Goosebumps -- Jimbo's return to Tahoe
Work this week had brought me to the great state of Nevada,
northern Nevada to be precise. I have been there before – most recently in July
for a little jog around the Tahoe Rim Trail.
I had a little time to kill late one afternoon, so I planned
on going for a run. First though, let’s go back in time a little; on Monday
while doing my normal lunch time run at Umstead, I suffered a fairly sharp pain
in my right calf muscle. I have had this before and the most successful way of
treating this kind of muscle strain has been lots of ice, and liberal use of
The Stick ™. Anyway, since then, I have been nursing the injury, only walks for
about a mile and some light jogging. I hated the fact that I was in close
proximity to some of the most beautiful trails in the world, and couldn’t use
them.
Anyway, going back to my time to kill……. I thought
“gosh-darn it, I don’t give a flying fig about my calf, I am going for a jolly
old run” (well, let’s be honest, my words were a little less delicate than
that). So I looked at a map, I knew I was fairly close to some of the northern
reaches of the TRT races. And there it was; just 35-40 minutes’ drive away,
Diamond Peak. During the race, this tough climb starts at mile 30 on the first
loop, and mile 80 on the second lap. In just two miles, the climb goes up about
1800-1900 feet – 1200 feet of it in the last mile. Yep, that’s where I was
going. I have mixed memories of that hill, obviously just the sheer difficulty
of the gradient, then there is the altitude – I am a flat lander. I live at 200
feet above sea level. The top of the ski-slope I was about to ascend was ~8,300
feet higher, so the lack of breathable air would be noticeable. Plus, unlike in
the race, I was going to run down the mountain too.
As expected, the climb up was challenging to say the least,
especially once I got to the second mile. The views were gorgeous. Had I got
there a little later, there would have been some wonderful sunset views across
Lake Tahoe –as it was though, it was still spectacular. I took plenty of
pictures on the way up, and even took a movie on the summit (which my camera
seems to have lost somewhere). Then it was time to drop down. Terrifying and
yet exhilarating are two words that come to mind. I certainly do not have a
great deal of confidence on that type of gradient, so I was somewhat cautious.
The last mile on the way up took about 27 minutes. It took about 10.5 on the
way down. The total descent took 19.5 minutes, the climb up took 43 – yes,
gravity is my friend. Just over an hour total – the most amazing workout with
terrific views. One could describe it as “awesome” even. If you ever find
yourself in Reno, take the drive, it is so worth it.
Oh, and the calf muscle survived.
Enjoy the pictures J
Wonderful pictures! And it's all about the view (at least partially) Isn't it??? Thanks for sharing.
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