Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

Tahoe Rim Trail: Mt. Rose to Kingsbury Grade down Jackie Chan Downhill
October 14, 2006

It snowed eight inches in South Lake Tahoe this week so I figured I had better get one more epic ride in before the season ended. Tahoetic, EraSSerhead and his buddy Matthew joined me for a fantastic 40 mile epic from Mt. Rose to Kingsbury, then down Jackie Chan. It appears Jackie Chan, not Chinese Downhill, is the route with all the stunts, jumps and logs, and that's what we did. The weather was great, perhaps 60 - 65 degrees and there were clear blue skies. And after the bit of snow earlier in the week the trails were in great shape.

I had only done Jackie Chan once previously and I was not sure I could find my way down it. However, except for a little backtracking here and there I managed to find the correct route, and Tahoetic and I ended up right at our parked vehicle. However, EraSSerhead and Matthew got too far ahead and they missed a crucial turn on Jackie Chan. Once we were convinced we couldn't find them we went on without them. Apparently they eventually backtracked looking for us and when they couldn't find us they took another route, ending up on Hwy 207, which led them to Hwy 50, and they finished about an hour later, just a little bit before dusk. The guys were pretty aggressive, doing many log drops and launches, without even scoping them out first. EraSSerhead had quite a nasty crash when he launched a ramp and discovered too late that there was about a one foot deep pit on the other side. I don't know how he and his bike escaped unscathed. I did a bit better than my last time down Jackie Chan, but I still walked quite a bit.

We moved fairly quickly, especially when the helmet cam was on, and I had my best skills ever. I finally made the last series of rock drops on the Spooner to Kingsbury section that I had never made before. The new Stumpjumper, with the brain rear shock was great climbing, and the Fox fork was great on the rocky drops. Most of what used to seem difficult was almost easy, and I even made some uphill rock stairs for the first time. Thanks for a great ride guys!

Click on an image to enlarge it

Tahoetic	Tahoetic	Tahoetic making the stairs	Matthew admiring Lake Tahoe	Lake Tahoe
Flume Trail	Marlette Lake	Matthew	Tahoetic	Tahoetic
From the bench	EraSSerhead Matthew on the bench	On to Kingsbury	Tahoetic	EraSSerhead tumbles
EraSSerhead dropped into this	Nobody did this jump	Finally made this section	Lake Tahoe	Lake Tahoe

On the Flume Trail (click on image for larger view)

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