Mind the Braap | Virginia City Grand Prix | E85
Twenty miles east of Lake Tahoe, high up in the Virginia Range at 6,500 feet elevation is one of the best preserved Old West towns in America, Virginia City. Known to locals as VC, in the 1860s, it was once the richest city in the world, home to the Comstock Lode, one of the largest silver strikes in history. In fact, the gold and silver from VC in the 1860s built all of San Francisco. Today, VC still has wooden boardwalks on C Street, ornate Victorian-era homes, two dozen saloons, a cemetery almost as large as the town itself and an Old West vibe that’s admittedly a bit touristy, but undeniably genuine. VC also has the Grand Prix, a 55-year long tradition of dirt bike racing, as wild and rugged as the town itself. Episode 85 documents this year’s Grand Prix, in the field on race day, talking with event volunteers and racers with different experience levels to really understand what this race is all about and how compares it to another legendary race on two wheels in a Gold Rush town, the Downieville Classic.
The Doldrums of Summer in Lake Tahoe | E42
In the midst of record-breaking heat, out of control wildfires, brazen bears and dry, dusty blown-out trails, the boys catch up on a grab bag of topics including Pow Bot’s harrowing adventure sailboat racing on Lake Tahoe, Trail Whisperer’s week of trail work spent in the Toiyabe Range with no cell service, a recap of the Downieville Classic, whether you should buy an SL-style ebike or a “full power” ebike, Trail Whisperer’s new bike day and whether or not he likes “mullet” style mountain bikes, the modern world of social media and how to break away from the stranglehold of Meta, the start of the Summer Olympics in Paris with lame mountain bike courses and the greatest surfing wave ever, Pow Bot’s recent rediscovery of hiking and his relationship with the same mountain from summer to winter and Trail Whisperer’s struggle to stay amped on riding his mountain bike through the hottest and dustiest part of the summer. The boys also do some listener shout-outs and play the first 888 COR LORD call-in voicemails from listeners.