# Places to rent a bike near Tahoe?



## Daverino (Jun 27, 2004)

This July, I'll be attending a wedding in the Squaw Valley area near Tahoe. My goal is to do a couple rides-- Donner Pass Rd out of Truckee and a circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe. Any ideas where I could rent a good road bike? I'm renting a house in Squaw Valley. Thanks for any help!

Also, if you have any other route suggestions, I'm game. 

D


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## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

Hi Daverino:

There are a couple of bike shops in Truckee, with one outfit that rents bicycles. In Tahoe City as Hwy 89 hits the lake there is another bike shop that rents bikes. The majority appear to be cruisers or mountain bike. I haven't seen any outfit that would rent a decent quality road bike (probably too expensive to maintain in a rental fleet).

Hwy 89 is a real slobber knocker. The pavement is not very nice. I dropped a few psi from my tires to cope with the surface. Donner Pass Road is smooth and the climb up to Sugar Bowl is breath taking. You'll have a beautiful view of Donner Lake. Head further down to Cisco Grove where you can probably reach 40mph on the descent. The return isn't too hard and is fairly constant. Be very careful going around Lake Tahoe, there are areas with NO shoulder. 

My favorite climb in that area is Barker Pass Road. It has very little traffic and the views are astounding. The only thing you might hear is the sound of the wind swirling in the trees. Be sure to go easy at altitude and drink plenty of water.

Safe & Happy Riding,
CHL


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## pakrat (Jul 18, 2009)

CHL is right, the Lake Tahoe loop can be hazardous (especially in July at peak tourist season), no shoulder in many areas, fast cars, and tourists watching the views..... not the road and especially not for bikers. If you can do a shuttle ride, Tahoe City to Camp Richardson ( or vice versa) is a bit less than half the lake loop and if you start early you will miss most the traffic (the descent from Emerald Bay to Camp Rich is pretty sweet). 

You can ride from Squaw to Sugar bowl no prob and it is a nice ride. You will be on Hwy 89 for 8 miles each way, but the shoulder is super wide from Squaw to Truckee. The photo op from Rainbow Bridge shouldn't be missed. 

Paco's is the road bike shop in Truckee but don't know about rentals/demos. Backcountry Outfitters rents mtn bikes but I don't know about roadies. Hydrate hydrate hydrate, it's high and dry here especially if you are not used to it. Also, if you are not opposed to mtn biking or don't get a chance to ride on dirt often, Tahoe is about as good as you get for that. I personally split my time 60:40 road:dirt up here to avoid summer traffic from visitors and such.


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

You can ride around Tahoe in the summer no problem. I do it all the time. The key is to ride it clockwise (so you are always on the lake side and that's where the tourist eyes are) and you are better to start out fairly early and get through South Lake Tahoe before 9:00AM. Once through there you'll be fine. 

Olympic Bike Shop in Tahoe City is great and rents all sorts of bikes including roadies. They have upper end MTB rentals but not sure about the Roadies. They do call one "Deluxe" though. I've never rented from Backcountry (Tahoe City Bikes) but they are only a block down from Olympic. Both are on the Lake side of the road on the west end of Tahoe City. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll see if I can answer them. I live in Reno but spent many years living in and around Tahoe.

http://www.olympicbikeshop.com/Rentals.html 

http://www.thebackcountry.net/rentals_bike.php


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

Oh yeah, one more thing. Don't bother riding 267 between Tahoe and Truckee. 89 is much safer and although the pavement is a little cracked up it isn't anything like the disaster that 267 is. The two routes you mentioned are the best. One thing I'd do though, rather than ride from Squaw to Sugar Bowl, I'd start in Truckee and ride to Cisco Grove and back. That way you get the same amount of miles almost without having to deal with 89 at all. It's fun going down but boring as all get out coming back up. You can start at Donner Lake State Park and ride from there. It's much prettier down to Cisco Grove anyway. You follow the Yuba River the whole time which is quite scenic if you dont' mind the noise of I-80 just a skip and jump over the river.


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## Daverino (Jun 27, 2004)

These are all great suggestions. Thanks a ton. I'm busy already creating routes to put in my Garmin, I can't wait to ride out there!


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## sometimerider (Sep 21, 2007)

Daverino said:


> These are all great suggestions. Thanks a ton. I'm busy already creating routes to put in my Garmin, I can't wait to ride out there!


Here's a couple of routes you may be able to use:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Incline-Village-Truckee-Donner-Pass
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Tahoe-circuit


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## allroads1 (Sep 20, 2009)

Cyclepaths near Sunnyside (hwy 89 2 mi. south of TC) has rented roadbikes in the past, more mountain oriented, but they may still do roadbikes.


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