July 28, 2011 - North Lake Tahoe Bike Ride

There were 11 cyclists on the Lake Tahoe bike ride this week, Glenn, Dick, Beuford, Sherm, Loren, Larry, Rich, Roland, Dominic, Rob and John. It was a day of decisions, eleven cyclists had become a challenge - how to arrange the carpool? There were two options: Option 1 - to use two 2 vehicles, Loren with 6 passengers with 4 bikes on the rack and 3 bikes in the bed of his truck and Roland with 5 passengers with 4 bikes on his rack.
Option 2 - more appealing to one's comfort by using three vehicles and but more gas for the 180 mile round trip. Now the Geezers, being of "Scottish descent" decided they would prefer option 1, with two vehicles and invest the savings in ice cream later in the day. With that all arranged, we left the parking lot at 8:15am, only 15 minutes late. Just a half mile short of our Squaw Valley turnoff, we (in the rear vehicle) witnessed Glenn's mountain bike take a gigantic leap off the bike rack to be dragged down the highway until we all came to a screeching stop. We went searching for a part that had flown off the bike, only to realize it was his bike pump. John being the bike mechanic that he is, had the tool to fix the broken chain and we were able to set off on our ride all intact except for a broken hand pump! Kudos's to John. The ride was magnificent, with the Truckee river in full flow and beautiful views everywhere!!! (don't ask cause I won't tell)! We lunched by the lake on the north shore then made our way to Safeway in Tahoe City, to pick up some ice cream.

Now as far as the ice cream decision, once again there were two options proposed: 1) a cooperative ice cream solution (sounds like the US Congress). For those who wished to combine their ice cream investment in the cooperative solution, Roland suggested that the cooperative group would contribute to a pot of money to purchase different flavors of ice cream (sounds like the Liberals). We couldn't decide if those with higher incomes should contribute more than those with lower incomes.
Option 2 - For those who preferred to purchase their own ice cream, they could do so but were warned they could only raid the cooperative left overs for a fee.

We then (at Safeway) and at the very last minute, took an up or down vote. In one session, we voted the co-op way, so four large containers of ice cream were purchased. Roland brought a "scooper", some cups and spoons while Rich brought one large bowl to make sure he didn't miss out.

We sat at picnic tables by the beach with snow capped mountains for back drop. We cleaned out all four ice cream tubs and decided to use this co-op method again. In preparation for our ride back to the cars, John and Rich decided to demonstrate their biking skills with a ride down some steep steps instead of carrying their bikes. That only left us to figure out each member's gas costs (see the last photo). What a great day of fellowship, fun and food!

The opening photo shows a Classic Geezer work party, 2 workers and 4 sidewalk supervisors!