Lake Tahoe - A visit for bicycling - Incline Village, Lake Tahoe, Spooner Lake, Marlette Lake & the Flume Trail - Sept. 18-22, 2024

With three other mountain biking buddies we drove to Incline Village, Nevada on Crystal Bay. We planned to ride the Flume Trail & the day before, a bike ride that would be less technical to help us acclimatize to the altitude. We’ve lost track but this would be the 5th or 6th time that I’ve ridden the Flume Trail & the 2nd time on an e-bike. You’ll note from the photos that I was enthralled with the boats on the lake. The speed boats that were attached to buoys on Crystal Lake moved in the wind like weather vanes. I was also mesmerized by how skillfully the Hyatt dock hands maneuvered the boats.

-

Crystal Bay, Incline Village, Nevada.

-

Hyatt Regency, Crystal Bay, Incline Village, Nevada.

-

--

Gathering on the dock from some sort of business meeting at the Hyatt. All the "bros" were wearing fresh, out of the box, footwear.

Rentable speedboats.

-

Not a technical ride to acclimate to the altitude of 6,800' -7,800'.-

-

It was a delightful bike ride.

After circling Spooner Lake we climbed up to Marlette Lake at about 7,800'.

-

Then we kept climbing...

...up to a lunch spot at 8,100'.

In this photo by a fellow bicyclist, Curt, one can see Marlette Lake, Lake Tahoe & the dam between them.

Upside down pine cones.

From Crystal Bay looking back to about where we had been riding.

-

Brrrrrr!

In a recent storm, 7' waves had moved the bar around on the Hyatt dock.

-

We'd be climbing up along this mountain later as we rode the Flume Trail.

-

Dave who biked here from Carson City on prototype bike he's testing for a local maker. Electronic shifting, 42 lbs., & wonderful rear suspension.

-

If you'd like to view a wild, six minute version of this ride, that eliminates the places where we cautiously walked: https://www.trailforks.com/video/214292/ It took us about 1.5 hours.

Incoming Sierra Cloud 55-foot catamaran owned by Gary. More on Gary later.

Disembarking.

-

These dockhands worked hard & were extremely skilled, patient & efficient.

The yellow hulled speed boat was coming in to dock while the swells on the lake were high.

It was no problem...

...for this dockhand who nonchanlantly guided the boat in...

...& waited patiently while the folks on the boat took their good sweet time disembarking. I hope that they tipped well.

Gary's speedboat, Norma Jean.

Gary, also owner of the catamaran, used to rent boat anchors here for short term rentals. He was ousted from that position when the Hyatt was sold to Larry Ellison in 2022.