Ride Report: Tahoe 1000k - "Kingdom of Heaven" - going Larsenneuring...

My first 1000k+ ride!  Joined the four digit club (that I just made up).  This was quite an enjoyable ride for me.  The 1000k was a lot more humane compared to the 400k or the 600k.  Basically it was a 350k ride on day 1, followed by a 300k ride, followed by a 350k ride.  And both nights we got a good 6+ hours of sleep.

There was lots of talk  pre-ride about the weather, and I got some cool resources for long rides.  This uses RideWithGPS data and you can set your speed, duration at control points, etc to get a nice forecast for the entire ride.

This is what it looked like before the ride... so we were prepared for rain on Day1... and were stoked that we wouldn't get rained on Day 2... when it could be snow:

This is what it looked like after the ride... i.e. what it actually did.  

Day 1: This was by far the easiest day.  The riding was quite flat, we had some great tail winds, and due to the nature of everyone starting at the same time with fresh legs, we rode together as a pack in one form or another for most of the day.  

Start of the ride.  5 am, promising not to do "stupid stuff".  Highly debatable oath... 

For the first 100 miles, I'm not sure my heart rate went above 90 bpm... definitely the mellowest portion of the ride.

Soon our group started splitting up but for the most part we were all in groups.  Here's Sig getting some water.

Funky weather... chances of rain

The Riding on hwy 16 was really nice.  

Quite mellow, with some fun features to gawk at.  

Our first manned control hosted by Phil.  These manned controls weren't mandatory IMO, but they sure made the ride much, much nicer.  Thank you volunteers!!!

Soon we were in Oroville, about 2 hours ahead of when I thought we'd make it.  Checked in, had a beer, showered, lubed up my bike... in that order.  

Then we went out to the 24 hr diner for dinner.  Pretty decent.  We didn't try their deep fried twinkies... 

Day 2: This is when the adventure began.  As you can see in the profile, there was plenty of climbing (15k+), but all the slopes were pretty mellow.  Nice mountain roads, but the logging trucks suck.  I'm pretty sure they play a game called, "let's see how close we can get to the cyclists"... and riding around Tahoe is never enjoyable either.  No shoulder and lots of traffic.

At the first control.  We picked up Gavin about 30 min before this and we rode with him the rest of the day.  Very nice guy from Pennsylvania. I hope to see him at a future 1200k somewhere..

Getting lunch in Sierra City as all the amenities in Downieville were still closed.  

And the rain begins... 

Yuba Pass... so mellow, except for the trucks.  Eric decided that due to the rain and the wet conditions we should just stay on 49 and skip going to Graeagle, which was too bad as I was looking forward to that section of road, but a very wise decision.  

On the descent, we caught up with the Tandem Team... the skies cleared, and the Grateful Dead started jamming Casey Jones in my speaker.  Probably the highlight of the ride for me.  Drafting at 20+ mph behind the tandem team is really fun... 

In Truckee, at Best Pies... which IMO isn't "best" but ok.  Anyway... it did the trick.  

On our way out of town we met up with Ksenya and Drew who walked a few hundred yards to cheer us on.  

Brockway Summit sucked.  My legs weren't really working... 

Pretty cool shadow play on the lake.  Riding around the lake was blah... too many cars, not enough shoulder, etc.  Riding through Cave Rock was insane.  Probably the highest winds of the trip... maybe Altamont Pass... but Cave Rock was blowin'!

Day 3: It's all downhill right?  Kinda... but the headwinds at the end really made this a tough day.  Beautiful riding in the beginning... and Shake Ridge Rd was a treat...

Heading out of town in the wee hours of the morning.  Wasn't too bad... maybe 50 deg?

Luther Pass.  

Well, it was cold here.  So we donned our clothes at this point.  

Really nice riding.  

Eric added this out and back out towards Markleeville so we could get our 1000k as we missed the Graeagle section yesterday.  

And he served up some amazing breakfast!

At this point Sigman noticed a sidewall issue on his tire... so he swapped out tires with one that Eric had.  

Catching up with Tom, Brian, and Juliayn

At Carson pass.  Full of skiers, tourists, and ice climbers...

Some nice rando bikes on display... bad glare... apologies... 

Silver Lake.  

Kirkwood is still stacked!

Getting on to Shake Ridge Rd... and stripping off layers.  

The town of Volcano.  Really cute town.  Definitely want to spend a weekend up there.  

This place rocks.  

Soup and sando.  Plus a cinnamon roll

Soon we were in the flatlands... 

In Manteca.  We were headed to a taqueria, but the line was too long... but Panera kinda sucked.. oh well.  Soon we did a final battle with Altamont Pass which was howling!  At one point I remember cranking down a 5% grade and moving like 8 mph... 

In the flatlands... while we were in a pace line Sigman pulled off his jersey and his fender (which had broken off earlier) got stuck in the spokes and he came to a skidding halt... Amazing that his tires made it.  

At the finish, Sigman was all sorts of beat up.  And Shab came by so he made his way real quick.  I hung out, took a shower, had a few beers, food, and cheered on other finishers.  Then made it home around 4 am.  All in all a great weekend!