20 "Kick My Ass" Miles

So today I decided to mix things up a little bit and take the mountain bike out for some riding. I considered just taking the road bike out again but there is a trail that I have been itching to try on the mountain bike since reading about it online as well as noticing that friends have been posting that they have done the route as well.

Not to mention the fact that I have been off of that bike for weeks and I am actually starting to feel a little guilty about it every time I walk past it in the garage. Probably sounds weird I know, but it's made to be ridden not sit in the garage on the work-stand.

Bike-Way

So there is this project in my area that has been in the works for over 10 years if what I read online is accurate and posters were not simply being asses. The original goal was for this bike-way to connect from Lake Tahoe all the way to Pyramid Lake which would be 116 miles worth of trail to ride, mostly paved, some areas are road-side bike lanes and others are hard packed dirt.

To date I think they have managed to get 2/3 of the trail completed with the remainder being the most difficult to accomplish. From what I was reading a lot of the unfinished areas go through private land and the land owners are not willing to let the path go through. Not entirely sure why to be honest, unless the think it will bring riff-raff along with it? Maybe they fear it will make the land harder to sell one day? I am not sure and can only speculate of course.

It would be very cool to have that entire route finished though. I mean I am not saying I would use it every single ride but it would be a great option to have as well as a safer ride to be able to take Zoey on, while riding in her bike trailer.

Anyway, the ride that I am going to take today will be on the East portion of the trail that starts out just outside of Sparks and runs along the Truckee river on one side and Interstate 80 on the other side of the trail.

No idea how busy it gets or how much fun it will be compared to the other places I like to go in the mountains. My guess would be that it's fairly flat based on the data I have seen on Strava, and what you would consider to be a safe ride for a beginner to tackle.

Not that any of this is a bad thing because it's not what-so-ever. It's very different from the rides I have been doing the past few weeks, it will give me 20 more miles of seat time as well as gives me an excuse to play on my Heckler for a couple of hours.

Brake Pads

One thing that I really need to do before heading out is swap out the disc brake pads on my Heckler. I have had the pads sitting on the kitchen table for weeks now and have been unmotivated to do the quick change out. Well I assume that it's a quick change out based on what I have read online and the YouTube videos of the installation of them.

Really I could go and ride with the pads that are on there now but they were noises as heck the last time out, riding at Evans Canyon and it was a little embarrassing as well as more annoying than anything else.

Really there is no guarantee that the new "organic" pads will solve the problem but I have heard that it does for the most part so we will see! Well, that is assuming that I am able to get them installed before I leave - better not put the carriage before the horse huh :).

**Update: So the brake pads were really easy to do after-all. I have no idea why I waited so long to do them, but isn't that always the case? You wait for ever to do something, thinking the worst and the next think you know you are done with the project and can put it behind you. The downside is that the stupid things still make a lot of noise when applied, so it was probably all for nothing. Both the $30 or what ever I spent for them as well as the time.

Anyway that is about it for excitement today. My dad and step-mom are supposed to be coming over before they go to the movies so they can visit with Zoey. I will not be around more than likely but that is OK, as long as they get to visit her and she gets to visit them I am happy and life is good!

**Update 2: So my dad and step-mom never came over today and never let us know that they were not going to not come by until a few minutes ago, nearly 6:15 PM - 7 hours after they were supposed to come by to visit. Not that Cicely had things to go do today, but she did have things she wanted to start working on at home - projects and stuff, and was unable to because she did not want to get interrupted 1/2 way through something.

Ugh, kinda pisses me off because if we did that we would never hear the end of it. Now they are planning to come by tomorrow - that is fine, they can always come over anytime they want but from now on we are not waiting around all day for them to show up that's for sure!

Post Review

If I have the time and feel like sitting in the computer typing then I may add to this entry this afternoon as to how the ride went. It's a lot more work taking the mountain bike out for a ride than the road bike that's for sure but it's good for me to do both - although the thought has crossed my mind a few times already to sell the mountain bike and get into another road bike - decked out with all the best I can afford, electronic shifting and so on.

So for now that will do it. Maybe talk at ya later, maybe not. Either way it's going to be a nice day so get out and enjoy it. I plan to do exactly that as well!

Ride

So I spent well over an hour writing all of the details of my ride today. The good, the bad and the ugly and I decided to go ahead and add the photo in and whatta you know - I come back to the page on the Mac and IT'S ALL GONE - Nooooo! Well that's that, I am not writing it again, at least not today - maybe tomorrow I will be in the mood, fuck!

Photo: I took this photo at the end of the trail before having a quick snack, few sips of water and heading back to the starting point. At the time I took this I no idea how difficult the return ride would be, and how difficult lack of water would make the trip. Lessons learned though, that is key.