[Closed] Any experience of a days MTBing in Lake Tahoe and/or Hawaii (big island)

Check out Flume Trail bikes , based next to Tunnel Creek cafe ( sounds more exotic than it is ! ) But they'll hire you a full suss and shuttle you to the start of the Flume/Rim trail . Excellent days ride , try and push up to the viewpoint for lunch you won't be disappointed ! 🙂

Thanks. They came up in google when I looked at Tahoe. I'll drop them an email....

Where are you staying? Just back from holiday, stayed for 4 days at Tahoe-Donner - local trails straight from the cabin there are great.

For South Lake Tahoe - Mr Toad's Wild ride is also meant to be good - google it. Flume Trail views are spectacular, but not a particularly technical ride. Depends what you are looking for.

Also, don't underestimate the affect of altitude on your fitness 🙂

I did Mr Toads in 2005 on a hardtail !!! As Zigzag said not that tech apart from a section with some hairy exposure ! Do it for the views and yes the altitude can be telling .

We're at the Embassy Suites or whatever they are called now. Got a car. Exposure is the one thing I'm really not that great at. Still getting flashbacks to Moab about 10 years ago...

Probably looking more for a good day out then anything super-tech as I'll be on my own...

The exposures not that bad , a little bit of walking at the most , deffo not as much as Moab . The drive out to Tunnel Creek is scenic , the cafes sarnies are mahoosive plus it's where they used to film Bonanza 🙂 ( ask your dad ! )

Also check out the Emigrant trail from Truckee. Flowy singletrack out to a lake.

Thanks. Will do some investigation tomorrow.

Flume trail on a sunny day.
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Sold 🙂

There is a ride to Star Lake (South Tahoe) that is very good. Either up Van Stickle Connector to the Rim trail. Over to star lake then down star lake trail, cold creek, and powerline trails. Or the other way round but going up high meadow road between powerline and star lake trails. Actually, start by going up powerline and down van Stickle.

And like everyone has said, don't under estimate how the altitude can slow you down. As usual the folks in the bike shops will advise you well.

It is a lovely place. Enjoy yourselves!

surely thats climbing up from lake tahoe rather than riding down from tunnel creek .

LOVED that day out - and that was after spending the 2 days before at mammoth mountain on the trails there.

Full suss not needed thought , great fun on the spesh 29er trail bikes !

I'll be hiring so go with whatever they have. Also renting gear so doubt I'll be wearing pads. Just seems to be too much of a fantastic opportunity to pass up. And I'm sure the family will be keen to see the back of me for a day by then!

You're unlikely to miss pads. It isn't rough and burly.

Ta. Spoke to flume. Booked a shuttle 🙂

Just came back from a fly-drive round California (and into Nevada) couple of weeks ago. Did the shuttle with Flume Trail bikes as it was on my bucket list. Beautiful ride. The climb from Spooner Lake to Marlette Lake gets pretty steep towards the end but you're probably fitter than me so you'll be fine. A short scoot around Marlette Lake and you start the Flume Trail proper. There's a short, rocky descent with a switchback (which they crew at Flume Trail bikes suggest you walk) and that's the only technical feature for the whole 14-odd miles, really. So you won't miss those knee pads. But you [i]will[/i] miss a camera (or a decent smartphone camera) if you don't take one. The views of Lake Tahoe from about 8000ft are nothing short of spectacular. The trail is narrow in a couple of places and the drops are almost vertical quite often. I'm not the bravest, but I didn't find it as worrying as I thought I would. I'd watched quite a few GoPro vids beforehand and the wide angle lens make the trail look much narrower than it is. The 4.4 miles of the Flume trail are pretty much flat. There's one short rock feature that you need to hike-a-bike over. Apart from that, just enjoy the view!

Great. Thanks for the review. I'm really looking forward to it now. What bike did you ride?

Just been watching a few vids. Does look quite exposed in places. I'll take blinkers 🙂

Hi Alex,
here's another vid for you to watch - I hired bikes from Flume Trail, all worked well, have fun!

Thanks Phil. I was a bit distracted by the length of the stem on your bike 🙂 My 15 year old daughter was watching that with me and now she's going to give it a go as well.

I rode an Ibis Ripley, Alex. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the shock to the pressure I needed (shock pump was knackered) on the trail so I just stuck the climb switch on and went with it. You can easily do it on a hard tail, though. You don't need FS.

Ta. They have some chubby HT's that look good. I'll be taking it very easy as my daughter won't want to go fast. How long to get round if you're going at tourist pace and how much climbing if you get the shuttle?

At tourist pace, stopping to take a lot of photos and possibly walking the last half mile of the climb, maybe 3 hours. I did it in about 2.5 and I didn't rush. In fact, that included stopping to fix other riders rear derailleur. Take plenty of water as it can get properly hot by 1030am.

Flume is was really smooth, definately no need for FS when we did it a couple of years ago on the tandem, rode up from shop first day to flume then along and back then shuttled the day after and went up higher to ride trt above martlette before playing on flume with go-pros.

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Thanks all. Much appreciated. Will let you know it goes 🙂

Hi Alex, how did it go?

I'll be in South Lake Tahoe for 3 nights to finish off a SF, Santa Cruz, Yosemite trip - reckon I can get away for a long morning - say 8am-1pm. Is it workable in just a morning to use Flume trail bikes for hire and shuttle - how many shuttles / how much riding could I get done?

....or is it worth staying round South Lake; if so any recommendations for hire/shuttle anyone?

Also, has anyone done that Northstar DH place, seems to be a gondola ride away from the back of my hotel