Tim’s Tour de Tahoe

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August 3rd, 2008

Yesterday, I rode my bike around Lake Tahoe – a solo “Tour de Tahoe”.  The ride was 75 miles long and took me just under 5 hours (4:52) not including rest stops.  It was a beautiful ride with lots of hills – I think I broke 40mph at least 5 times on the downhills.  I started (and ended) in Incline Village, NV, and took the clockwise, inner-loop around the lake. The west side was flatter and more biker friendly in that it had bike trails most of the way. The hardest part was the last mile back up to Adam’s house, which was the steepest uphill climb of the whole ride. I was very close to walking my bike on that one, but I somehow managed to push through it and finish off the complete ride.

This has been a very active week.  On Tuesday, I rode my bike up Mt. Rose, which is the highest year-round Sierra pass. It is a 7.5 mile climb that goes from about 6300 ft of elevation to 8900 ft of elevation. The climb took me about 50 minutes on the way up and just 12 minutes on the way down.

Also, on Wednesday, I went on a 7 hour, ~13 mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail in the Desolation Wilderness in South Lake Tahoe.  I went with Rachel (Adam’s sister), Tory (Adam’s girlfriend), and Nell (Tory’s cousin).  It was one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever been on in my life.  We went through a lot of different terrains and saw a lot of picturesque alpine lakes.  We started out by taking a one-way water taxi across Echo Lake.  Then we hiked past Lake Aloha, Heather Lake, Susie Lake, Gilmore Lake (where Rachel and I jumped in), and finished at Fallen Leaf Lake.  I highly recommend this hike if you are in the area.

More pictures from the hike and from the bike rides on Flickr.