For those that don’t know, the Dips often have access to houses and cabins in fantastic locations for away rides. For example, the Near Death Ride was only made possible by Mike B’s gracious offer to use his cabin in Arnold as our home base for the event.
Susan, another Dips rider, has a place at Truckee Donner, and she also offered up room for anyone that wanted to head over for a ride. I found I was free, but only in the middle of the week, and despite my offering, nobody could play hooky and join me. Undaunted, I headed up anyway, knowing that at least Anna was there to help classify it as a “group” ride.
The weather was absolutely spectacular when I arrived; clear and warm, without any hail in the forecast. After suiting up, we headed down the hill to Donner Pass Rd. I say “down the hill”, because for anyone that’s been to Tahoe Donner, there’s a steep climb up from Donner Pass Rd, with sections up to 14%. We’ll worry about coming back up later, but for now, it was a straight, fast descent to the bottom.
As we rode past the piers at Donner Lake, we spied them longingly because we knew there would be a good chance we’d be lounging on one and drinking beers after the ride, but for now, it was time to climb.
The climb itself wasn’t bad, about on par with Old La Honda or King’s, the difference being the spectacular views of Donner Lake as you climb higher and higher. As we neared the top, we paused at Snowshed, which is crag popular with climbers, and happened to be where Anna’s husband, Zach was climbing that morning. Here’s the twins seeing if they could spot him on the wall.
And here they are with the lake in the background:
And me.
After chatting with Zach for a bit and making plans for after the ride, we headed back up, but it was only a couple of more turns before we reached the official vista point.
As we rode on over the summit, we continued on Donner Pass Rd, past Sugar Bowl (man it looks different in the summer), over Hwy 80, and onto a great 10-mile stretch running parallel to the highway all the way to the Cisco Grove campground. Despite the sounds of the highway, the road itself had very little traffic, and judging by the number of bikes, provided a popular bike route in the area.
Once we arrived at Cisco Grove, we enjoyed a snack before turning around. Before leaving, we were surprised by the sight of a helicopter dropping off a power pole just about 50 yards away from where we were sitting.
By the time we rode back, we had a tail wind, which was great all the way back up to Donner Summit, but it made for a white knuckle descent for me, as the tail wind became a crosswind at times, and pushed my front wheel back and forth while I was trying not to ride off the cliff, or into oncoming traffic.
Back safely on the flats, we decided to forego the 14% climb back up to Susan’s place, and opted for a much more scenic multi-use trail that began in downtown, and weaved its way up the hill without any cars to disrupt the natural beauty of the area.
Once back at Susan’s, it was a quick shower, lunch, and time to head down to drink some beers and relax at the lake. The highlight for me was a dachsund that reminded me of my recently departed wiener dog.
It’s a shame it was just the 3 of us this time, hopefully more Dips will be able to make the next Truckee away ride!
The Dips Bike Club 