Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

Tahoe Rim Trail and Flume Trail, Lake Tahoe, Nevada

August 12, 2003

Neil was hiking all week in the region again so I brought his bike up and we spent nine hours biking. My lower back had been hurting the past two days and the drive to Tahoe, plus the motel bed made it even worse. But the weather was spectacular, perhaps 68 degrees (20 C), the skies were clear blue, and I didn't want to waste all that driving. So I decided to try riding. Fortunately, a couple handfuls of Motrin and probably a lot of adrenalin seemed to take away the pain for most of the trip.

We parked at Mt. Rose and headed south down the upper Rim Trail, then down the Flume Trail to the south end of Marlette Lake, then up Hobart Road, and then up the lower and upper Rim Trails back to Mt. Rose. At 31.5 miles this ride is slightly shorter than what I've done before but it was considerably more difficult. We both felt quite strong at the start and we did quite well on the upper Rim Trail. I cleaned more than ever before and Neil did some amazing uphill steps. I had heard that recent rains had greatly improved the trails and it was true. Much of the deep sand (decomposed granite) had seemingly washed away. All the trails were in the best shape I've ever seen. Being a weekday, the Flume Trail was nearly empty and we went down it fairly quickly. No matter how many times I ride it, its beauty still gives me a thrill. The ride up Hobart Road, although quite difficult towards the top, was not as bad as I had expected based on my previous descents. Last time I made it up to the Marlette Lake overlook on the lower Rim Trail without too much trouble and it wasn't bad this time either. The descent down the switchbacks was fun but I made very few of them. When we headed back up the upper Rim Trail towards Mt. Rose we understood why everybody shuttles and comes down it...because it is mostly uphill going back! By the time we got on to the upper Rim Trail our legs were getting tired and it was slow going much of the way. Leaning forward while pedaling up the steep hills also aggravated my lower back quite a bit. We were quite happy when we reached the highpoint which signaled all downhill to Tahoe Meadows. 

On the way down there is a good sized rock, with perhaps a nearly three foot drop. We had planned on riding off it but after nearly nine hours on the trail we both agreed we felt too tired to give it a good shot. However, on the descent it came up so quickly that Neil had to go over it. He cleared it with no problems. He was pretty aggressive the whole day, going both up and down some pretty steep drops. He had four falls, three of them potentially serious. However, he happened to be wearing elbow pads and he got up from every fall without a scratch. One of his falls is at the end of the Rim Trail video. Although I had my best day ever at Tahoe, I had no falls so perhaps I wasn't pushing hard enough.

I thought I'd seen perfect riding conditions on my previous Tahoe trips but this day had to be the best. Both the trails and weather were fantastic! Here is the trail map.

 Images from the trip, click on a thumbnail for a larger picture.

Below the Flume Trail	Flume trail	Flume Trail	Me in Marlette Lk.
Neil on Flume Trail	Rim Trail	Rim Trail	Me on Flume Trail

[ Home ]