actually playing a bout sometime soon.
