Sunday, July 01, 2007

Minden, NV - Touring on Two Wheels

We *finally* got out our road bikes today. What a joy! We only went about 24 miles, but we thought that was pretty good for the first day out in months. Carson Valley, which includes Minden, Gardnerville, Genoa, and Carson City, resides between two lines of foothills. Along the western range is a road called Jacks Valley Road/Foothill Road. It's a designated bike route. There's no bike lane, and the speed limit is still 55mph, but there's reduced traffic. Rolling hills take you along the foothills and past cow pastures and horse ranches. We rode directly from the Carson Valley RV Resort, in downtown Minden, out to Foothill Road. We rode south til we hit Hwy 88 and then came back through the towns of Gardnerville and Minden. It's always interesting to check out the neighborhoods, but if we do it again we'll backtrack on Foothill because it was a calmer ride.

There was a bike event going on today, too. We had read about it, but felt at $45/head for a 12/24/44-mile ride that that was kinda steep. We love doing these events, but it's hard to pay that kind of a price for a short ride.

There are also some areas in the Valley that offer mountain biking and hiking. We hope to fit that in during the week after work.

While in Yosemite Valley, a fellow-camper recommended a website called Routeslip. We'll have to check that out more often. Nothing was listed for Minden, but it could prove useful when looking for biking routes during our travels.

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