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| Tahoe Bike News | September 2010 |
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Regional
A Recommitment to El Dorado Trail
The Friends of El Dorado Trail convened a roundtable event on Sept. 29 in Rancho Cordova to share a long-held vision for a multi-use (bike, hike, horse) trail from South Lake Tahoe to Folsom and then onto Sacramento. An abandoned railroad right-of-way owned by El Dorado County travels from Camino (Apple Hill), through Placerville, and connects to Folsom. This 26 mile run has been a part of a Transportation Master Plan for use as a trail since 1986.
The Friends are an advocacy group of community leaders and passionate volunteers who have organized to take the necessary steps to convert vision into reality. Lauren Thomaselli, Recreation Specialist, City of So. Lake Tahoe, gave a presentation about the City's Explore Tahoe: An Urban Trailhead and expressed the City's support of the El Dorado Trail. Also present and declaring support was the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition.
Mountain Bike Conference Ignites Local Interest 
The local branch of the USFS, Lake Tahoe Land Management Unit, reached out and invited the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) to help present the Tahoe Trails Conference from Oct. 1-3 in South Lake Tahoe. This was a combined effort to inform and help organize the local mountain bicyclists to become more engaged in building legal trails, which may include freeride features, and other facilities in the region.
According to Mark Eller, IMBA Director of Communications, "a land manager like the Forest Service being proactive and reaching out to the mountain bike community to help build trails is unprecedented and a great opportunity for the Tahoe Region."
Some of the local representatives in atttendence include: Tahoe Rim Trail Association, Douglas County, Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition, Kirkwood Mountain Resort, Sierra-at-Tahoe, Specialized Bicycles, Cliff Bar, Flume Trail, Truckee Trails Foundation, Sierra Ski & Cycle Works, Sports LTD, South Shore Bikes, Watta Bike, Wanna Bike Tours, Tahoe Conservation District, and other interested mountain bicyclists.
An organizing meeting is planned for Friday, Nov. 5, in So. Lake Tahoe. Persons interested in attending may email BikeTahoe@aol.com to request time and location.
Tour of California Bike Race Comes to Tahoe
America's number one professional cycling race is coming to Tahoe to kick off the Tour of California on May 15, 2011. The Tour is sponsored by Amgen, a biotechnology firm, and features many of the world's top professional cyclists and racing teams from Europe, Russia, Australia, the US and others. The race consists of approximately 16 teams that are supported by their tech teams and sponsors. This is 8 day traveling tour, starting in Tahoe and finishing in Los Angeles, and will visit some of California's most scenic locations and tourist's destinations. More details will follow in the next edition of Tahoe Bike News.
More Biking/Hiking Trails Being Built  The Tahoe Rim Trail Association has been busy building new trails for mountain bikers, hikers and equestrians. Two projects in the south part of the Lake include the Connector Trail from Van Sickle Bi-State Park, under Heavenly Gondola, and a new loop at the top of Kingsbury Grade called Daggett Summit Trail. Additionally, the long awaited Rim To Reno Trail System gets underway at 9:00 am on Saturday, Oct. 16 at the Mt. Rose Trailhead near the summit of the Mt Rose Hwy. To volunteer and learn more go to www.tahoerimtrail.org.
South Shore
Al Tahoe Bike Path Finished  Kudos go out to the City of South Lake Tahoe for repaving the Al Tahoe Bike Path. Its now smooth and safe to ride and a fun way to connect to the Pioneer Trail Bike Lanes to cross the City limits. Thank you. Pioneer Trail Gets Resurfaced Portions of Pioneer Trail, from the west end at Meyers to a couple of miles eastbound have been resurfaced and are awesome to ride. Thank you El Dorado County DOT. When can we expect the remainder of Pioneer Trail to be completed? City General Plan Open for Your Comment You are invited to review and comment on the following plans and documents, and attend public hearings: Draft Environmental Impact Report. The end for comment is 5:00pm on Nov. 12, 2010. It is available for download at www.sltgpu.com. Planning Commission Public Hearing. Oct. 14, 2010. Check website for times/locations. City Council Public Hearing. November 2, 2010. Check website for times/locations. Sightings
Sighted riding the Tour de Tahoe Bike Ride were some of South Shore's power brokers. From left to right: Blasie Carrig, VP Vail Resorts, Terry Daniels, former Police Chief, Tony O'Rouke, new City Manager, Carol Chaplin, Ex. Dir. LTVA, Lew Feldman, attorney, and Suzie O'Rouke.
Glad many of our community leaders are cyclists. Riding on to a more promising future for our cycling region.
Achievement Award - Business Category Winner
The Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition Achievement Award in the Business Category was awarded to the Spooner Lake Outdoor Company, more recently renamed the Flume Trail Bikes. Congratulations and thank you to Max Jones and his crew for building and maintaining Tahoe's premier single track trail.
Pictured here is Erin Johnasen, Sales Associate, accepting the award while Max was out working on the trail. |
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Tip of the Month - Your Hands
If you are experiencing numbness or tingling sensations in your hands its do to the compression of your palms on the handle bars. For starters, make equipment improvements, for example, padded handle bars, gel filled and padded cycling gloves and then secondly, continually adjust your hand placement from grips, to handle bar, or drop out for roadies. I'll even ride with one hand and shake the other hand to stimulate blood circulation and eliminate the numbness.
For mountain bikes, there are some new handle bar ends that are wide and distribute palm pressure. I'm going to check these out for myself. And for roadies, there are increasing widths and aerodynamic shapes on the carbon handle bars that are another approach to pressure distribution.
Enjoy the ride. |
 Become a member of the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition & Attend Meetings.
And, please e-mail this newsletter to family and friends to let them know more about Tahoe cycling in general and how the Coalition is working to improve the bicycle friendliness of our communities.
Anyone may attend the Coalition's monthly meetings. They are held on the second thursday of each month at Design Workshop, 128 Market St, Ste. 3E, Stateline, NV from 5:30-7:00 pm.  |
Dear Tahoe Bike Buddies,
The Coalition has been busy over the past several weeks developing new programs for 2011 and submitting them for financial support from a variety of foundations, commissions and corporations.
High on our priority list for 2011 is the Tahoe Bicycle Safety Education for Youth project in which we hope to begin introducing programs, materials and events that engage our youth to learn about safe bicycle handling skills, rules of the road, and the health and environmental benefits from cycling.
A new bicycle tourism web site is also planned to assist our visitors from around the world in making informed decisions on where to ride, stay, buy and visit.
And there are other programs and projects that I'm eager to share with you, but I'm going to wait until the holiday period to share the gifts of joy and thanksgiving with you.
Now with the un-expectant rains visiting us, the trails are tacky and awesome for riding. Hope to see you out there and if we do pass one another be sure to give an acknowledgement that you know that we know this is epic!
See ya on the trail,
Ty Polastri President, LTBC |
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