Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

"The Punisher"
Tahoe Rim Trail: Kingsbury Grade down Mr. Toads Wild Ride
Lake Tahoe CA/NV, October 7, 2006

Take me to the video. The riding season at Tahoe, at least at the higher elevations, is rapidly coming to a close. But I wanted to get in at least one more Punisher ride, which goes up to nearly 10,000 ft. It got cold and snowed a bit this week but today Tahoetic and eraSSerhead joined me on what turned out to be a great ride. It was a bit cool at the start and we were enveloped by a cold, wet fog for about the first 11 miles. We encountered a bit of snow here and there and when the wind blew it was occasionally a bit nippy. But we hit the sun just before 9,750 ft. Freel Pass and it felt quite a bit nicer. However, trying to go down the other side of the pass at a quick pace for the video camera in the snow was a bit interesting.

I took my brand new Stumpjumper Pro and it was great! The brain worked quite well, making climbing much easier, the front fork seemed to help me do a lot more uphill and downhill stuff than on previous trips, and the bike just seemed a bit faster and more nimble. A few miles past Freel Pass I asked Tahoetic where the really gnarly stairs and drops were that I rarely make. He said I already did them. I preferred the seat from my old bike so I swapped it out for the new one. However, about half way into the ride both rails broke! We taped the seat to the seatpost and I did the best I could with it. But the nose was pointed upward too much, which made raising the seatpost for climbing a bit awkward.

The recent precipitation made the trails especially nice to ride, and we really flew down Toads. The new bike definitely made a difference on Toads and I made nearly everything except the top 3-4 gnarly sections. Thanks Tahoetic and eraSSerhead for a great ride! EraSSerhead seemed a bit bored with our slow climbing but he sure was whooping it up on Toads! Below are a few photos. Because of the weather, this is my sixth ride on the Punisher this season, and taking the helmet cam, I didn't take many photos. 

Click on an image to enlarge it

eraSSerhead Tahoetic	Tahoetic cold , wet fog	Hike-a-bike	On the trail	New bike	Star Lake	A bit of snow
On the trail	Lake Tahoe	Tahoetic nearing 9,750 ft.	eraSSerhead Tahoetic, 9,750 ft.	Tahoetic	Nice rocks	On the trail

Elevation profile courtesy of Dan'ger

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