After speaking on the phone with the Reno Gazzette newspaper where their Content Manager had wanted to know more about what I was doing here for  a possible story, I decided to ride Arlington to see what its delicious looking bike lanes were like further away from the town center.Along the way, at the corner of Arlington and Plumb Lane 

 

There was this welcoming looking restaurant – 

The smooth, well striped tarmac took me to a golf course, where instead of turning left, I continued on the gentle hill that veered off to the right called Skyline. Still well striped and wonderful, it even had curved sidewalks .

 

I must have ridden it for a couple miles when the 97 degree heat told me this was better ridden in the morning cool so I turned around. Here at Harrahs as I write this, I am learning that the bike lane wonder I left behind continues all the way to the 22-mile  McCarran Loop that surrounds the city. Because of the preponderance of stop lights, I am told that the McCarran Loop, even though most of it has bike lanes, is really only a worthy ride on early Sunday mornings. Hmm, maybe I’ll put Clive’s Advanta through the paces then as I go back to Davis on Monday…..

What made today special was the cyclist I spotted riding the opposite direction near the golf course entrance. Her name, as it tuned out was Mary Beth and she as well was from the San Francisco Bay Area, the East Bay where I grew up. A lifetime cyclist, about my age, she moved here for the riding and she had the beautiful legs of a 20 year old to prove the worth of a bicycle lifestyle! 

She told me about all the great riding here and that she does a lot of it  with the Procrastinating Pedalers. She promised to get me in touch with them and with her partner, also a hard core cyclist. She also had a lot of praise  for  the Tahoe-Pyramid Bikeway that I keep hearing about. She said that its alignment through Reno is all pretty much complete and that soon it will connect Lake Tahoe with Pyramid Lake, about 30 miles east of Reno.

 

I told Mary Beth, I wanted to get over to Trader Joes and Whole Foods for some groceries. She said I could cut through the golf course. And then she offered to show me how to do so.

We ended up on Moana St. where, after we chatted for a while, she left me and pedaled back to her job as a software sales consultant.

From Moana, I turned right on Lakeside and since I knew the general direction of where I needed to get and was starting to recognize street names, I starting turning into interesting areas that led to also  interesting neighborhoods.

My reward for powering under the freeway on Virginia Street for the last half mile to Whole Foods, where there is also no bike lane but cooperative traffic, was this drink. Indeed the world is changing so much. Where before sugary drinks like Gatorade were the only option to replace electrolytes and other nutrients lost to sweat, now one can actually buy tasty drinks such as this one, augmented with the new proven power food spice called turmeric!!

 

 

Speaking of which, I am finishing this report up now, so I can get to bed a lot earlier and be on the road in the cooler morning hours tomorrow. I am also going to have lunch with one of the marketing managers here at Harrahs,  at the Mexican restaurant you saw me discover  a few days ago. Called Buenos Grill, Greg, the cyclist/owner, is donating  the meal to the National Bicycle Greenway cause! Yahoo!!

THX 4 all of U!!