# Luther Pass and Kingsbury Grade on a folding bike (pics & video)



## freighttraininguphill (Jun 7, 2011)

*Luther Pass and Kingsbury Grade on a folding bike*

Last weekend was another rental car trip to the Tahoe area, which meant more climbing on the Bike Friday Pocket Companion folding bike. This time I climbed both sides of Luther Pass on Saturday, and the long Carson Valley side of Kingsbury Grade on Sunday. As usual, this was my first time up both these climbs. I am always looking for new climbs to explore.

Luther Pass was almost easy. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The southbound side is the long side. According to my Garmin Connect data, the real climbing is only 4.26 miles. It's a very gradual climb from Highway 50 to the bottom of the real climb. Near the summit it flattens out for a while. The northbound side is the shorter side at only 2.57 miles.

Kingsbury Grade was harder than I thought it would be. The first half wasn't too bad, but the last part is unrelenting, so the suffering increased accordingly. Thinking of the riders I witnessed flying up the mountain at 15+ mph in the hill climb time trial only added to it when I thought of my speed that was probably only a third of theirs. I tried to remind myself that they're much younger and aren't overweight like me, but I still wished I could at least climb it at 10 mph. Maybe someday.

Top of southbound side of Luther Pass


Bike Friday at top of Luther Pass southbound by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Top of northbound side


Bike Friday at top of Luther Pass northbound by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

About to descend after climbing the northbound side


Luther Pass 6% grade sign by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Views from the flat area near the summit. Pics taken on the way back down.


view from near summit of Luther Pass 2 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

view from near summit of Luther Pass 3 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

view from near summit of Luther Pass by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Top of Kingsbury Grade


Bike Friday at Daggett Summit by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

Very cool. You avoided the T-storms also it looks like. I got stuck at a Paddleboard race in Kings Beach for the weekend so ended up only riding up from Tahoe to the top of Mt. Rose and then descended down to the East Bowl (Slide Side) of Mt. Rose Ski Resort before high tailing it back to Tahoe to dodge a big storm. I like Kingsbury in the morning, but that sucker has 25mph winds roaring down it in the evenings when I normally ride it. Talk about slow going!


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

Oh yeah, so I guess you didn't try out Upper Truckee River Rd?


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## 55x11 (Apr 24, 2006)

Great photos, and I am always impressed of the great riding you do on a smaller-wheel folding bike.


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## freighttraininguphill (Jun 7, 2011)

Thanks  I started the Luther climb before noon and the Kingsbury one before 10 AM, so I was able to dodge the heat and the thunderstorms. 25 mph winds on Kingsbury would have sucked, that's for sure! I like fast descents.

I saw both sides of South Upper Truckee Road, and was impressed with how steep it looks on the upper part where it intersects with Luther Pass. I have that one planned for a future trip :wink5:

I saw the clouds darkening over Carson Pass when I was on Luther, and it reminded me of a blog or post I read while researching these climbs. Someone said that they always get caught in a thunderstorm while climbing Carson.


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