For this event the lodging in town sells out very quickly, so we ended in South Lake Tahoe at the Timber Cove Best Western.  Our room wasn't anything special, except that it opened right on to a white sand beach with views of the mountains.  Located directly across the parking lot is The Blue Water Bistro; a nice dinner house with a good wine list offering a selection of wines from the Foothills and California in general.  The food was great as well and no driving! 

We did check out the local wine stores and restaurants to see how good the wine selections were.  We were pleasantly surprised.  We dropped by the general store at Kirkwood on our way up and found some great award winning and hard to find Foothill wines on the shelves, like Avio and Gold Note.  The same was true at the restaurants we tried at South Shore.  The wine shop near stateline also offers a good selection of California wines and at not bad prices.  It seems more and more of the restaurants are offering some of the lesser known California wines. 

Morning comes early, long before dawn.  Most riders try to leave by 6:00 am at the very latest, better yet is to have lights and leave before the official start time of 5:30.  In the early dawn light the riders are silhouetted against the mostly gray sky and early rays of the sun as they head for the first major climb, Monitor Pass.  This climb is mostly relentless all the way to the top followed by a steep decent down the other side to Highway 395. Then you turn around and come back up the other side for a total of 6000 feet of climbing before heading back to the intersection with Highway 4 and a left turn to Ebbetts Pass. 

This is a long grind, with the worst of the climbing sadly at the very top when you can least deal with it.  The east side is a 16 mile ride and about 3000 feet of climbing.  After all the gorgeous views on the way up, the top is a bit of a disappointment, being basically tree covered and gently rounded so you can't appreciate how far you have climbed.  The ride continues down an 1800 foot drop to Hermit Valley, a distance of about 6 miles, and then comes back up to Ebbetts Pass.  If you didn't feel like dying going up the east side, the ride up the west side can just about do you in. Luckily you get a long downhill rest before the rollers that take you back to Markleeville and then on to Hwy 88.

Lest you think the rollers along the road to Highway 88 are easy after all the climbing you have done, forget it; they are downright painful.  If you plan to do all 5 passes you will still have over 3000 feet of climbing and 41 more miles.  Doesn't seem fair, does it? 

The road to and from the last pass is where the cheering sections start.  You would think you were watching a stage of the Tour de France.  There are people lined all along 88 as it climbs Donner Pass giving encouragement and cheering the riders on, and believe me, they need it.  All but the best of the best riders are in serious pain at this point and it is just purely through determination that they make it to the top.  Even if it means walking their bikes, those that make it this far are very determined to finish, Continued ...