Book details best cycling routes in Eastern Sierra
By Wendilyn Grasseschi, Mammoth Times
It started with a climbing accident that left local climber and teacher Jim Barnes too injured to climb for a while.
Things did not improve when he stepped on a stingray and his foot got infected.
Not only couldn’t he climb, he couldn’t walk very far.
For a man accustomed to constant physical activity, it was a time of sheer frustration.
He decided to hop on a road bike and that’s when the love affair started.
“I loved the effort of the climb and the thrill of the descent,” he said. “I started climbing every hill in the area, and then I decided I wanted to do the Everest Challenge ride, six weeks out.”
He complete the challenge and came in third for his age group.
“After the race, I set my sites on climbing every hill in the [Eastern Sierra],” he said.
Over the next several years, Barnes rode every paved road in the Eastern Sierra, much of it alongside his friend and climbing partner, Nate Greenberg.
From the crazy climb up Nine Mile Canyon in the far Southern Sierra to Lake Tahoe’s Rim Trail, the duo attacked every road they could over the years.
A few years ago, they decided to write a book, which is now on the shelves of Mammoth’s own, independently owned bookstore, the Booky Joint.
Called “Road Biking California’s Sierra Nevada The Best Rides From Lake Tahoe to Mount Whitney,” the book details 48 different rides that span the breadth and width of the Sierra, with a decent majority of them concentrated in the Eastern Sierra.
