Morning at Lake Tahoe

As dreary as yesterday was, today was spectacular!

I woke up before sunrise and thoroughly enjoyed the clear sky and the gentle warm glow kissing the mountains. After early church, I decided to take a drive up to Lake Tahoe via the Mount Rose Highway (south of Reno). I knew there were some great places to stop and take pictures of the lake. This picture was taken from the scenic overlook as you descend into Incline Village on the eastern shore.

I then drove down into Incline Village, around the north shore heading towards Tahoe City. My intent was to drive around the west shore towards Emerald Bay, taking pictures all along the way.

But, as luck would have it, when I arrived in Kings Beach (north shore), there were signs everywhere that a bike race was in progress. I then saw the banners for the Lake Tahoe Ironman race today. By this time, it is too late to turn around and go the other way.

The traffic from the east was funneled towards Brockway Summit. As I made the right turn (away from the lake) towards the summit, I could see dozens of bicyclists thundering down the hill. By this time, traffic is single-file and crawling at a snail's pace. The hikers who were going up the hill were going faster than the cars were. So, I decided to make lemonade (what you do when you have lemons, i.e. negative circumstances). I pulled out my camera, carefully watching traffic in front of me, and started shooting photos of the racers. (Parents are advised to not let their children do this at home . . . or parents either!).

In the two hours that it took to get from Lake Tahoe over Brockway Summit to the freeway to head home, I shot over 400 pictures of the racers. I was so impressed by their determination.

The Lake Tahoe Ironman is one of the qualifying Ironman triathalons for the World Championship Ironman in Hawaii. As I found out talking to one of the spectators/cheerleaders, this is the first year for this event. Over 2600 people are competing this year. They started with a 2.4 mile swim in Lake Tahoe (extremely cold water), then a 112 mile bike ride from Tahoe City (northwest shore) down through the Truckee River corridor past Squaw Valley into Truckee, then back south over Brockway Summitt, through Kings Beach then back to Tahoe City. Finally, they will run 26.2 mile route from Tahoe City back up the Truckee River corridor to Squaw Valley then back. They have 17 hours to finish the triathalon. When you factor in the altitude (5000 to 8000 feet elevation), the cooler temperatures and starting with a cold water swim, this is a difficult Ironman competition.

As I shot photos of these athletes, I seriously though of putting together a collage. But as I reviewed my pictures, I had so many good pictures that I couldn't choose. Finally, I "finked out" and just decided on this one. There was a great deal of haze so I tried to boost my contrast a bit. Other than that I didn't do anything else to the photo. And yes, the lake is really that blue all the time!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!