Ready...

With a full belly, I have readied my 1998 Porsche Bike S and all my gear for the Sacramento Century ride tomorrow. A good nights sleep at this Sac hotel and I'm off.  100 miles, here I come.

Porsche Bike S loaded up

Porsche Bike S loaded up and ready to head out to Sacramento. Tomorrow is the big event I have been training over a year to ride. The Sacramento Century - 100 miles on my 1998 Porsche Bike S! The weather forecast is sunny and cool with light winds. Should be a perfect day to ride!

Last Porsche Bike S training ride

Last night I rode a fast 40 miles from Glenshire to Tahoe City and back just as the sun was setting. This was my final training ride before I ride my Porsche Bike S mountain bike 100 miles in Sacramento this Saturday. The Sacramento Century is the final ride, and world record attempt, of my summer riding plan. I feel ready. Bike is riding well. Nothing left but the 100 miles!

Great ride on my 1998 Porsche Bike S

I couldn't ride 40 miles today like I planned. Early housework and an amazing afternoon Oktoberfest limited my time today. I did sneak in a 10 mile ride though. The Oktoberfest at Squaw Valley was incredible! So tomorrow I'll make another run at 40 miles!

4th of 4 25 mile bike rides completed

It is amazing what a one day difference changes the weather in Truckee. Yesterday I rode 25 miles in 50° weather. Today just 24 hours later the temperature was 30°. I rode the entire 25 miles in under 34° temperatures. But I had to finish. Now I have a day off tomorrow before I ride 40 miles to Lake Tahoe and back on Saturday.

3rd of 4 25 milers

This morning's ride was awesome. Literally the calm before the storm. 50 degree temps as the sun came up, which is warm for a Truckee morning. The wind was light as I rode the 13 miles to the west end of Donner Lake. Then a light western wind came up and pushed me back to Glenshire. I frequently ride by the Donner Memorial Park but rarely stop. This time I took a photo of my 1998 Porsche Bike S under the huge Donner Party monument. Today's ride is the third of four consecutive day 25 mile rides. I need to finish tomorrow morning even though it's supposed to be very cold. Four consecutive 25 milers, Friday rest day and a 40 mile ride on Saturday before a bunch of rest days just prior to the 100 mile Sacramento Century October 1. 

2nd of 4 25 milers

Tonight I rode my second of four consecutive 25 mile rides in preparation for the upcoming Sacramento Century. Weather is coming in so my next two 25 milers may be a bit of a challenge. That's Truckee for you! I rode out to Donner Lake and back again on my 1998 Porsche Bike S. A little windy but overall a great ride.

Back on the Porsche Bike S

After some rest and rehabilitation I rode another 25 miler tonight. I took pretty much the week off after my Tour De Tahoe ride. I did do a couple short easy rides just to keep loose. My goal is to ride four 25 mile rides, one each consecutive day through the week. Four 25 milers equals 100 miles which is the distance am going to ride in Sacramento on October 1. This training strategy worked well for my build up to the Tahoe ride, so why mess with a good thing. The Tahoe ride was just another training ride, albeit a 72 miler, before my grand finale at the Sacramento Century. As always my Porsche Bike S mountain bike performed most excellently. It is always a lot of fun to ride and I even passed a couple people on road bikes - I just blew them out of the water going around Donner Lake.

Good day for Porsche

Today, Porsche won the GTLM class at COTA, GTA class at Sonoma and LMP1 at the WEC COTA race!

Back on the Porsche Bike S

I took a few days off after my 72 mile bike ride around Lake Tahoe. Now I'm back on the bike for final training before the October 1 century ride. Today was just a quick little 11 mile ride from Glenshire to Truckee and back. Tomorrow morning I'm gonna do another 25 mile ride.

Tour De Tahoe - The Full Story

What an amazing experience. What an amazing weekend. 

Saturday I was leading over 40 Porsche automobiles along beautiful Sierra roads from Squaw Valley to Nevada City and then on Sunday riding my 1998 Porsche Bike S all the way around Lake Tahoe.

An all Porsche weekend for sure.

The ride started Sunday morning at the Hard Rock Hotel in South Lake Tahoe. So, immediately following the Saturday Squaw to Nevada City tour, I drove to South Lake to a hotel room near the start/finish line. 6:00am Sunday I was up and heading to the start line.

The Tour De Tahoe is an annual 72 mile ride around Lake Tahoe. This year the event fell on September 11. So this year's theme was remembering the 911 tragedy. 

The ride kicked off at 6:30am after a remembrance of the people that lost their lives on 911. Sad moment, but I'm glad people still remember.

Around 1,500 riders participated this year, I'm told. I took off in the second wave of riders. They space them out intentionally to avoid a log-jam of bikes on the road. Even with spacing the first few miles was tight with bikes and riders. Riding through South Lake Tahoe in the early morning is a smart start to the ride - traffic and congestion is much lighter. The ride always travels clockwise, allowing the riders the maximum Tahoe views from the right side of the road.

The first miles were nice and flat before heading north into the west side of Tahoe. The steep climbs up toward Emerald Bay was challenging, but what amazing views awaited riders!

The first rest stop was at the Emerald Bay overlook after 14 miles of riding. Too short for the need for food, so I just dropped off my cool weather clothes and continued on.

Still early morning, traffic was still low while riding north along the west side. The mix of steep up hill and fast descents finally gave way to relatively flat roads that traveled right along the lake.  Again great views!

Reaching Tahoe City after 33 miles of riding, I grabbed some snacks at the second rest stop. A banana and an energy bar and I was back on the road heading to Kings Beach on the north end of Tahoe.

About half way around the lake, my legs felt good and my Porsche Bike S was performing perfectly. I was gaining confidence that I could not only complete my most challenging ride to date, but I felt like I could ride it faster than I ever imagined.

My 18 year old bike isn't the latest and greatest technology. It is heavier than current ultra light carbon fiber road bikes and my 26" wheels are much smaller than the current 29" wheels. I was at a serious disadvantage. Yet, my determination and summer-long training effort provided me with an edge over many of the other riders - many coming from the Bay Area and Sacramento.

After a fast lunch stop in Kings Beach, I powered on through the fourth and fifth rest areas without stopping. I had enough water and fuel to make the 72 miles without another stop. This saved time and my bike speed downhill helped me passed many other riders.

Riding through Incline was a blast. The beautiful and massive lakefront homes were quite a sight. The ascent up to Spooner Summit had the best Lake Tahoe views of the entire ride.

Once at Spooner Summit the very steep and very fast downhill back to South Lake Tahoe began. I was over 40 miles per hour for several miles. This helped with my mile per hour average - considering the steep uphill to Spooner was so slow.

I had a couple Yellowjackets bounce off me on the fast downhill. I closed my mouth and breathed through my nose to avoid eating one.  These wasps are everywhere around the region right now. 

Riding back into South Lake Tahoe and the finish line I still felt strong and thought I could keep going, which is good considering I have a 100-mile ride in a couple more weeks.

Crossing the finish line at the Hard Rock Hotel I was handed a finisher's medal. I grabbed some water and looked at my time - 72 miles in almost 5 hours exactly. I noticed there weren't a lot of people around. I completed the trip around the lake and finished in the top 10-20 percent of the 1,500 riders.

Even though my bike and I performed better than I imagined over this mountainous region, the best part of the ride was definitely the views. Lake Tahoe is amazingly beautiful.  I would recommend this ride to anyone looking for a serious challenge with great scenery.

Will I do the Tour De Tahoe again next year? Heck yes!

Footnote: After scouring the internet for hours on end, I believe my Tour De Tahoe ride is the longest distance anyone has ridden a Porsche Bike S. A new world record I'll claim!

Tour De Tahoe completed!

Strong performance on my 1998 Porsche Bike S around Lake Tahoe today. Completed the 72 mile loop faster than I could ever imagine. Then I celebrated something fierce. Full details later!

PCA Treffen today!

Treffen tomorrow!

I am leading two tours in my Porsche Boxster at this year's Porsche Club of America's Treffen event! I can't wait to drive tomorrow!

Last Porsche Bike S training ride

Today I rode my last training ride before the Tour De Tahoe 72 mile ride around the famous Lake Tahoe. Today was another 25 miler, which completes 75 miles in three consecutive days. Today was very crowded on the road, being the end of the Labor Day holiday weekend. The roads were full of bad drivers. Several nearly hit me. The worst were the people coming back from Burning Man. Next year I won't ride on Labor Day. But now I'm excited about next Sunday's ride around Tahoe!

25 miles - again - on the Porsche Bike S

Second of three consecutive day 25-mile bike rides completed on my 1998 Porsche Bike S mountain bike today. Chilly day in Truckee but I need to wrap up my training. Another 25 miles tomorrow and then five days of rest before the Tour De Tahoe 72-mile bike ride all the way around Lake Tahoe!

Final Porsche Bike S training

Another 25 mile ride on my 1998 Porsche Bike S this morning. This ride is part of my final week of training for next Sunday's Tour De Tahoe 72 mile bike ride event. I'm planning another 25 tomorrow Sunday and same Monday. Then the rest of the week off and resting up for the big event. The bike is performing well ... stable and shifting well.