Northern California - Tahoe Area weekend... Looking for Route recommendations.

Hello,

A few days ago a friend of mine suggested that a bunch of us head up to Lake Tahoe for an extended weekend in June - a weekend of riding, hiking, and debauchery at night. :thumb: His original concept was to ride around the lake. I thought it would be a good ride, too... but looking at the route, it's only about 80 miles with not much climbing. So I decided to write here and hopefully get some good feedback & suggestions on riding in the area.

We'll most likely have our own cabin for the weekend - not sure where it is though (another friend says she'll hook it up. I think it's in the south of Lake Tahoe though, possibly Nevada side). So... ignoring where the cabin is, for now, can I get a suggestions of riding in the area? North, South, Nevada or California side...

I'm looking for:
-Awesome climbs and descents (I *love* to climb). My friends... they're becoming addicted to climbing, too ;)
-Great roads, minimal traffic. How are the roads through El Dorado Park? Will I be having ELO's "El Dorado" album looping in my head while riding? Is it that epic?
-Gorgeous scenery. Trees, views, lakes...
-Not needing to carry a gazillion water bottles. Basically, if I carry two large within the frame, I'll be able to refill along the way.

--other days will be spent hiking, chillin', rockin'.

Oh, and this will mostly be road. As far as I'm aware, I'm the only one among the friends who are interested who has a CX or offroad rig as an option. So I'll probably be taking one of my road bikes for this little adventure.

Suggestions and discussion on this more than welcome :) Thanks in advance!

The Death Ride route is a nice set of 3 out and backs from Markleeville, about 20 minutes south of S. Lake Tahoe. What weekend will you be there? You could do that new double century on June 13th that Alta Alpina is organizing.

JB

The Death Ride route is a nice set of 3 out and backs from Markleeville, about 20 minutes south of S. Lake Tahoe. What weekend will you be there? You could do that new double century on June 13th that Alta Alpina is organizing.

JB

I'm already signed up for the Death Ride (July 11th).
The weekend we're looking at is June 12/13/14.

How are the roads in El Dorado park? Are they paved, or are they fire roads? Is there an occasional spigot along the way that can allow for refilling of water bottles? :)

If you are staying in South Lake Tahoe, you could ride over Luther Pass (89) via South Upper Truckee Rd. Luther Drops you into the Hope Valley (88/89) You could go to Markleeville, and follow jonathanb715's suggestions from that point. If you do so, you will get to climb Luther Pass again on the way home. Food, water, etc, available in Markleville.

You could also climb Luther and descend to 88/89. Turn right on 88. At the base of the Carson Pass, turn left and climb to Blue Lakes. Descend back to 88, turn left, and climb to the top of Carson. Caples lake is about three miles past the summit and you can get food & drink there. As I recall, Sorensen's, in the Hope Valley, also has food & drink available. If you elect to do this route, check for food and water availability BEFORE you do it.

Another option is to do the World's Toughest Triathlon bike course. It starts at Camp Richardson, Goes over Spooner Summit (50) and descends to 395. Turn right on 395 and go to Monitor Pass (89). Climb/descend Monitor, go through Markleville, climb/descend Luther Pass and head back to Richardson. As I recall, this is about 103 miles. This is a tough ride.
Heck, all the previously mentioned rides are tough. Just depends on your appetite. If you want to do the run leg of WTT, just run to the top of Spooner and return to Richardson. Only 18 miles. :)

I'm already signed up for the Death Ride (July 11th).
The weekend we're looking at is June 12/13/14.

How are the roads in El Dorado park? Are they paved, or are they fire roads? Is there an occasional spigot along the way that can allow for refilling of water bottles? :)

If you're going to be there the weekend of the double, you might want to check it out - that way you get SAG support too. You don't have to do the full 200 - they let you pick and choose what passes you ride. http://www.altaalpina.org/challenge/

JB

You're signed up for the Death Ride, so if you want to do some different roads from the DR route try this one - Packsaddle Pass -

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ca/south-lake-tahoe/484902932

The only overlap with the DR route is the descent from Carson to Old Luther Pass. I highly recommend taking Old Luther Pass - very cool. I did this ride at Sagebum's recommendation last year and it was a great ride. Including the ride from the hotel in South Lake Tahoe I ended up with a little over 90 miles. Two water bottles worked for me. I stopped at Kirkwood ski resort for water and food. All paved. Watch for bears - I almost hit one (no kidding).

-Glenn

Sweet! Thanks Glenn, that looks like a great little loop.

Does anyone have experience riding 'round the Lake? Will it be boring, or will it be fun?
According to map my ride it's around 80 miles with not much climbing at all :(

Most of us who live in the area rarely ride around the lake...simply because of the traffic and because there is so much good low traffic riding with lots of climbing just beyond the lake in every direction. June 13?

You may be interested in: http://altaalpina.org/challenge/

Also, we have a lot of local routes listed and described here: http://altaalpina.org/rides/dsp_selarea.php?action=Road The Packsaddle Pass route is one of my favorites too.

If you want to keep up with current conditions you are welcome to check out my riding blog:

http://www.bikejournal.com/blog.asp?rname=Sagebum

See you out there.

Hi again,

So I'm convincing my friends to do the AltaAlpina Challenge - and most of us have been leaning towards the "piece meal" version of the challenge where you pick your own passes.

Thing is, I'm not familiar with *any* of these passes, and would like to have recommendations on them:

- Kingsbury Grade aka Daggett Pass (East)
- Luther Pass (South)
- Carson Pass (East)
- Blue Lakes Road
- Monitor (West)
- Monitor (East)

(from: http://www.altaalpina.org/challenge/6pass/index.html)

Any opinions on these? Scenery? Steepness? Interesting-ness (switchbacks, curves vs. straights)?
Which would you choose?

Thank you.

Hi again,

So I'm convincing my friends to do the AltaAlpina Challenge - and most of us have been leaning towards the "piece meal" version of the challenge where you pick your own passes.

Thing is, I'm not familiar with *any* of these passes, and would like to have recommendations on them:

- Kingsbury Grade aka Daggett Pass (East)
- Luther Pass (South)
- Carson Pass (East)
- Blue Lakes Road
- Monitor (West)
- Monitor (East)

http://www.altaalpina.org/challenge/6pass/index.htm

Any opinions on these? Scenery? Steepness? Interesting-ness (switchbacks, curves vs. straights)?
Which would you choose?

Thank you.


Blue Lakes and both sides of Monitor have minimal auto traffic and the best scenery IMHO..... you can include Ebbets too..... Blue Lakes is the easiest of the bunch (but not necessarily easy....).... between them you're in for a great weekend !!!

Here's a link with picks of Monitor last Sunday....

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=530460

Lou

You mentioned an extended weekend, how many days will you actually have to ride?


My Cycling Blog (http://www.bikejournal.com/blog.asp?rname=Sagebum)

There's an @80 mile ride with about 8000 feet (I believe) of climbing:

Incline Village (North end of Lake Tahoe) up and over Mt. Rose.
Down to Reno, across rt 395 and up Geiger Grade to Virginia City.
Down the back side of Virginia City to Carson City and up Spooner Grade.
Make a right on rt 28 and ride the rollers back to Incline Village

Going around Lake Tahoe is very pretty. In South Lake Tahoe you'll run into a lot of lookeeloo traffic checking out the lake and the casinos. Otherwise, traffic is present but manageable. It's not completely flat. There are at least 3 decent climbs (out of Emerald Bay, Dollar Hill in Tahoe City, and from Incline to Spooner). It's about 74 miles.

Hi again,

So I'm convincing my friends to do the AltaAlpina Challenge - and most of us have been leaning towards the "piece meal" version of the challenge where you pick your own passes.

Thing is, I'm not familiar with *any* of these passes, and would like to have recommendations on them:

- Kingsbury Grade aka Daggett Pass (East)
- Luther Pass (South)
- Carson Pass (East)
- Blue Lakes Road
- Monitor (West)
- Monitor (East)

(from: http://www.altaalpina.org/challenge/6pass/index.html)

Any opinions on these? Scenery? Steepness? Interesting-ness (switchbacks, curves vs. straights)?
Which would you choose?

Thank you.

I have not done Kingsbury, Luther or Blue Lakes. Everyone I know who has done Blue Lakes raves about it. Of the rest, Carson is the busiest - tons of traffic at times, and busy all the time. It's also (IMHO) the least interesting. The descent is very fast (particularly below Pickets Junction, where Luther Pass comes in), but it is not technical at all. This is the main route for traffic between S. Lake Tahoe and Kirkwood.

Monitor and Ebbets are great climbs, although kind of different in feel. While none of the 4 sides are killer climbs by themselves, in the context of a long hard ride they can get to you. All 4 sides have sections ranging from 8 - 12%, so there is some relatively steep stuff, but there's also chances to recover. If you can do Mt. D., you can do any of those passes. Monitor is a proper road - well paved, 2 lanes and wide enough that you don't feel like you're taking your life in you hands when a car comes along. It also gets some traffic. Ebbets gets very little traffic, and is a single lane road. It is also the more technical descent - tighter turns, with some switchbacks on the steeper sections, and your brakes will get a workout. Monitor is fast and wide open, so you can really fly on the descent, and only need the brakes a handful of times.

Hope that helps!

JB

Does anyone have experience riding 'round the Lake? Will it be boring, or will it be fun?
According to map my ride it's around 80 miles with not much climbing at all :(
If you've got a few days there and have never been around the lake then I'd recommend you do that one day and plan on doing some of the passes mentioned on another day. The basic loop around is 72 miles with only a couple climbs - Emerald Bay and up to the junction on the Nevada side. Here's a record of one of my trips there:
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=215
If you click on 'Stats' above the map you'll see the elevation profile and figures.

Early to mid June is a pretty good time to do the lake ride although a little earlier would be better to have less traffic. If you're starting from the south end I'd start early and go clockwise so you get the town and Emerald Bay behind you before the traffic gets heavier. You get some more traffic through Tahoe City but not for long and then it thins out as you get toward the Nevada side.