Tahoe Bike Tour

I spent 3 days last week riding my bike in the area around Lake Tahoe, CA. Special thanks to Chris Markus for planning the trip! What a beautiful area and a great place to ride. Here is a short summary of a great bike trip:

Day 1
Tim Barthel dropped us (Chris and me) and our bikes off in Placerville at about 9:00am. Our plan was to ride up some back roads to Sly Park Reservoir, then up Mormon Immigrant Trail Road to Silver Fork Pass. We would ride down Silver Fork Pass to a campground to refill water bottles before heading up over Packsaddle Pass and then back down to a truck we had left there the previous night. We anticipated that we would arrive at the truck at about 3:30pm after having ridden about 60 miles with 6,000 to 8,000 ft of climbing. By the way, that is A LOT of climbing!

Everything went according to plan for the first section. It was a beautiful day and we stopped for a leisurely lunch at a diner/gas station before beginning the long, difficult climb up Mormon Immigrant Trail (MIT). We happened to hit the diner on a "Taco Tuesday" and the lady working the counter was not very pleased when we requested food that was not tacos! Things got a little more interesting after lunch as we neared the top of MIT. It was getting warmer and we were using up our water supply when Chris looked at me and said, "We got a problem!" It seems Chris had dropped his wallet (full of cash) back at a previous stop. We had stopped to see a memorial on the side of the road for some Motorcyclists who lost their lives in a traffic accident some years prior. With the oxygen level low and fatigue beginning to set in, I could not remember how far back that stop was. I suggested going on to the truck and driving back for it, but Chris was concerned (rightly so) that many people stop at that spot to visit the memorial. So DOWN we headed, knowing that every foot we dropped was a foot we would have to climb back up shortly. After riding down 5 MILES and 1,500 FEET, we came to the memorial and Chris' wallet sat silently by the side of the road with his family's picture facing up waiting for his return. We grabbed the wallet, turned uphill and started rationing our water. By the time we reached the top of MIT and the turn off down Silver Fork Pass we had both been out of water for some time. We headed down to the campground to fill our stomachs and refill our water bottles.

The climb up Packsaddle Pass was challenging, but the secluded beauty of this road was amazing. After riding a road bike for a while you get used to traffic and noise. This small little road was cut deep into the mountain and had no traffic and no noise. The views at the top of Pyramid Peak and the valley below were breathtaking. We made it to the truck at 7:30 (a full 4 hours later than expected) after riding 70 miles and climbing 9,850 FEET!

Day 2

After the previous day's adventures we decided to have a recovery day. So we rode from our hotel to DL Bliss campground where my friends (The Barthel Family) were camping. We rode through South Lake Tahoe and around Emerald Bay for the visit. It was an "easy" day of only 40 miles and a couple thousand feet of climbing. We also had the afternoon to relax, so we were able to enjoy the hotel's pool, have a nice dinner, and get our bikes ready for the next day's ride around the lake.

Day 3
On the final day of our tour we set out from our hotel to circumnavigate Lake Tahoe. Just looking out over the lake, it seemed like a daunting task, but I was assured it wasn't as far as it looked. The weather was perfect for the trip, beautiful sunshine but not too hot. After a quick breakfast we were off to an early start. My legs felt much recovered while climbing up Emerald Bay for the second time in as many days. Then a nice long descent towards a heavily trafficked Tahoe City. A short but refreshing lunch near Incline Village before heading into the Nevada side of the lake. The east side of the lake is beautiful and has a slow climb up to over 7,000 feet. Then a long ride down to where we started. In all we traveled about 72 miles with 4,000 feet of climbing. Got back early enough to jump in the pool before heading home. This was a great trip and I look forward to whatever Chris has planned for next year.

-Thanks Suzi for arranging our accommodations. The hotel was great.