Over The Edge Lake Tahoe presented our first advertised OTE 3Day event August 1st to 3rd this year. The event promised coffee, bike riding, beers, river floating, as well as a premier of Anthill Films new movie “Return to Earth” and it delivered on all of those promises.
With no idea what to expect we arrived in town a day early and headed to the shop. Our group consisted of Troy Rarick, Bill Bergeron and Ian Hylands, and we were hoping that others would join us. At the shop we grabbed some tasty coffee and picked up some rad demo bikes from awesome brands including Evil and Rocky Mountain. Once we had everything dialed we met up with OTE mechanic Jonah Teetsel and a few others that were gathering for a post work shop ride, shuttling up to Vansickle for a quick rip into town.
Quick tip, if you fill your bladder with ice and water and then put a beer in it you’ll have an icy cold beer when you need it.
Day 1
The scheduled ride for Day 1 was Kingsbury to Vansickle, but having done Vansickle the day before we decided to change it up a bit. It was going to be just the three of us plus OTE mechanics Ren and Taylor, so we made quick plans for an afternoon ride. We decided to not shuttle and instead rode up the South Upper Truckee Road to get to the Tahoe Rim Trail Grass Lake Spur. That was a quick fun lap down to the parking lot before crossing over the road and riding up Luther Stairs to the TRT Big Meadow Trail. Luther Stairs was a punishing climb but we were rewarded by amazing views in the meadow, and a gradual climb up to the Christmas Valley trail, our main destination for the day.
We had time so we decided to take a short detour to Dardanelles Lake. The ride out was technical up and down, but totally worth it when we got to the lake. After a short refreshing swim we continued down the awesome Christmas Valley trail and back to the cars. Day 1 done!
Day 2
We slept late on the second day and after a quick breakfast we headed to the shop for coffee. Our friends James and Layla had driven down from Truckee for the day and they met us at the shop. We missed the shop shuttle up to Luther Pass but quickly threw together our own shuttle and headed out. After about 30 minutes of climbing we caught up to the shop crew and joined them for the rest of the ride on Armstrong Pass to Corral Trail. The views were amazing and the ride down was all time!
Feeling a little tired after the long ride we arrived back in town and headed to the house to shower before heading out. The evening’s agenda included the premiere of Anthill Films new movie “Return to Earth” at the Hangar, an awesome taphouse with a great outdoor space.
Day 3
After two solid rides in two days we were ready for a bit of a break, and day 3 was just that. A slow morning with coffee at the bike shop and then a shuttle to float the Upper Truckee River for a couple of hours. A float which conveniently ended back at the Hangar again for some icy cold beers.
The Future
Going into the first OTE 3 Day we were unsure of exactly what to expect, and maybe that’s a good thing. Every 3 Day event will be a little bit different, some may stick fairly strictly to a schedule while others won’t. And that’s the beauty of the 3 Day. They’re not tightly controlled events, they’re simply an invitation to come ride and hang out with us at a predetermined location. If you are planning on attending a 3 Day and want to rent/demo a bike we do suggest booking in advance, or at least contacting the shop and checking availability.
The next OTE 3 Day event is the Todos Santos 3 Day which takes place December 6-8, 2019. You can find a complete schedule of the 3 Day Events here.