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After two years of living/riding at tahoe I'm finally gonna ride Toads. I got Q's?

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
What's the best way to do this ride. I will likely be riding it by myself so no shuttle. I browsed over the trail reviews on mtbr and everyone seems to have a different opinion about what the best route is.

Clipless or flats? I don't fully trust what I read on mtbr put some people make this trail sound pretty technical. Almost like N* type trails. If that's the case then I think I would feel more comfortable and have more fun with flats. Opinions?
 

crapacity

Chimp
Jul 20, 2005
56
0
I don't know the trail, but I would really like to ride it. If you have any interest in shutteling I would be happy to meet up.
 

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
crapacity said:
I don't know the trail, but I would really like to ride it. If you have any interest in shutteling I would be happy to meet up.
I might possibly be up for that. I'm not even positive it is possibly to shuttle it, I believe there's a pretty big climb involved no matter how you ride it. Hopefully someone who has ridden it before will chime in with info.
 

amydalayna

Turbo Monkey
Aug 16, 2005
1,507
0
south lake tahoe, ca
crapacity said:
I don't know the trail, but I would really like to ride it. If you have any interest in shutteling I would be happy to meet up.
here is me on toad's.

it's one of the best rides around. i'm doing it this saturday morning.

as for clipless or flats... i would just say clipless. the trail is technical, but there are only 2 really rocky sections. the rest is fast and flowy.

to shuttle, you leave one car down off of oneidas. and then shuttle up towards the big meadow parking area.
 

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
Thanks Amy,

looks like fun. Would you be able to tell me the best way to ride it if riding alone? I don't know that area too well, could you be more specific about where "oneidas" and "big meadow parking area" are?
 

amydalayna

Turbo Monkey
Aug 16, 2005
1,507
0
south lake tahoe, ca
dfinn said:
Thanks Amy,

looks like fun. Would you be able to tell me the best way to ride it if riding alone? I don't know that area too well, could you be more specific about where "oneidas" and "big meadow parking area" are?
it's going to be a bit of a haul if yr doing it alone. much better w/ 2 cars so you don't have to ride up the road. Oneidas is a road.

Oneidas Road is off of Pioneer Trail. Take Oneidas road until you get to a paved parking area on your right. Park here. this is where the ride ends.
To get to the trail head, turn left out of Oneidas back onto Pioneer. Take it until 50. Turn left on 50 and take it until 89. Hop on 89 South and then start climbing. The trial head I usually start at doesn't have a sign that says Toad's. Sorry. But it's on your left. You'll have to climb a ways.
 

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
I think I can get it from there. I lost my only riding partner to a woman this season so I've been solo for most rides. I could use the exercise. Thanks.
 

amydalayna

Turbo Monkey
Aug 16, 2005
1,507
0
south lake tahoe, ca
dfinn said:
I think I can get it from there. I lost my only riding partner to a woman this season so I've been solo for most rides. I could use the exercise. Thanks.
Let me know if you want to join up w/ me and a couple others this Saturday...
 

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
Do you know what time? I'm pretty slow on the up hills, I would hate to slow anyone down.
 

amydalayna

Turbo Monkey
Aug 16, 2005
1,507
0
south lake tahoe, ca
kidwoo said:
Haha.

Keep an eye out for me.

I'll be wearing an american flag speedsuit on a cyclocross bike with smoke streamers coming off my chainstays.

I really am riding toads on saturday though. Maybe powerline or hawley too.
yo. give me a call if you want to ride around. i live a mile away from the powerlines (over by ski run).
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Scarpa said:
Here's a good description with directions and pics. Although sounds like you got a local guide, even better. :)

http://ogrehut.net/trails.php/LakeTahoe/Toads
His description of "to big meadow" is a little vague.

Upper truckee t's onto 89. Keep going straight, CROSSING 89 into big meadow CAMPGROUND. This winds up a ways into a parking lot where it's really obvious where the rim trail is. Go up that. First left is saxon creek (toads).
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
amydalayna said:
yo. give me a call if you want to ride around. i live a mile away from the powerlines (over by ski run).
I've got a buddy coming up from the bay area and toads is the menu for saturday. As of right now I have no idea when we'll be down there. He's kind of a psychotic early riser though so I guess we could be down there early. They're running a marathon down the west shore saturday so we'll be coming in on pioneer trail and starting from oneidas.
 

amydalayna

Turbo Monkey
Aug 16, 2005
1,507
0
south lake tahoe, ca
dfinn said:
you guys riding d'ville on sunday by any chance?
i am! but i don't know what i'm doing. haven't booked a shuttle ride or a camp site yet. i'd like to head up saturday before dinner and camp.
are you driving up sunday or saturday night?
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
Yeah just to second what Amy said, there are only a couple sections of techy rocks on Toads and the rest is fast and fun, with optional rock booters all over the place. Rad trail. But there is a fair amount of pedaling. I usually ride flats for DH but ride clipless there. Same thing with D-ville trails, clipless makes more sense. The rocky sections of Toads are a little sketchier than the D-ville trails but not bad at all and not enough to ride flats IMO.
 

Tattooo

Turbo Monkey
Jun 5, 2005
1,859
0
OV
What time, and where are y'all going to meet? I might have a friend in tow, or two, so we could have a whole posse of kids on bikes.
 

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
I think I'm going to try and meet Amy & company at the time and location she posted above. 10 o'clock at the oniedas parking area.
 

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
It was cool. Thanks Amy for giving me a ride and showing me around. In some ways I think I expected more from that trail, but at the same time it was pretty fun.
 

Acadian

Born Again Newbie
Sep 5, 2001
714
2
Blah Blah and Blah
Awesome ride...Climb was fun, descent was fun, weather was beautiful, great friends...couldn't ask for a better time!! The only thing I had to deal with is the altitude-burn and clips. I think I’m pretty much done with riding clips…flat for life yo! ;)

it made for a long day...3.5 hour drive there...3.5 hour bike ride...> 4 hour ride back home!! Plus that nasty digger I took at the end sucked! :(

Kevin: I forgot to ask Carl what he had for breakkie. I wanna know cause I want to have the same thing he had before my next ride ;)



Souvenir from my Toad's ride ;)
 

amydalayna

Turbo Monkey
Aug 16, 2005
1,507
0
south lake tahoe, ca
dfinn said:
It was cool. Thanks Amy for giving me a ride and showing me around. In some ways I think I expected more from that trail, but at the same time it was pretty fun.
hey. no problem.
did you expect a longer ride? or a more technical ride?
toad's is one of my favorites though. i think i might like christmas dh better. which we did yesterday.

but what i like about toad's is there are never any hikers out there. you can just crank down without worrying about running anyone over.
 

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
I guess I should just stop reading trail reviews from mtbr and general internet hype. I had a good time. Let me know if you guys plan on riding next weekend, I'd like to come down and see some of the other trails down your way.
 

amydalayna

Turbo Monkey
Aug 16, 2005
1,507
0
south lake tahoe, ca
dfinn said:
I guess I should just stop reading trail reviews from mtbr and general internet hype. I had a good time. Let me know if you guys plan on riding next weekend, I'd like to come down and see some of the other trails down your way.
i have non-riding friends coming in town this weekend, but the weekend after, if it is snow-free i'm definitely riding in town. definitely xmas valley. but don't read up on it, and i won't tell you it's super awesome, because i don't want to make it out better than it is....

I know it's not a good reason to drive down to the south shore, but i'll be hitting the bmx track wednesday and friday at 5pm if you're interested.
 

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
you made it sound like a whole lot of fun but I don't have any kind of bike I could ride there. i sold my 20" hoffman when I moved to the "mountains". is that free to ride there?
 

amydalayna

Turbo Monkey
Aug 16, 2005
1,507
0
south lake tahoe, ca
dfinn said:
you made it sound like a whole lot of fun but I don't have any kind of bike I could ride there. i sold my 20" hoffman when I moved to the "mountains". is that free to ride there?
They have a free one day pass at the park. And right now there isn't even anyone there checking anyone's membership or anything.
If you wanted to go this Wednesday, I have an extra Spec. P1 you could use. Or any other ol' hardtail would do.
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
dfinn said:
I guess I should just stop reading trail reviews from mtbr and general internet hype.
Just curious, what did you hear that was different from your experience? Were you expecting a gnarly DH run top to bottom or something?

I always hear people describe the Downieville trails as being super steep and technical DH and I don't think that is the case, but to an XC rider it could be a handful and I think the same thing happens with Toad's.
 

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
OGRipper said:
Just curious, what did you hear that was different from your experience? Were you expecting a gnarly DH run top to bottom or something?

I always hear people describe the Downieville trails as being super steep and technical DH and I don't think that is the case, but to an XC rider it could be a handful and I think the same thing happens with Toad's.
I think I expected it to be longer, more technical...just way better in general than the trails I'm used to riding. Here's a description from one of the reviews on mtbr:

"Then we came to an intersection and my buddy Brock wanted to
stop. He pulls out some knee pads and puts them on. I’m saying “what do you need those for”? He just looks and me and says “are you kidding?”. I look
down the trail and from this point it looks steeper. He says “go ahead” and I drop in. after a few quick, steep dirt shoots through some big boulders I
made a tight corner and all I can see ahead of me for 20 yards are about eight big boulders with four and five foot drops between them. It’s too late to hit
the brakes and stop, as I’ve got too much momentum and to do so would mean certain death via faceplanting. Right now I am not worried about anything beyond
my front wheel- which is nothing but air. I roll off the first one and four feet down my suspension takes the first big hit easily. I correct my steering
and hit the second and third drops, dragging my back brake and rear wheel over the edge in a vain attempt to bleed off some speed. Each time the bike is
completely off the ground not going so much foreword as down. I’m just trying to keep the front end ahead of the rear end without flipping over and smashing
my face into any number of the big boulders along the trail. After a few big hits I can realign the bike and I expect to see a nice run out ahead where I
can regain my composure. Nothing of the sort. Just craggy, big drops in the 3-5 foot range. One, after another, after another, after another. I had to
stop and lower my seatpost because I didn’t want to eat it on this and what a huge difference it made for me. I was able to ramp off a number of drops with
ease now, and they just kept coming"


and I wonder if I rode the same trail as this guy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all because that was a fun trail. I'm not claiming to be a good rider because I'm not but I felt that was a pretty cool XC trail with a couple of tech sections. I've also ridden with people who think d'ville is really tough and technical and I don't see it that way either.
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
Hahaha, that review is pretty rich. Must be pinkbike feet! It's pretty hard to trust trail reviews unless you know the reviewer.

Kidwoo if you've got pegs I'll take that challenge... :D
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
OGRipper said:
Hahaha, that review is pretty rich. Must be pinkbike feet! It's pretty hard to trust trail reviews unless you know the reviewer.

Kidwoo if you've got pegs I'll take that challenge... :D
6-pack of my choosing, you figure out the peg attatchment and I'd be happy to ride toads again next weekend. :D
 

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
kidwoo said:
Ride that top section on my rear wheel the entire time and I'll give you a six pack. :D
give me 8 years of riding experience to even out with you and then I'll take on your challenge. Of course I'll be old and fragile by then. Another reason why I need a time machine.
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
kidwoo said:
6-pack of my choosing, you figure out the peg attatchment and I'd be happy to ride toads again next weekend. :D

Hahaha, oh man all we need are some of those old-school GT rear standers that hook on to the chainstays...and a lot of body armor. :blah:

Actually, there's a chance I'll be up there this weekend, if so I'll let you know a little later this week and maybe we can connect. First round is on me...