Escape on Ebbetts!

The California Wildfire's are really a mess. Here in Reno, we are even feeling their pain, with smokey skies. Lately, some days I wake up and it looks like we are in the LA smog, especially if the wind is coming from the West. My beloved golden state is on fire, and is more the "crispy-charbroiled" state of late!

But actually, my state these days is Nevada. Hot, dry Nevada. And Mike and I were both in need of a different kind of pain. The kind only felt when pedaling over 9,000' mountain passes on our beloved 2 wheels. With our Belgian Bike supplier in town, we thought we would treat him to some of the nicest bicycle riding in the West! So we borrowed our bosses bike and headed over to a friend's house and the four of us headed to Markleeville, in hopes of clearer skies and a day of pain and suffering. In other words, Heaven on a bike!

When we arrived, the skies were already bluer, and while it was HOT...it was dry. Our Belgian supplier opted out of the day of pain, and decided to chill out in town instead. But we could not be kept from our rides, so we bid him farewell (even though I felt a bit guilty leaving him...I forgot what these passes might look like to lowlander!) and headed out on rides. Before everyone starts thinking I am a bad host, this is an American guy, living in Belgium, and it was his idea to go on this ride...and we had driven an hour. Markleeville is a quaint little town, and there are worse places to be stuck on a sunny Saturday.

Oh my gosh it felt good to be pedaling by myself in the altitude, pain inducing climbs of Alpine County. All the Death Rider's were out training for the upcoming "ride of pain" and so I had company. I ended up riding up with some guys who were customer's of my old digs, Palo Alto Bicycles. I should have known with all the fancy bike gear and clothing! But mostly this was the first chance I have had for "my time". I was a little disappointed to have no snap in my legs and I even had to use my "23" whereas usually I can climb these passes in my 19 or 21. But I didn't care.

Ebbetts is my favorite pass lately. As it twisted above 7,000' the air cooled (and I had a darn headwind the whole way up!), and soon I was seeing patches of snow on the side of the road. The top felt like it came too soon, but I had no time to ride more (since I had a visitor). The real treat was there was a guy on top with COLD water and rice crispy snacks at the top. He asked if I needed refills and boy did I! After a brief chat and lots of gratitude, I headed down. Rode back with my newfound friends and ran into Mike just outside of town. The smokey days have really bummed us out---so we were happy for an escape from bad air! I also had a headwind back to the car. The wind had shifted and the valley was filling with smoke again. Sigh.

Happy Sunday!