Source: National Weather Service

Severe thunderstorms are forecast today for Lake Tahoe and the surrounding area.

According to the National Weather Service in Reno, “Thunderstorms will form throughout the region with the strongest storms along the Sierra north of Highway 50.”

The potential for supercell thunderstorms is because of the warm temperature, high instability, lingering moisture from Tropical Storm Blanca and the upper-level low are coming together at the same time.

“The strongest storms will be capable of producing winds in excess of 60 mph, large hail over an inch in diameter, very frequent lightning, and brief very heavy rates of rain or small hail,” the Weather Service warns.

The storm is expected between 1-9pm June 9.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Zephyr Cove Tennis Club is offering three weeks worth of instruction for youth starting this week.

The lessons are for those who will be in grades 2-7 for the 2015-16 school year. Second- through fourth-graders will play from noon-1:15pm on Mondays-Wednesdays-Fridays for the weeks of June 8, June 15 and June 22. Fifth- through seventh-graders will be on the courts from 1:30-2:45pm.

The fee is $100 per student with online registration.

A tennis certified professional is running the program.

For more information, call Bob Beut at 530.314.3588.

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Off-Highway Vehicle team’s season on the Rubicon Trail has already been busy.

During Memorial Day weekend 510 people and 204 vehicles were contacted. Deputies provided assistance to four people, two of those were vehicle rollovers. Ten warnings were issued, but no citations or arrests.

The team consists of a sergeant, one full-time seasonal deputy and eight part-time deputies. The team is funded in part by California Off-Highway Motor Vehicular Recreation Commission, California Green Sticker Fees, and SMUD. They patrol in two, marked, Jeep Wranglers with specialized equipment to deal with medical emergencies, vehicle rollovers, rugged off-road travel, and overnight stays on the trails. This is year 15 of the program.

Deputies Tony Broadfoot and Jeremiah Hamon received advanced medical training and recently attended Wilderness First Responder School specifically designed to prepare them to provide aid during emergencies in remote areas.

The mission of the OHV team is to provide education to the public, maintain the family friendly atmosphere and when necessary, use enforcement to support that education.  The deputies will spend their time encouraging trail users to use the trail safely and in such a way that the trail is protected from environmental damage. Alcohol violations will be strictly enforced.

All vehicles on the Rubicon Trail need to be currently registered or  “green stickered”( designated as off-highway).

Brenda Stewart makes her way through a turn on Sidewinder. Photos/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

Be wary when a friend says it’s a tiny hill.

At least that’s how I remember Brenda describing the ascent up to the Corral Trailhead. The 2.2-mile uphill slog on a poorly paved road from the lower parking lot would have been a lot less painful had we not already ridden several miles to get to this point.

Oh, but the reward, well that was worth having to swallow my pride to push the bike a short ways. This is as vehicles, including shuttles from South Shore Bikes, passed us. While I did take the shuttle back to my vehicle at Spooner when I did the Flume Trail years ago, the shuttle to Corral almost seems like cheating.

Our destination was Sidewinder – formally known as Sierra Sidewinder.

Shocks — or a whole new bike — would make some Tahoe trails more pleasurable.

The banked turns had me wishing it hadn’t been three years since I took a mountain biking lesson at Northstar.  I was trying to remember what I had been taught – but didn’t necessarily learn – about how the bike is supposed to lean one way and I’m supposed to do something else.

I was just happy this was a weekday with few people on the trail. My brakes were getting a lot of action. So were my facial muscles – switching between smiling and serious concentration.

Many mountain bike trails have the green-blue-black designations like ski runs. Sidewinder is 1.25 miles of blue terrain.

It’s mostly about banked switchbacks. But there was one spot where Brenda and I both walked down a granite slab.

From there we did a gentle ride over the tabletops on Lower Corral. This is 1½ miles of green. I’ve seen video of people doing some spectacular riding on all sections of Corral. I don’t aspire to do that, but it will be fun to get more confident riding this trail.

(Upper Corral Trail is 1 mile and is a black diamond.)

Mount Tallac from Lower Corral Trail.

The U.S. Forest Service – whose property these trails are on – and TAMBA – the area’s preeminent mountain biking group – deserve all the props they get for having created a network of trails that just about anyone could get down.

I’m not a serious mountain biker by any means. In fact, my Trek is more than 20 years old. It doesn’t have any suspension. This either makes me so incredibly hardcore, super cheap, plain stupid or someone whose mountain biking escapades might just be evolving to the point where she needs to do some shopping for new wheels.

It was at the end of Lower Corral where my whole body was shaking and I started thinking having front or rear shocks, or both, would have been welcome. All I was thankful for was that I already had a massage booked for later in the week.

—-

Getting there:

From South Lake Tahoe, take Highway 50 west toward Meyers.

Turn left on Elks Club Drive.

Turn right on Pioneer Trail.

Turn left on Oneidas Street.

There is a lower parking lot. If the gates are open, there is parking farther up at the entrance to the trailhead.

The Truckee Donner Public Utility District is hosting a garden party and seminar June 23 from 5-7pm in the Patricia S. Sutton Conservation Garden.

This event includes displays and presentations by local experts on water-wise landscaping and gardening. Seminar presentations will occur at 5:45pm and 6:30pm on plant selection, irrigation and landscape design.

People will be taught about water conservation for their garden, erosion and storm water control, plant selection, irrigation, landscape materials and the many ways that residents can conserve water in and outside their homes.

Local exhibitors include TDPUD, Truckee, Truckee River Watershed Council, Pat Sutton Memorial Scholarship Fund, Rock & Rose Nursery, Mountain Hardware and others.

Free water-saving devices will be available to TDPUD water customers.

Truckee will host the nation’s top amateur and junior cyclists at the 2015 USA Cycling Amateur Road National Championships, June 24-28.

The race is five consecutive days, consisting of three distinct courses and distances. The 9-14 age category competes on a 5K course that loops around Serene Lakes, while the 15-18 age category race on a 70K course that starts in Loyalton and ends at Northstar. The elite-amateur and U23 category races on a 167K loop that starts at Northstar and runs north on Highway 89.

The time trial course is a variation of an out-and-back style format with 40K, 20K and 10K distances. All ages and categories will race on the same 1K criterium course in downtown Truckee.

Nearly 1,000 athletes are expected to compete.

Many riders are racing to compete for the Team USA in selected European campaigns.

For more information, go online. Expect road closures at times in the Truckee area.

Discover Nevada State Parks day is June 13.

Park visitors will receive free day use admission and free fishing (no license required) at all of Nevada’s 23 State Parks. The free day is open to non-Nevada residents as well.

For more information or to find a list of state parks, go online.

The UCCE Master Gardeners of Lake Tahoe’s June Day Jamboree and Plant Sale is June 13 from 9am-2pm at the Lake Tahoe Community College Demonstration Garden.

Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer questions about gardening at Tahoe. Whether it be growing vegetables, learning which plants attracts butterflies and bees, finding out how to keep a garden growing with less water, or how to manage pests without using harmful chemicals, answers can be found at this event.

This is also a fundraiser for the local Master Gardener program. The funds raised through the plant sale will help offset program costs such as printing materials, seeds, soil and other materials used in teaching demonstrations.

And with Master Gardeners every day is Earth Day, so people are encouraged to bring their used plant containers that are in good condition to the sale, as they can be reused for demonstrations and future plant sales.

Tickets ($20) for the Tahoe in Bloom Garden Tour, set for July 25, will be available for sale at the June Day Jamboree.

Watching an Aces baseball game will help Austin’s House, the only emergency children’s shelter in rural Northern Nevada.

Only 300 right field reserved seats are available for $12. Six dollars of each ticket sold goes directly to benefit Austin’s House.

The July 7, 7:05pm game pits the Reno Aces against the Sacramento River Cats.

Austin’s House will be recognized with a pre-game on-field check presentation and a post-game group photo. To order tickets, call 775.267.6711.

Lake Tahoe Unified students made a big push Thursday to take the lead in the Tahoe Bike Challenge.

Parents and teachers lead students to school. Photo/Rebecca Bryson

With about 150 students pedaling 5 miles, that is 750 miles the kids have tallied.

Young cyclists gather at the post office in Meyers. Photo/Rebecca Bryson

The challenge goes through June 14. It includes groups and individuals.

At the magnet school on June 4 there was a bike rodeo with various events. Three stations were set up at the school, with the California Highway Patrol and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency participating.

The slow rider winner could ride their bike the slowest. This demonstrated  control. Photo/Michelle Ramirez