Personal Narrative: Lake Tahoe Ride

This spring I spent two-weeks in New York visiting my daughter and her family. I spend a lot of time in the city, and I love it, not only because my daughter has chosen to create and raise a family in Brooklyn, but also because of its walkability. I’m not much of a shopper, but I do like to watch other shoppers, particularly those who dress as if they’d like to be watched.

But most of all I just love to let the sidewalks lead me by the parks, down the broad avenues and narrow streets, and even over the bridges. As I watch and listen to the visual signatures of the city, I appreciate its olfactory experiences as well. The pleasing scents of the bakeries, breweries, and restaurants more than compensate for the occasional ruptured garbage bag.
I did it because I don’t feel too bad biking, and if I do have surgery it’s going to be a long time before I can do that kind of thing again.

And the Lake Tahoe ride was wonderful, something all able-bodied should try to experience once. Circling the lake in a ride billed as America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride was incredible. We began in the chill of 6:30 am, with spectacular sun angles on mountain and water, and ended 8 hours later in the warm afternoon after climbing Nevada’s Spooner Summit. At the finish line there was applause from hundreds of spectators and earlier finishers.

And if this was going to be my last ride of any consequence before knee surgery, I wanted to do well. And I did. The 72-mile ride included 4000-plus feet of elevation gain, and I finished it in just over six hours of pedaling time. The ride was tough yes, but fun-tough.

And by the way, my leg felt great, well pretty good anyway. But eventually I will probably have the knee fixed when I figure out the right time, because I really like to get back to those walks in New York. After all, who’s going to watch all those want-to-be-watched-shoppers, if I’m not there to do