# Tour of California Lodi to South Lake Tahoe, which route?



## SNS1938 (Aug 9, 2013)

From Lodi to South Lake, you can take either:



Highway 50 (unlikely to close this for most of a day, as it's a busy road)
Carson Pass (most direct, but less scenic and wider)
Ebbets Pass (a little farther, but most scenic and narrow).

I do not believe they have announced which pass, or the stage length, so I can't work out which it is. Anyone know?

Looking for opinions on watching this stage. I'm trying to decide between



Park in the central valley closer to the start of the climb/pass. Ride up (Carson pass is long!), stop somewhere, maybe the saddle, and watch them pass, ride back down.
Drive to south lake the night before, stay in a hotel, ride from South Lake back towards the pass, watch them go past
Either ride back to South Lake.
Or ride down hill towards Lodi and a second waiting car. This one is much harder to organise


Anyone else planning something?

Thanks


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## Blue CheeseHead (Jul 14, 2008)

Lets see, spending more time in S. Lake Tahoe or Lodi, hmmm. Put me down for SLT.


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

I bet Carson. Ebbets is often not open yet in May. I think Carson would be. Right now Carson is open and Ebbetts is closed. Going over Ebbetts would add that long drag from the bottom past Markeeville, then a climb halfway up the east side of Carson to get to Luther Pass. And 88 (Carson) is a direct shot east from Lodi while getting to 4 would require even more out of the way. Last, its 122 miles via Carson. It'd be 160 over ebbets. That's longer than the usual tour stage these days.

I think you're right about 50 being too busy to close.

You could stay in Markleeville and ride up the east side of Carson. Then on another day go ride Ebbetts and Monitor (if they're open, or ride as far as they have plowed). Those are the Death Ride climbs and they're all worth riding for both experience and scenery.


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## SNS1938 (Aug 9, 2013)

ericm979 said:


> I bet Carson. Ebbets is often not open yet in May. I think Carson would be. Right now Carson is open and Ebbetts is closed. Going over Ebbetts would add that long drag from the bottom past Markeeville, then a climb halfway up the east side of Carson to get to Luther Pass. And 88 (Carson) is a direct shot east from Lodi while getting to 4 would require even more out of the way. Last, its 122 miles via Carson. It'd be 160 over ebbets. That's longer than the usual tour stage these days.
> 
> I think you're right about 50 being too busy to close.
> 
> You could stay in Markleeville and ride up the east side of Carson. Then on another day go ride Ebbetts and Monitor (if they're open, or ride as far as they have plowed). Those are the Death Ride climbs and they're all worth riding for both experience and scenery.


Thanks, that all makes sense. I was betting on Carson, just that a friend who's done the death ride a few times said it was a pretty significant road and not as nice as Ebbetts. 

I'd not stay in Lodi, I'd make the whole trip just a day trip from the Bay Area. 

The idea of driving up Wednesday night or really early Thursday, riding Carson Thursday to see the stage, then Friding riding as far as possible on Monitor and Ebbetts might be the plan. 

If it were Trukee, then I could use the train and create a fun route that doesn't need a car. Maybe train Bay Area to Trukee. Ride to South Lake. Stay the night. Ride Thursday from Sth Lake to Lodi and get picked up there....

Options.


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

Carson is the route, it's on the site in a zip file of PDFs.

I agree that it's not as nice as Ebbets but it doesn't suck. (I've done the Death Ride 11 times and ridden there at other times). It does have more traffic than Ebbetts but not a lot. I've seen it closed down for other events like the running of the Olympic torch.

A pro bike race's road closure can be pretty short because the peolton sticks together- even the "non climbers" climb much faster than us amateur climbers. They can get the closure down to an hour or less if they're coordinated. Not like the 8 hours they'd need to close it for the Death Ride.

If you ride around Carson consider checking out Blue Lake road. It's off Carson just to the east of the summit. There's some climbing but it's not a pass, and it's pretty.

If you spend a day climbing Ebbets and Monitor consider driving out to the base of Monitor the night before and caching some water. There used to be water available at the Silver Creek campground on Ebbets where the real climb starts but I heard they shut it off. It may be back on, you could call the appropriate district of the USFS to find out.


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## SNS1938 (Aug 9, 2013)

ericm979 said:


> Carson is the route, it's on the site in a zip file of PDFs.
> 
> I agree that it's not as nice as Ebbets but it doesn't suck. (I've done the Death Ride 11 times and ridden there at other times). It does have more traffic than Ebbetts but not a lot. I've seen it closed down for other events like the running of the Olympic torch.
> 
> ...


Hi, thanks for the info. That's a great idea with a water cache ... It could actually be worth taking up lunch (although I don't know if that'll just attract bears?) and let me climb without much else.

The side road sounds worth a go, thanks.

I've settled on this plan.

Wednesday: Drive up from Bay Area, ride Monitor and Ebbs.
Thursday: Ride Carson and side road, watch race, ride back to Sth Lake and drive back to Bay Area.

Thanks


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