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There’s no doubt about it: this is America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride. The gorgeous route follows the contours of the sparkling blue alpine waters of Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada, surrounded by mountains—some of which still carry a good dusting of snow at the crest. The annual bike ride’s been on hiatus for two years for reasons no one needs to enumerate, but now, as reported by the Tahoe Daily Tribune, the ride’s back for its 29th annual occurrence, hosted by Bike The West and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
This fully supported bike tour — not race — promotes the Lake Tahoe Bikeway project. This is an ambitious plan to construct and interconnect all bike lanes around Lake Tahoe and help the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition’s Bike Safe Lake Tahoe campaign.
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Staffed by volunteers from local nonprofits, this ride goes for 72 miles or 100 miles clockwise around the lake’s shoreline and will have around 3,000 riders from all over the US, including nearly 700 riders who are part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training Cycle 100 national fundraising program. They project raising more than $3 million for their cause (Team In Training has over the years raised $107 million through this particular ride). The ride climbs 4,000 vertical feet; given that intensity, there are two different tour options based on riders’ skill level: the 72-milers stop and the century riders keep going for an additional spur which adds another 900 feet to the vertical climb.
The rest stops will have excellent quick energy foods and tech support from local bike shops. The ride starts and ends at the Hard Rock Casino, with an after-ride meal and pool party with a live band. It’s not too late to join in; there are limited late/same-day registration spots. Come see the glorious beauty over your handlebars! And if you can't make it this weekend, you can always recreate the route yourself.