Day Five – South Lake Tahoe Loop
Miles: 244
We started the day at Heidis for breakfast. The Swiss themed restaurant was pretty good and it was on our way out of town as we began our clockwise circle around the lake. Right out of the gate we were riding around Emerald Bay which was simply breathtaking. We stopped at one of the overlooks for some pics. The traffic was a little heavy but nothing terrible. We took a leisurely ride around the bay soaking in the scenery. We were actually high above the water's edge but as we continued north we dropped in elevation and were soon at the water's edge. We turned and went up West River Rd toward Truckee. We rode along Donner Lake before climbing up Donner Pass and stopping at the iconic Summit Bridge. The overlook was certainly worth a stop. We walked around a bit and continued on. We began crisscrossing back and fourth across I-80 and even riding on it for a short period of time. We stopped again at Omega Diggins which is an old strip mining area from 19th century that looks pretty good at this point. The overlook here was a little too distant but it was very private. CA20 is a really nice treelined road that rides at the top of the Ridgeline and has nice sweeping views when the tress allow. The pavement was also really good and we were just having a fantastic ride. We rode into Nevada City and stopped at 3 Forks Brewery for a cold one in the old section of town. It was a very nice setting. We rode a few short miles and stopped at oL' Republic Brewery on the outskirts of Nevada City for a bite of lunch. We were now riding on CA49 known as the Golden Chain Highway. In only seven miles we were at the old CA49 bridge over the Yuba River at Hoyt Crossing. There were many people in the crystal clear water and soaking up the sun on the banks and we came very close to joining them. We knew we would be sacrificing spending time on Downieville so we sucked it up and made a mental note for a future visit and continued to ride. After passing through North San Juan at our westernmost point of the ride we dropped back down to ride alongside the Yuba River. This was some really good riding and we thought again should we stop as we rode by one great looking spot after another. We kept the bikes moving and soon we were in Downieville. This is a small little town on the Yuba River that seems to be geared towards the outdoors; lots of outfitters and things like that. They did have one nice little local bar with a bunch of bikes out front so we felt the need to stop and talk with the locals. When they learned we were from Cincinnati they were curious to know how we knew about Downieville, and we just explained Google Earth sees all and we knew what we were looking for. We continued to follow CAA49 along on of the forks of the Yuba and there was no disappointment, it was a great road. As we closer to Truckee the traffic increased and we started thinking more about what time we would get back and where we would go. We repeated the ride down the east coast of the Lake but decided to keep moving. We had dinner at the Ace Saloon & Smokehouse. Decent wings and good beer. After dinner we walked down to the lake and went for swim. Perfect end to a perfect day.
