Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

Tahoe Rim Trail: Mt. Rose to Burger Kingsbury
July  24, 2010

After four years of waiting, my goal this summer was to get into good enough shape to do an epic Tahoe ride. But after three rides I did not seem to be progressing very quickly. Last week's ride was especially difficult and I hurt my left hand and sprained my right thumb breaking a fall. Both were too sore to do a mid week ride and I was considering taking a break from Tahoe riding. But Tahoetic said he had a more moderate ride for me this weekend and I agreed to try it. I'd been expecting some surgery later in the summer, but the next day I received a letter informing me it was scheduled for July 26th! Following the surgery I would have to be off the bike for about six weeks, and it appeared my hopes of doing a Tahoe epic this year were dashed.  But I'm pretty stubborn so I suggested doing one of my favorite epics, Mt. Rose to Burger Kingsbury, a long point to point ride, from Mt. Rose down the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) and Flume Trail to Spooner Lake, then on the TRT to Kingsbury Grade, and then to the parking lot near Burger King (now a Thai restaurant). Tahoetic agreed to come along. I was a bit apprehensive because I had to ride my backup bike, which has a few problems. But it turned out for the best because my sprained thumb could not have worked the thumb shifter on my good bike. A handful of drugs at the beginning and mid point of the ride gave my hands reasonable relief.

The first 20 miles to Spooner Lake is pretty easy, but then you climb from 7,000 ft. to 8,700 ft. for the next six miles. The last two miles to the summit are very rocky and especially difficult. By the time we reached it I was pretty tired, and if I had not done this ride before I could not face another 12 - 13 miles. However, the next seven miles of the TRT, with scores of rocks and drops is perhaps my favorite ride. That really perked us up, and we both felt great as we hit Kingsbury Grade. Getting back to the Burger King parking lot has always been quite problematic. There is no set route and in the past those last few miles have been brutal, especially after already riding over 33 miles. We've hit deep sand, steep descents and climbs I had to push my bike both up and down, and serious downhill type riding I could not do. We'd also get a bit lost in the residential areas. But this time we found a great way back. We found a great new section of the TRT, which I assume eventually went to Heavenly, and we followed it until it turned away from the Lake. We then ran into a dozen or more intersections and each time Tahoetic asked me which one to take. I said "you're the local, you tell me, but don't make me go uphill again." He made some great choices and it was really fun all the way back to the parking lot. We hit some tiny, very quaint, barely trails though aspen groves which almost felt magical. Before we knew it we dropped out onto our parking lot within 100 ft. of our vehicle. After about 9 1/2 hours and 37 1/2 miles we felt surprising fresh, quite enthusiastic, and I felt proud to have done so much tough riding so soon after my comeback. Thunderstorms threatened us for much of the second half of the Kingsbury ride, but we never got more than a few drops of rain. But the quick cool down was much appreciated. Thanks for a great ride Tahoetic!

Click on an image to enlarge it

[ Home ]