Tahoe Rim Trail epic

Take me to the video. Last week the long range weather forecast looked pretty good for this time of year so I put out a call for somebody to accompany me for one last ride above Lake Tahoe. Dirk (ElHombre) answered the call and he wanted to bring his friend Tom. However, he was unsure if Tom could make the 35 mile Tahoe Rim Trail ride from Mt. Rose to Kingsbury. I met them at breakfast at 7 am and the temperature was in the mid 20's and the ground was pretty frosty. Normally I would ride with anybody but since this would be a point to point ride with a fair amount of climbing, all between 7,000 to 9,000 ft., with no bail outs, and we'd have to finish together since we self-shuttled, I was a bit leery about doing such an ambitious ride with total strangers. However after talking to them it seemed like they knew what they were getting into.

After leaving one vehicle at Kingsbury we squeezed our gear, bikes and ourselves into one vehicle and headed to Mt. Rose about 40 miles away. We had all bundled up, expecting the worst at 8,700 ft. Mt. Rose Meadow, but when we arrived we were pleasantly surprised. The temperature was nearly perfect and there was absolutely no wind, a first in my experience, even for mid summer. Once we got on the trail it was obvious these guys were in great shape and they had some of the best technical skills of anybody I've ridden with at Tahoe. Once I put the helmet cam on we really started to fly so I became a bit concerned about saving some energy for the grueling five mile 1,800 ft. climb at the top of Spooner Summit, 23 miles away.

We reached Spooner Summit in pretty good time and most of the climb wasn't too bad. However, both Tom and I really started to feel it about the last half mile, which is fairly steep and a bit rocky. We had to take quite a few beaks. Meanwhile, Dirk beat us to the top by a full half hour and he got in a little nap. But once we reached the bench at the top and took in the beautiful views and weather, and ate something and rested a bit, I felt quite a bit better. It took Tom a bit longer to regain his enthusiasm but toward the end of the trip he seemed to catch his second wind and he took over the lead. We flew along at a good pace and went down all the cool gnarly drops that make that five mile climb so worthwhile. I've ridden at Tahoe dozens of times but this is probably the finest ride I've ever done there. It was beautiful fall weather with clear blue skies, perfect temperatures, not a wisp of wind the entire day, almost eerily quiet, and I really had my skills going on. Thanks Dirk and Tom for a truly memorable ride. Since we were moving so quickly I didn't take many photos.


Mt. Rose Meadow	Dirk	Tom	The stairs	Tom and Dirk	Lake Tahoe

Dirk on Flume Trail	Marlette Lake	In the Aspens	On the Bench	Tom on the bench	Dirk doing a drop

Steve's Mountain Bike PageTurlock, California

Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California