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This is crazy! Will Coe be alright without me? — plymmer

That was plymmer’s panic cry before the trip. It was pure magic that somehow ratpick and ElHombre convinced plymmer that he needed to ride somewhere else other than Coe for once and they planned this “boys’ weekend outing” as they put it. Not to shock him too much, they picked a place similar to Coe — Tahoe, as both end with “oe.”    Mudncrud and I were just there last weekend and were still tired from the long drive, but I told him that this would be a significant historical event for the Hard COEre 100 trio, so we must be there to witness it; plus, a boys’ weekend sounded fun and I wanted to be part of it.

When we arrived at the trailhead of Donner Rim Trail (DRT) on Saturday morning to meet the trio, it was around 70 or 80 degrees, pleasantly warm for most of us, but I was a little concerned if it would be too cold for plymmer, who was known to *enjoy* the summer heat at Coe.  In my observation, he carried enough layers and even spare gloves that I thought could allow him to sit out a snow storm, so I relaxed a bit.

While plymmer was feeling a bit out of his element (again, he was not at Coe, remember?), the rest of us were not all in either. Long drive, altitude, and granite that we don’t see in the Bay Area were all advisory factors we had to work with, which might just be why we enjoyed riding in Tahoe; ok, scratch the long drive part, and add scenery.

DRT+HITG was what was promised to plymmer before the trip. I enjoyed the ride immensely as it provided challenges at the right level – just enough to push my envelope, but not so much to rupture it.  The boys apparently had their fun on the ride too playing on the rocks and/or swimming in the lake. To see the trio swimming in a lake that is clear and slime-free was quite refreshing to me too.

The mastermind behind Sunday’s ride was ElHombre as he is the most, among us, knowledgeable about the area, although there was temptation to call TahoeBC from our dinner table at 9:30pm for consultation. The consensus was he quite deserved being disturbed late at night, but in the end, we were just an all-too-nice bunch. Having now finished the ride, I must say I’m not sure if TahoeBC could have come up with a better ride for us (there, that’s a challenge for ya 😉 ).

On Sunday, after already having visited the Bench  (out and back from Spooner Lake), and a very therapeutically ride on Flume Trail over looking the large body of blue and green water under the blue sky, we had a hard time believing ElHombre that something better was yet to be experience, and boy, was he right! When we arrived at Marlette Overlook,  our jaws dropped to the ground. With Marlette Lake in the foreground, Lake Tahoe in the back, and Sierra Peaks a stone throw away, what a view!

However, at the moment, even unbeknownst to ElHombre, something even better was still yet to happen — Chimney Beach descent. Down at the bottom back at the car, everyone had a grin ear to ear. A cold drink in hand might also have played a role, although plymmer only took a banana.

That’s not all; our time on bike was almost as good as our time off bike.  At our relaxed dinner in the hotel restaurant in Reno (so much for a boys’ weekend outing), we discussed Coe at length and had good laughs talking about MTBR-ers (yeah, if you are reading this, your name most likely came out in our conversation). Ratpick was constantly updating his FB status whenever he was off the bike to remind his beloved friends that their day sucked. ElHombre was always the first one, sometimes the only one, to jump in the water. I could be wrong, but I thought the only time I heard him swear the F word was after he plunged into Marlette Lake. Mudncrud dominated the driver’s seat on our trip, like on all our trips (think he has trust issue with AFD), which allowed me to finish typing this report on the way home.

Oh, on the fireroad climb towards Chimney Beach Trail, beyond my loud huffing and puffings, I clearly heard plymmer make following comment that made me let out a big relieved sigh knowing that he was finally feeling at home.

I’m feeling good; this is like at Coe. — plymmer

P.S. MTBR Thread for others’ recap.

The rides:

Saturday: Donner Rim Trail (out and back) + Hole in the Ground (loop)  (29.4mi/3,995′)

Strava Links: mudworm, mudncrud, ratpick, ElHombre, plymmer

Sunday: Spooner Lake -> the Bench -> Spooner Lake -> Marlette Lake -> Flume Trail -> Marlette Lake -> Chimney Beach Trail (38.0mi / 5,489′)

Strava Links: mudworm, mudncrud, ratpick, ElHombre, plymmer

Photos:

Oops, that was a wrong one. Here.

 

 

 

Breathtaking scenery!

 

 

 

Great company!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video clip ElHombre posted:

Vimeo HD video link

Some photos ratpick and ElHombre posted (in above MTBR thread):

 

 

 

 

 

More Photo from mudncrud and me:

Saturday:

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Sunday:

 

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• Post ID: 2266
• Categories: Mountain Biking
• Tags: tahoe
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