Week 16

Date
April 24, 2016

Distance
101 miles

Strava Link
Week 16

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 
The forecast was calling for rain in the afternoon, so my original plan was to do the Truck Route climb in order to squeeze in one climb before the rain started. By the time I got to Carson City there wasn't a cloud in sight and I was pretty sure the weathermen got it wrong again. I kept going and did Six Mile Canyon instead. The weather still looked good, so I added on Gold Hill.

The bathrooms in Virginia City are back open for the season.

Towards the top of Gold Hill I could see clouds coming from the north. At that point I decided to head straight back down to the valley. I got very lucky with my timing. When I hit the top of Geiger Grade I could see a lot of rain off in the distance. I managed to make it down the descent without any rain at all, but as soon as the descent was over it started raining. It was cold, but I only had 20 miles to go, so it wasn't too bad. At least it didn't rain all day.

Saturday was an interesting day. I went and did one of my favorite routes, which I call the VC 3 (Strava link). Later that night I was checking my Strava feed and I saw that Laurens Ten Dam did a very similar route (Strava Link). I know I didn't see him out there, so I checked the Flybys.

It's almost comical how close I was without passing him. If you look at the Flybys you'll see that he stopped in Virginia City for a while on C Street, which is the main street in town. I passed by on B Street, which is the next street over, one that I often ride on to avoid the crowds on C Street.

After that I went down the Truck Route and back up Gold Hill. By the time I was near the bottom of the Truck Route descent, Ten Dam was just starting his own descent down the Truck Route. I went back up via Gold Hill, while he turned back around and went up the Truck Route. Our paths were crossing, but he made it back to the intersection about 2 minutes before I did.

This all sounds very stalker-like, doesn't it? I would assume he's riding the Tour of California this year. I'm not sure what my schedule will be like, but I'm hoping to see the Tahoe Stage on 5/19. Remember when I got his feed bag last year?

One last thing: I was thinking about doing an Everesting attempt on 4/29. That's still up in the air. If I do end up doing it, I will do the Combs Canyon segment. It all depends on the weather. As of today the forecast looks good, but obviously the weather is always changing. I'm also off on 5/6, so I can wait another week if I have to.