Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

Tahoe Rim Trail, Lake Tahoe, Nevada
Spooner to Kingsbury to Spooner

September 11, 2004

Today Impy and I had a spectacular 24.5 mile ride at Lake Tahoe. We did Spooner to Kingsbury and back to Spooner. I had often thought of doing this ride but I heard it had a lot of uphill and I wasn't sure if my knees could take it. But Impy agreed to come along and go at my pace. This is a pretty tough ride but the trail and scenery are spectacular, there are scores of challenging rock stairs, and if you do it from Spooner, you are rewarded with some fantastic downhill at the end. We had some of the finest weather and views I've ever experienced.

The first hour of every ride is difficult for me but this is especially tough because you start at 7,150 ft. and you climb up about 1,700 ft. in the first five miles, on a sometimes very rocky trail. This is the first time I've really felt altitude, my lungs gave out before my legs, which is unusual. Perhaps the price I have to pay for being a shuttle monkey the past two weeks at Downieville. After about five miles you reach a spectacular viewpoint above the lake. You are then rewarded with several miles of downhill on some, at first very rocky steep stuff, followed by some buffed singletrack, and then scores of amazing rock stairs. My recent down hilling at Downieville has really paid off because I was able to follow Impy down nearly every rock stair, no matter how gnarly. And several of them had both of us shaking our heads in disbelief. We spent quite a bit of time doing "do overs", going down some of the rocks several times. I'd never done this before but it is a great idea. Sometimes I'd balk at trying something and Impy made me do it over, sometimes as many as three times, until I felt comfortable.

Then there was a good bit of climbing until we reached Kingsbury. At the turn around we both felt pretty tired but somehow after a few miles we seemed to get our energy back. The ride back to Spooner seemed a bit grueling, perhaps because we were tired, but also because all the rock stairs were now uphill, and we had to walk rather than ride most them. Yet the trip back was surprisingly fast. We also knew that once we reached the lake overlook it was essentially downhill for about five miles. The ride down from there is worth the entire trip, especially the last 2-3 miles. We bombed down it pretty quickly and when we finished we were grinning from ear to ear. We then finished up with a great burger and some amazing French fries at a small hamburger stand in South Lake Tahoe. Thanks for the great day Impy! Here is the route map.

Click on an image to enlarge it

Tough Uphill	Easier Downhill	Lake Tahoe	Me	Kingsbury, half way
Impy	Tough, rocky uphill switchback	Impy, Me	Impy Climbing	Tougher than it looks
Impy	Cool rocky downhill	Cool trail	Lake Tahoe	Impy
Many rock stairs	Queen of the switchbacks	Impy ain't wimpy	Made it	Hikers
Cool half wolf	Scenery	Impy	Impy descending	Nice view

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