Be careful not to call it a race, the event organizers were sure to make that clear. "Riders" started at any time between 6:30 and 8:00 a.m. from the Horizon Hotel/Casino on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, then rode completely around the huge lake (72 miles) and ended up back at the start line.
The course hugged the Lake Tahoe shoreline tightly so it was a truly beautiful and inspiring morning.
I rode with my good friend Aaron Shamy who has been my long-distance (he in Utah and me in Nevada) fitness buddy for the last year.
We started at 6:30 and finished 4.5 hours later. We were quite impressed with our time considering the HUGE mountains we had to traverse. As we crossed the finish line with one other rider, they called out our places 18, 19, 20. Did I mention there were over 2,000 registered riders?!
Other interesting tidbits:
- The ride was at a pretty high elevation, between 6000 and 7000 feet throughout.
- There was over 5000 feet of climbing
- I burned around 5000 calories in 4.5 hours
- Drafting is the only way to go (we got in 3 or 4 good peletons and they made a HUGE difference)
Here is a really neat page that breaks down the stats from our ride, you can actually watch an animated breakdown of the stats as the ride progressed. Shamy's Garmin is a pretty neat little gadget: CLICK HERE
Check out the pics below!
