Carson's Pass

Any time I’m driving over a mountain and I see someone on a bicycle, I think to myself “wow, that person must be insane.” Today while climbing and being passed by cars, I realized: It’s me. I’m the crazy cyclist.

We made it to Carson’s Pass today, the highest point we’ll be in Sierra Nevada. When we got to the top, we all felt like the hill we climbed this morning to get to it was a great hill. We spent a long time climbing, but we felt like we were actually cycling instead of just struggling.

We had a great descent from Carson’s Pass with truly epic scenery. Then a not-so-nice climb up 89 on a busy road with no shoulder before descending into the Lake Tahoe Basin.

After dropping our bags off at the AirBnB we’re staying at, we rode around town to do a few errands. It was the first time we’ve all been on our bikes without our gear since we started. It was amazing! The bikes just wanted to move!

Highlights

• We made it to the highest point we’ll be in Sierra Nevada
• Lots of downhills with gorgeous scenery
• The weather today was perfect for cycling
• Lunch was excellent
• The AirBnB we’re staying at is surprisingly nice
• We stopped at a bike shop in South Lake Tahoe to have a couple things looked at, and they were super nice and made some adjustments

Lowlights

• Riding on 89 - we had a long climb with no shoulder. I got honked at by a semi-truck and it startled me almost to the point of crashing. The same truck passed by Kelly so closely that it blew her clothes around so much she had to stop and fix her vest before she could continue riding.

Julie’s food

• Breakfast: bread and almond butter
• First snack: CLif bar + gatorade
• Lunch: a veggie stir fry with tofu, tempeh, and a spicy peanut sauce from a place called Freshies Ohana
• Dinner: breakfast burritos

Stats

• Total distance: 38.01 miles
• Elevation gain: 1883 feet
• Weather: hot and dry, high of 87 degrees Fahrenheit