Trip Rundown:
Solo trip to Lake Tahoe for my first time out West.
Settled on Flume Trail Bikes for a rental and shuttle. You can see all of their info at their website.
Decided on the Tahoe Rim Trail route which starts at Tahoe Meadows because of it's mellow climbs and overall amount of decent. You can get a full description of the ride at Flume Trail Bike's Trail Description pages.
Trailforks and MTB Project also have all of the trail information surrounding Lake Tahoe.
GoPro footage from the ride can be found at my YouTube channel here. I’ve also embedded the video at the bottom of this page.
The section of the TRT that I rode could be made as easy or fast and flowing as you want to make it. After gaining the ridge just out of the meadow, you've got insane Lake Tahoe views basically the entire ride. The trail is littered with incredible overlooks that remind you exactly where you are. You cross the ridge for a bit and have views of Washoe Lake and the mountains just south of Reno, then it's right back to the Lake Tahoe side.
I ended up taking a short out-and-back on the famous Flume Trail because I couldn't pass up the chance to see it. Needless to say, it did not disappoint. The Flume follows a narrow bench along the side of the mountain that overlooks Tahoe with the most ridiculous views of the Lake's beautiful blue water. Flume Trail Bikes' shuttle routes offer a ride that follows the Flume Trail and it is certainly on my list the next time I visit the area. Do not miss this trail, even if it's for a short section like I did. Truly breathtaking, no matter how cliche that sounds.
From the Flume, I took the Incline Flume Trail over to the Tyrolian Downhill Trail to finish off the ride. The Incline Flume has a couple of steep climbs but for the most part it follows a contour around the mountain and through Diamond Peak Ski Resort.
I'm not sure what I expected out of the Tyrolian Downhill but it was definitely worth suffering (for lack of better word) through the Incline Flume. I think the Black Diamond rating was a bit off putting to me but that doesn't mean it isn't gnarly. There's easy lines around every obstacle (as you can see me taking most of them...) but there's also plenty of options for the bros on full DH bikes. Tyrolian was a really fun, long decent that you should make it to.
My total trip time, which included several stops and a beer, was just over 4 hours and right at 24 miles total. The trip took me from over 8800' to about 6300' in elevation. The total decent was just under 3500' and only climbing just over 1000' in the 24 miles. Those numbers don't even comprehend here on the East Coast!
For my first trip out West, this was just an unreal ride and trip. I will definitely be making many more visits to Lake Tahoe.