Month: November 2021

community activities, giving back

A Little Community Service Goes a Long Way

AND no, not the type of community service that a judge orders, the other type. The willing type.

PART of our mission here at California Alps Cycling is, after all, to help the communities in which we live, work and ride, and this past weekend presented us with some opportunities to do just that.

A Little Town Decorating

SATURDAY was about decorating our little town. Club-wife, Patricia, had a grand idea to place wine barrels about town and fill them with poinsettias for the holidays. The Markleeville Enhancement Club (formed a few years back by yours truly and our good friend Mary Rawson) donated the funds (which were donated in turn by members of the community) for the barrels and the blooms.

WE prepped and then placed a dozen 1/2 barrels about town. It added a nice bit of color, don’t you think?

We also put a few more decorations about our little hamlet. Club-mother, January, and Mary, even received help from an unsuspecting, but very friendly traveler, who had the necessary height they needed to get those last few decorations up.

Sunday, it was the Watershed’s Turn

THE Markleeville Water Company, which supplies water to our town, and for which I’m the webmaster (that’s a scary thought but I do what I can) and a volunteer board member, began its post-Tamarack Fire recovery in earnest this past weekend.

THAT work started last Friday, and went through Sunday. I helped out with some manual labor on Sunday, and my Mom and wife (January and Patricia) helped out Saturday and Sunday by checking in volunteers and getting waivers signed.

I worked with a gentleman named Jim Dickens, from Reno, who came down to help because he heard about the event while attending a Trout Unlimited webinar in which Kimra McAfee, Exec. Director of the Alpine Watershed Group, was speaking.

Members of Sunday’s squad doing some seeding and some chinking. Click on the link below for more on that.

DIANE and Steve from Carson City joined on Sunday because they ride their bikes in this area (Steve is a Deathrider) and wanted to give a little something back.

THERE were more volunteers like Jim and Diane and Steve, and locals too. Members of CalFire and the California Conservation Corps helped immensely by felling trees and providing support.

IT was just so Markleeville…all of these people, from different areas, different walks of life, old and young alike, all volunteering their time to help us.

WHAT an awesome feeling! What utterly cool people! It validated my continued faith in my fellow humans.

IF you’d like to learn more about the restoration, by the way, and check out a little video about chinking, here’s a link to that MWC post.

WHAT about you? Did you do, or will you be doing, some giving back of your own? Please share if you did or will be. 😉

IN the meantime…

RIDE well, be safe and stay healthy.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you and yours from all of us here at California Alps Cycling!

1/2 centuries or centuries, deathride

The Tour of the California Alps – Third Time’s the Charm?

YEAH, you’re right, there have been thirty-nine (39) charms really since the Deathride began. It’s those last two (2) attempts that have been problematic. Perhaps then we should say then that it’s the 3rd attempt for the 40th Annual Ride that’s the charm?

OF course, we haven’t had the ride yet so fingers crossed this tertiary try will be that trinket.

THE Alpine County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors (full disclosure: I’m a member of the board), along with our Executive Director, Becky Hanson, met last week to discuss, among other things, the 2022 Deathride.

HERE’S what you should know:

  1. The ride will take place on Saturday, July 16th, 2022
  2. The course will be the same as last year’s; no Carson Pass but instead Pacific Grade x 2
  3. Early registration price = $139.00
  4. Registration will open in January!

BECKY has been hard at work dealing with the aftermath of this year’s evacuations (I still can’t believe we had to cancel the day before the ride), swag bag distributions and most recently, insurance claims.

ON that note, here’s a partial excerpt from her email to our Deathride Family, sent yesterday…

While it has been a lengthy process to iron out, we are pleased to inform you that the riders who stuck with us through the 2020 postponement, and to date have not cancelled their registration, will receive a partial refund of registration fees from imATHLETE. 

We do not know the exact date that refunds will go out, but we do know that it will be a credit to the card used to register. In the situation where that card is no longer active, an electronic check will be issued (again, by imATHLETE). It is not a full refund, but we were very pleased to finally get to a resolution and hope this helps you, our loyal riders.

DEATHRIDERS are a special lot, no doubt. I’ve only attempted the ride three (3) times, and completed it once, so I’m really just a rookie. Many of you riders, including my bruddah, Scott Keno (that’s him there with bib no. 1619), have completed it every time they’ve attempted it and have done so many, many times. Scotty has done 8 or 9, I can’t remember. I’m sure there are some of you out there who’ve got even more impressive stats.

IT’S not just the physical feat itself that makes me have so much respect for you TOTCA riders, though. It’s your fortitude. Your friendliness. Your patience. Your support. Your attitude.

LIKE you I suspect, I’ve done many fondos, many centuries; a shitload of organized rides. Yet this one is special. It’s different.

IT’S the location, the elements (you know what they say…If you don’t like the weather here in the Sierra, just wait five (5) minutes), the climbing and the volunteers; but mostly it’s the comraderie.

It’s just a such a special gig.

ALTA Alpina Cycling Club is arranging a training series, cleverly called the “Brush with Death,” for the spring time, so be on the lookout for that announcement.

WE – I’m a member but have no skin in this training series game; the club leadership gets credit for that – tried to do so last year but the pandemic put the kibosh on those plans.

MAYHAPS we’ll do the same here at California Alps Cycling. A few early jaunts over Ebbett’s Pass, Monitor Pass and Pacific Grade couldn’t hurt, right? Okay you’re right, it will hurt but in a good way. If nothing else, we’ll know what level of pain to expect. 😉

SO we’re going to keep at it, and hopefully we’ll actually have the ride next summer, and we’ll see you all again at the Expo.

THIS time though let’s kick some passes’ asses sans those pyrocumulus clouds that are in the pic. at the top of this post, k? I took that photo, by the way, from Carson Pass (that’s Red Lake) the day the ride was supposed to happen.

RIDE on. Be safe. Stay healthy and we’ll see you next year!

mountain bikes, rides, wildlife

Fat Tire Fun, Some Mug Shots and a Special Sighting

WHILE we were hoping that the storm of a couple weeks ago was going to open that storm door, alas that has yet to happen. We’ve gotten a drizzle here and there (a whopping .01 inches of rain yesterday) and some snivelings of snow, but the “big white” has yet to materialize.

THERE is, however, a glimmer of hope. We’ve got a system coming in tomorrow, and last week, on one of my usual rides – the cattle guard just below the 7000′ mark – there was still a bit of snow on Highway 4. The gate at Wolf Creek Road was closed (and Ebbett’s Pass remains closed as well).

A few of us, including a silver-haired stud-muffin who was coming up as I was headed down, took advantage though, and enjoyed that car-free zone.

Fat Tire Fun on the Middle Fork

FARLEY was a happy camper, as was his rider, during our little jaunt up to Grover Hot Springs State Park and requisite trek back towards the village, this time though via the banks of Hot Springs Creek. Formerly known, at least that’s the local lore – I’ve got to look that up – as the middle-fork of the Carson River, it’s a sweet little burbling brook of a stream.

Nice ride, that fire-tire bike… So forgiving on just about anything. Trek isn’t kidding IMO about it being the mountain bikers fat-bike. Very nimble. Light action, too, and as for mud…What mud?

WHAT I think would have been an issue, certainly on the gravel bike and perhaps even on the MTB, (see this “peanut butter post”) was nuffin’ for those puffy tires on Farley.

I can’t wait to get him out on the snow. Perhaps you’d like to join me? Hit me up and let’s make a plan!

Markleeville Mug Shots

WE pulled these just today from the wildlife camera behind the chalet.

THIS hambone we’ve named “Little Blackie” (after the heroine’s horse in True Grit – either version); that image in the left frame helps me cast my mind back to that Louis Gossett, Jr. line in “An Officer and a Gentleman.”

Stop eyeballing me, bear!

A Special Sighting

OUR resilient river (or creek, depending…) never stops surprising us. We get special sightings almost every day. A Great-Blue Heron cruises us regularly, a Belted-Kingfisher, too. And just last week it appeared to be more of a boiling caldron of black goo. Okay, maybe a little hyperbole but not too far off, really.

OTTERS, though? That one I wasn’t expecting. Okay, full disclosure…only one otter, but still, it really was a river otter! Right there. On our river. Of course I didn’t have a camera, or a phone, and it was too far away to get captured on the wildlife cam.

otter drifting on log on river
Photo by David Selbert on Pexels.com

THAT’s not my picture, no. Was definitely one of those, though. No, it was not a beaver, Mom. I can say so without any qualm.

SHE’S such a skeptic.

IT was a wild week indeed, here in the California Alps.

Here’s hoping you had a wild one too (in a good way), and that the coming week brings you many pleasant surprises.