# Donner Pass Road



## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

Hi Guys:

I just returned from Lake Tahoe. To avoid the mayhem on part of Hwy80 I took Donner Pass Road from Truckee, which went quite a bit down on Hwy 80 towards Sacramento.

At Donner Lake and up to the Donner Ski resort, there is a wicked looking climb. It looked to be more double digit grade most of the way. Has anyone gone up this road? I would say it would be a great place to do a "timed" effort since the steep gradient is steady all the way from the bottom to the top.

CHL


----------



## PlatyPius (Feb 1, 2009)

Soylent Green is people!


----------



## nor_cal_rider (Dec 18, 2006)

CHL said:


> Hi Guys:
> 
> I just returned from Lake Tahoe. To avoid the mayhem on part of Hwy80 I took Donner Pass Road from Truckee, which went quite a bit down on Hwy 80 towards Sacramento.
> 
> ...


I believe that is part of the out-n-back to Cisco Grove on the Tahoe Century held late Sept.


----------



## lastchild (Jul 4, 2009)

that's old 40...done it many times.
it's short and sweet and from what i remember, it looks more impressive than it really is.
awesome views though!


----------



## alamere (Jun 23, 2008)

CHL said:


> Hi Guys:
> 
> I just returned from Lake Tahoe. To avoid the mayhem on part of Hwy80 I took Donner Pass Road from Truckee, which went quite a bit down on Hwy 80 towards Sacramento.
> 
> ...


It is very similar to Old La Honda in its basic parameters except that it is at 6000+ feet. It is about 3 miles long and 7-8% grade the whole way. There are a few spots with narrow shoulders that makes one feel a little uncomfortable.

The Tahoe-Sierra Century is a good opportunity to experience the area's key roads and climbs. I did it last year and found it to be very nice. Well supported, even a free beer at the after ride meal. And it goes on a number of the road bike roads in the Truckee area. The section of road you mention (Old Hwy 40) is closed to cars for the ascent.

http://www.tahoesierracentury.com/


----------



## twain (May 18, 2004)

*Yep, a lot like Old La Honda*

The Donner Lake triathlon bike leg starts with that climb (talk about trauma after the swim).
It is about 3.5 miles and takes about 20 mins. It is actually more gradual than it looks with a few steep sections.
Great climb and awesome views, especially around the bridge.
The rest of the course goes south for about 9 miles; there are long very fast portions where you can hit 40mph+. Then you turnaround and have to climb all the way back, then do the descent. The descent is a bit tricky and has slightly off-camber turns; a bit dicey.


----------



## imjps (Feb 15, 2005)

CHL said:


> Hi Guys:
> ... I would say it would be a great place to do a "timed" effort since the steep gradient is steady all the way from the bottom to the top. CHL



Missed by that much: Donner Summit Time Trial was last weekend.

jps


----------



## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Here are some pics posted recently by another member.
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=185479


----------



## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

It's a fantastic ride. Start in Donner Lake Park on the east end and ride around the south part of the lake. It's worth every minute of fun riding.


----------



## sfbikerider (Jul 4, 2006)

*Tahoe Sierra Century*

The Tahoe Sierra Century route goes out to Cisco Grove over Donner Pass:

http://www.tahoesierracentury.com/map_profile.html

It's coming up next week if you want to ride it!


----------



## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

HI sfbikerider:

Thanks for the link. I'm going to do the metric century of that ride with my wife. Looking forward to going up hwy40. This time I'm bringing the camera for pictures. I'll be riding a white Cannondale CAAD4 with a pig horn on the handlebars. 

Safe & Happy riding.
CHL


----------



## alamere (Jun 23, 2008)

I did this last year and took a slightly different path. I wasn't up to the imperial century but wanted more than the metric and wanted to try Brockway summit. So I followed the imperial century course through Kings Beach and over Brockway Summit. After coming down, turned left on Brockway Road and then onto Donner Pass rd to rejoin the metric century course. So I was off route only 2 miles. If you look at a map or know the area, the path is obvious. This skips the big climb on Skislope in Tahoe Donner and about 20 miles.


----------

