We left Oroville and made several beautiful drives on mountain passes and park roads. Once again we were cut off by snow when we attempted to travel through. Who would have thought that we would still encounter snow at this late date?!
But this trip is all about the riding. It is not a sight-seeing trip. So if we see something we want to see better, then we'll have to come back! To understand what this kind of riding is like, think of downhill slalom skiing combinded with a roller coaster. There are curves and dips all driven to one's own inner cadence. Being fully focused on the road and engaged in the ride brings an escape unrivalled in my experience.
Temperatures began to rise today, hitting 100 degrees F.-- a foreshadowing of what is yet to come further south. The rides today were among the best any of us have ever done. You may wonder, what determines how good a ride is? The weather, the scenery, the road conditions, the amount of traffic, the layout of the roads themselves and how well they are built. Add in to that mix the psychological state of the rider and it can all be amazing. If the rider is psyched out by the corners, it can be a very hard ride indeed. If one is "in the zone" it is amazing.
So to wrap this up, eventually we arrived in beautiful Lake Tahoe, a place I've heard a lot about and now finally visited. It too is a place of contrasts, with expansive mansions owned by the rich and famous, right down to the ramshackled houses found anywhere. Nevertheless a beautiful place.
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