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Published: October 8th 2007
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Two days to cross the Nevada desert on the way to Lake Tahoe California. An interesting camp stop at an oasis camp ground and a quick stop off at the Craters of the moon National Park. Lava rock and caves (Lanzerote with knobs on). Two nights camping at Tahoe City on the lake shore and rising anticipation for our coming weeks holiday. We are not after sympathy but 7 weeks under canvas with all the associated adventure can be quite taxing. My deprevation theory (see earlier entry) was in overdrive. Friday arrived we had arranged to meet a group of Brit friends ( 8 in total ). Our first weekend we had rented a house in Tahoe, the house exceeded all our expectation, massive rooms, library, widescreen TV ...etc. There was the inevitable scramble for rooms but we all had plenty of space and more, got ourselves organized, fed and eventually lubricated. Saturday was a big day. Our hosts Jona and Susy have lived in the San Fransisco area for several years and are serious triathletes. Their idea for a pleasant weekend 'get together' was to enter us in the 2007 Xterra triathlon championships as two relay teams. The event a
Flume Trail
Worth the climb half mile swim, 20 mile off road mountain bike and 5k trail run. Competition provided by 400 national and international competitors .... Nice one Jona ! We didnt sleep well despite abundant quantities of alcohol and comfy beds. We woke to an unexpected layer of snow that added to the beautiful scereny and our toilet visits. The lake was cold and crystal clear. At 9 o' clock the cannon fired and Steve and Netty with 400 others thrashed away across the lake. Steve , despite a crippling mosquito bite on his shoulder did well and despite our fears that he may get harpooned or covered in buckets of water and pushed back in by the crowd as he tried to land did not materialise. Not far behind was Netty, we were nervous for her but knew for sure she would'nt sink and would be a dead cert in a photo finish. Myself and Andy took off on the bikes with limited knowledge of the technicalities of gear changing and tactics. We hit the killer climb of the first 3 miles up to 7,000 ft. Along a stretch called the Flume Trail, which traversed the mountain with a shear drop on
Sat Nav
Wounded soldier one side and cliff on the other. Jona followed on the bike shouting kind words of encouragement which I can't repeat. The decent was hairy, just when I thought I must be close to the land speed record other competitors fly past. Andy was always going to finish as an ex Lanzarote ironman competitor but this was a relative sprint . An unscheduled gymnastic move (front somersault with open pike and 3/4 twist) hampered his progress and somewhat increased the balast in his cycle shorts. Around three hours of cycling before we set off the runners, Susy and June head to head. Susy's head start proved too much for June but our two teams finished within 6 minutes of each other in nearly four hours of racing. Needless to say we wallowed in our glory for the rest of the day. Sunday we retraced some of the bike route to have a more leisurely view. All except Dave (sat nav) who as team manager the day before was chomping at the bit. He set off ahead on the bike, four hours later we were back at the house and still no sign of Sat Nav. We took the decision to
Tahoe at dawn
Unexpected snow call the police, search and rescue, Batman and Robin e.t.c. Ten minutes later he turned up covered in wounds, grit and a juicy face laceration. We called off the search party, gave him ten minutes sympathy and have been taking the piss ever since.
With our triathlon careers terminated we headed through the snow and sleet to the comforts of San Francisco. Basking in sunshine at last. Sat Nav's penance for putting us through all that anxiety was to cook a good old fashioned roast dinner, abley assisted by Netty who was acting as Johnny to his Fanny Craddock. He redeemed himself, you can keep your hamburgers, hot dogs, pizzas and lobster thermidore a roast will win every time. Nik's big moment loomed on the horizon. We all trundled into downtown S.F. in search of the open mike venue only to be told they were no longer hosting comedy nights. After frantic phone calls and a Keystone Cops mad dash all over the city we found an alternative. By this time Nik was getting rather quiet, I was feeling sick with anticipation while the rest of the party were getting rather plastered. Unfortunately it wasn't the ideal venue, all the
other slots were taken up by musicians who had visions of being the next Red Hot Chilli Peppers but ended up as Damp Squibs. Never mind they had fun and we all clapped politely. Nik was on. His first few ditties related to toilet humour which always goes down well with a 40+++ age group going on 8. He managed to condense his two hour Xmas special into just under 13 minutes and came off the stage to rapturous applause (well a few people clapped). I must say he did do very well, even the Americans could understand him, they seemed to laugh alot but it could've been down to those funny shaped cigarettes. Nik has ticked that one off and won't be giving up Physio just yet. The following day saw us traversing the Golden gate bridge, Jona and Dave throbbing across on their rented Harley's and the rest of us on pushbikes. Our week of luxury ended in the Napa valley with a tour around an authentically built Italian castle and then down into the cellar for the important part of the day, wine tasting. The waste not want not ethos kicked in. The Brits downed everything they
Big Sur
Pacific coast were given while the true conoseurs sniffed, swirled and sniffed. No wonder they all tasted the same in the end. We said goodbye to our hosts and the rest of the band of happy travellers over a fat boy fry up and we were back on the road. Just me and the old man again heading South through Carmel and along the spectacular Big Sur coastline. We gazed out at a beautiful blue Pacific broken up with rugged rocks and fields of Kelp. We rounded one corner and bumped into a beach of Elephant seals. Just like the documentaries, the males rearing up and bashing each other with their huge noses. Very reminicent of Nik wallowing about in the bath. having survived the bear threat, just as we were about to take our weekly wash in the sea the park ranger warned Nik that a 16ft great white had been spotted off shore, looks like we will have to stay smelly. Next stop Las Vegas.
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Bridget and Grant
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Kiwi
Nik and June, You must understand you are no longer welcome in NZ as ABs out of world cup. Althou this is less hurtful than the fact that England is still in! Sounds like travels are going well. Hope you plan to visit us in NZ.