Looking down at the streets toward the University of Nevada (UNR) campus, I saw what looked to be the beginning of some kind of motorcade. There were people and flashing lights all globbed together on one entire block. With that in mind, as I was pushing my bike out my hotel door, I looked up and saw two uniformed policeman standing there.  When I asked them if they were from the Reno police department, they told me they were from New York City and that there was a total of four officers from their department here to honor a policeman from nearby Carson city who had been shot and killed.

It was their ceremony along with Move In Day at the nearby UNR campus that had a lot more cars and trucks and buses on the downtown Reno streets than I have seen to date. And yet while it was congested, there were plenty of other streets I could use to get to my meeting at Buenos Grille on time  later in the day. I will tell you about that in a bit, but before I do, I gotta tell you about Move In day. 

There were so many lines of cars filled with students and their parents that I overheard one dad say that the Virginia St exit from the freeway had been closed! And indeed the administration did make it  festive. In a grassy area in the middle of one cluster of buildings, tables and their umbrellas had been set up to show new students some of the service they could take advantage of. I heard cool bike so much as I rode through this area that I stopped and was given free sunglasses and writing pens, even a notebook, etc.

On my way over to the Buenos Grill, I saw another Bibos Coffee operation inside of a some kind of reconverted railroad shed. Mark, the manager there, and I talked for a bit about what I was doing and what they had going on. 

Being a cyclist, he then told  me the best way to get to my meeting on the other side of town. Usually as cyclists, we never worry about traffic. However the route he gave me was so filled with cars and kids exiting them right on to the sidewalk, that I headed back to the Truckee River. And I was happy I did because this time Jim Bell from Sierra Adventures was in his little bike and kayak rental shop right on the river itself. Many times before I had passed and there was no one there.

As it turned out, he was a former bike racer from the Santa Cruz area and hung with a lot of the same bike people  I knew, many of whom I had even interviewed when I was the editor for the Santa Cruz Cycling Club Newsletter! From as many as eight employees, he was now running a pretty lean one-man operation. This was so  because there was so little water in the river in front of his store for kayakers  and all of the downtown construction, they are rebuilding the nearby Virginia St bridge, was keeping  bike riders off the Riverwalk promenade also right out his front door. Called Sierra Adventures, his business should be going strong by this time next year when the river crossing is fixed and the rain we are are promised does arrive. 

 

On my way from Sierra Adventures,  to my lunch meeting with one of  the Harrahs marketing directors, I did the usual route near the river and past the Hub Coffee Roasters oasis on the Crooked Mile to Idelwild and to the park at the end of it called Crissie Caughlin Park.

 

 

 

 

After crossing the brown bike/ped bridge, I made a immediate left on the 20 feet of dirt that preceded what has become one of my favorite short bike passageways in all the world.

 

 

 

 

I also found out what it is called, the Collin Ranch Greenbelt.

Soon I was at Buenos Grille. And it’s owner Greg Butler was easy to spot as a cyclist in street clothes. Tall and fit, he was all smiles as he serviced all the many customers who kept pouring in. He and I talked for a short bit, but I kept our exchange brief because I could see that he was a hands owner who worked hard to keep everyone there, including his employees, happy. After Tina and I talked Harrahs, and enjoyed out awesome meals, I did sneak in a photo of Greg as he spoke on the phone. 

From Greg’s I decided to see if the trail I turned left from to go up the Collin Ranch Greenbelt, really did continue along the Truckee River to Verdi as I had heard people say. Well it did not!! It ran on beautiful tarmac for about a mile before it ended in a beautiful neighborhood. When asking one its residents how to continue on, she told me that the trail went away when the homes went in but that I could pick it up again about a mile up the road.

But first I had to leave her sub division.  Soon I exited from it on Maybell and rode a beautiful wide bike lane for another mile to the trail that went back dow to the river. I felt like someone was playing a joke on me when I crossed a bridge that ended a quarter mile later  at a metal picnic table.

 

When I did  U-turn and headed the other way at the fork I had encountered, I got on the car-free trail I had thought was going to be a big bonanza. After I crossed back over the bridge, it really was beautiful.

However, it ended on the beautiful new asphalt and striping of Maybell after less than a mile.

I rode back to the hotel and found that Mary Beth from yesterday had already gotten a lunch meeting together for tomorrow with a bunch of key Reno bike principals!! We’re gonna talk about the Tahoe to Pyramid Lake trail and the Procrastinating Pedalers and Reno cycling and yahoo!! Too exciting!! What a great way to wind down my excellent time in Reno as I use a lot of  the weekend to also ramp up for my train trip back to Davis.

Do stay tuned.

 

btw: My previous week and a half of Reno blog reports can be found HERE!!