bigd777

Hi thinking about staying in Truckee for 5 days road bike riding .can any of you tell me some good routes to ride thanks

3alarmer 

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...a lot of this depends on how comfortable you are with cars and narrow road shoulders. People circumnavigate the lake on bikes all the time, but I personally will not do that ride. There is some paved bike trail action going out of Truckee down the road to Tahoe City, and I think that they give out printed copies of this map at the visitor center in the Truckee Rail Terminal Station. There's also a visitor's center in Tahoe City.

Honestly, the real action up a Tahoe is off road and downhill. But you do see people out riding on the road shoulders, however hazardous it appears.

3alarmer 

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....also, look here.

semroc

Epic rides around there. Kingsbury grade to Carson Valley. Luther pass to Markleeville. If you can get over to Monitor pass outside Markleeville that's the epic one. Not much traffic on that and great views. Old Luther pass if you want some real steep stuff. Or around Tahoe is cool, but tons of traffic. If you like long climbs Monitor pass is awesome. I saw Inga Thompson train on that once. Flying up it.

Korina

Another place to look is ridewithgps.com. Here's a list of routes around Truckee.

Bryan C. 

This topic comes up often enough that it should be made into a sticky.

A couple years ago I had a similar thread. If you are brave enough give the ride around Lake Tahoe a try. I did it and absolutely loved every minute of it. Some good information that I used on my ride was given to on this thread.
https://www.bikeforums.net/northern-...ake-tahoe.html

diphthong

posted a south lake tahoe thread last summer but didn't have much luck with responses. just winged it for two rides which were both great.
elevation really clamped down on me the first ride. if you end up on the south end of the lake at some point, maybe this will help...

https://www.bikeforums.net/northern-...es-length.html

caloso

Truckee--Tahoe City--Kings Beach--Truckee loop. I would ride it that direction (CCW) because you have the Lake on your right for the TC-KB section. Then you have a decent climb up Brockway and a hellafast descent past Northstar and back to Truckee.

You could do the Lake Loop. Again, I'd go CCW so you have the Lake on the right. Also, go on a weekday and start very early for lighter traffic. Wear sunscreen.

Also, Donner Lake Road up to old Hwy 40 to the Summit.

anotherbrian

The Truckee / Kings Beach loop can be lengthened with an out-and-back to Incline Village and Sand Harbor for fantastic views of the Lake (there is a path separate from road now) or if you want to climb, Incline Village to the Mt Rose Summit.

We’re in Tahoe this week with MTBs, but the road riding (particularly on these COVID weekdays) should be great.

Takeshi

There's a newer pavement trail along Truckee river, short though.

dlm2182

The pavement trail along Truckee is great!

ztmlgr

Well, that's what I thought too. I rode around the lake on Wednesday last week and thought that the COVID situation would reduce the crowds substantially. Plus, it was mid-week and I started relatively early (8:30 AM). I had ridden around the lake 4 years ago, again mid-week but closer to Labor Day weekend and I would have to say the crowds and traffic were only slightly less this time. All the hot spots were PACKED. Tahoe City traffic was backed up solid. Big crowds all the way to Incline Village and beyond. You get a bit of a break on the section of 28 up towards Spooner, but the commercial section from Stateline to the Y was just as bad as ever. It was a good ride, but the traffic just gets to you after a while.

Earlier in the week I had ridden up Monitor from Markleeville, and then on Friday rode up Ebbetts, again from Markleeville, and the difference was like night and day. Almost zero traffic on both climbs. You don't get the Lake Tahoe scenery on the Ebbetts and Monitor rides, but I think the scenery is equally as spectacular..

slporten

Right now it is extremely crowded on the east side of the lake. There is a new path from Incline Village to Sand Harbor, but after that it is just intermittent rideable stretches interspersed with tight shoulders and consistent traffic. For whatever reason, the number of cars parked along the wider shoulders is greater than I have seen in recent memory. On weekends there are more than a thousand cars along both sides of 28 from Sand Harbor to SR50. You need to ride slow to avoid car doors and pedestrians popping out of nowhere.