Activities Reno Tahoe, LLC / Sierra Adventures at 11 N Sierra St, 89501 Reno, Nevada

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Adventurous? Hoping to attract the outdoorsy-type of casino tourist, Jim Bell sets up his outdoors rental-and-guide shop in downtown Reno The concierge can recommend a good restaurant. The bellhop can suggest a happening nightspot. When it comes to adventure, Jim Bell wants tourists to come to his shop, Sierra Adventures. “I’m actually trying to help not only the locals but visitors nobody’s taken care of for years,” Bell said. “They don’t have anyone to go to (in Reno) so they go to Truckee or Tahoe City.” Five years ago, Bell saw an opportunity to serve Reno’s outdoorsy visitors. He rented a warehouse just outside downtown, offered mountain bike rentals and tours of Peavine Peak and set up deals for other local outfitters. This fall, Bell saw another opportunity. He moved his headquarters to West First Street, next to chic coffee shop Java Jungle and across from the stylish La Bussola décor and gift shop. Nearby sits the casino- hotel district. Behind the store, kayakers frolic in the Truckee River whitewater park. Other local gear shops offer equipment and good advice. Anyone can find the local outfitters on the Internet. But for the tourist who wants to walk from a hotel room and find a one-stop portal to the area’s outdoors opportunities, Sierra Adventures has a combination of services. Bell rents bikes and kayaks, can suggest a good local trail or hook up tourists with a guided trip, from rafting to ballooning to mountain biking to horseback riding. Inventory Police officers on their beat and a couple of friends stopped by Bell’s new place Monday afternoon to chat. An out-of-town visitor came in to ask about the Truckee River walk Kayaks and bicycles hang in the windows. Inside, landscape photography by Mike McCurry and kayak action shots from the whitewater park by Andy Morgan, both locals, grace the walls. “I want to get some more local photographers in here,” Bell said. Bell has high-end Prijon and Dagger playboats for sale. He also has user-friendly, sit-on-top kayaks for rent. Three slightly scuffed used boats piled on the floor can be bought or rented. The mountain bikes are all for sale. There are full-suspension and front suspension mountains bikes and two tandems. Some of them are on consignment; others belong to the past season’s rental inventory, which goes up for sale every winter. Also for sale: wetsuits, splash jackets, bike jerseys, skis, snowshoes, a pair of inline skates and a tent. Consignment is a second business for Bell. Pamphlet racks hawk local attractions and outfitters. Up a short flight of stairs, an office overlooks the shop. More pamphlets hang across from a desk. Bell repairs bicycles in the mechanic shop in back, where he also lets some people work on their own bikes. Wetsuits, splash jackets and helmets for rent line a hallway. Bell wants to put lockers in another hallway around the corner for the kayakers and let them store their boats in his basement. He wants his shop to be the base for whitewater park visitors and neighborhood cyclists. The newly remodeled bathroom has a shower. “This is for the kayakers, in case they need to take a shower after they go to the park,” Bell said. Business climate Bell, a Reno native, spent the 1980s in Santa Cruz as a professional road bicycling racer, earning some top-10 finishes and traveling to Europe on the pro circuit. When he tired of the low pay, he returned to Reno. His initiation in the guide-and-travel business came with a job packaging trips for a local travel agency. He sent cyclists to Idaho and rafters to the Colorado River. “I thought, ‘Wait a minute. What about Reno? We’ve got all that stuff here,’” he said. When the travel agency folded, he researched every guide and outfitter in the Reno-Lake Tahoe region and some in Las Vegas. Taking a cue from Vegas outfitters in cheap locations off the strip, Bell set up in a warehouse on Dickerson Send this article to a friend Back to section Pick Category Andy Barron Reno Gazette-Journal NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: Jim Bell walks from the Truckee River to his shop around the corner on First Street. In 1998, the Reno native started Sierra Adventures, a guide service. Formerly on Dickerson Road, the business moved to downtown Reno this fall; Bell hopes to attract tourists who want outdoors adventures. What: Sierra Adventures Where: 254 W. First St. (next to Java Jungle and the Truckee River whitewater park) On the Web: www.wildsierra.com, or send e-mail to info@wildsierra.com Shop talk: The shop rents snowboards, cross country skis, tubes, sleds, toboggans and snow shoes. Tubing and sledding trips: Minimum booking of four, minimum 48-hour notice, ages 6-60, starting at $49. Snowshoe, ski and snowmobile adventures: Minimum booking of four, minimum 48-hour notice, starting at $79. Details: 775-323-8928 Related Links "Arrival" Ski/Snowboard Video Premiere Sierra resorts rush to open following snowfall Snow blankets Sierra resorts, Nevada roads Eldorado has the web's best rates in Reno! Pick Event Below Today This Week This Month Dec GoTo Extras What's The Weather Like? The Next Eight Days GoTo Guides Attractions Casinos Contests Coupons Golf Resorts Maps Nightlife Packages Postcards Rentals Sierra Dining Ski Resorts Travel Looking for solitude? Try Mount Limbo http://www.gotorenotahoe.com/news/stories/html/2003/10/14/341.php?sp1=gotorenotahoe&sp2=goto+recreation&sp3=goto+recreation+main Page 1 of 2 Adventurous? 12/9/03 9:51 PM Road, the out-of-the-way side street that leads to Oxbow Nature Preserve. Business didn’t follow the Vegas model, so he moved to First Street. “I think Jim got an ideal location with the park here and the proximity to the hotels,” said Fred Washburn, 60, who will be teaching kayaking courses for Sierra Adventures. Washburn moved to Reno from Southern California after retiring for the outdoors opportunities. So far, the hotels haven’t come on board, Bell said. “They’re still selling bus tours of Virginia City and Tahoe to people,” he said. As a result, Sierra Adventures and its partner outfitters aren’t doing near the business they should be, Bell said. He had two clients this month, and business only slows more in the winter. “People don’t know how wonderful it is here,” said Fred Holabird, a Reno businessman who refers his visiting clients to Bell for recreation in their downtime. Holabird also has served as a guide for trail running and mountain biking trips for Sierra Adventures. Stone’s throw away When someone walks into the shop looking for a place to go mountain biking, Bell likes to refer them to Peavine Peak. Sometimes, he sends them right out the front door, down Washington Street to the Keystone or Evans Canyon trailheads. Lately, construction has fettered those trails, so he takes clients to another access point on the east side of Peavine, Hoge Road, in his shuttle bus. Bell also has a permit to guide mountain bike tours on Peavine. The expansive views impress clients. The network of trails — the majority of which are not officially recognized by the U.S. Forest Service — can accommodate riders of all skill levels. Bell can take riders who want more than the loop through the grassy foothills to Poeville, the old mining camp, or all the way up to the lookout near the summit. “Most people I take out, they have no idea,” he said. “They don’t know you can get to something this close to Reno.” Bell also wants to get more clients hooked on multi-sport adventures. He wants to offer a Peavine mountain biking and Truckee River whitewater park combo. He recently took a corporate group mountain biking and rafting. His tour package list offers rafting trips down the Truckee River paired with rock climbing, horseback riding and ballooning. Bell imagines clients arriving at Prosser Reservoir just as the early morning fog lifts. They float above the fog and mountains in a balloon and drift with the trade winds down to Boca Reservoir. The balloon touches down near the dam. Everyone climbs out, heads down to the headwaters below the dam and climbs into a raft. Then they enjoy a whitewater rafting trip down the Truckee River. “They’re back in the hotel by one o’clock in the afternoon,”

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Sports & Recreation category, Reno