Photos courtesy Laura Read.
by Tim Hauserman
Here it comes again, my favorite Lake Tahoe area bike riding experience: The Tour De Manure. It combines a beautiful ride around the Sierra Valley with great friends, music and delicious food.
The Tour De Manure is a metric century ride (62 miles) which begins in Sierraville, CA. The ride starts with a valley crossing on the lightly traveled A-23 to the junction with Highway 70 at Beckwourth. A right turn brings you in a few miles to A-24, where you recross the valley to Loyalton. There, you get your one and only climb of the day, up Smithneck Road, before returning to Loyalton and the last 13 miles on Highway 49 back to Sierraville.
There are a number of factors that make this ride so special. First, while a 62 mile ride is nothing to sneeze at, this one is about as easy as you can make it. It’s mostly flat and the views of wildflowers, cows and a wide variety birds make for a pleasant spin. Find a peloton that matches your speed and ride with a new group of friends. The event is a fundraiser for the Sierraville Fire Department, which brings out a host of friendly volunteers dishing out food, signing up participants or whatever it takes to make things run smoothly. Speaking of the food, not only is it delicious and filling, but given the difficulty of the ride, most people actually get to eat it right about lunch time. And finally, the ride was the original brain child of long time Tahoe local Doug Read. He has got the word out among the North Tahoe cross-country ski and bike community that this is the place to be in June, and I always find a ton of great Tahoe buds to ride and eat with.
The Details: The Tour De Manure is on Saturday, June 20, 2015. The ride begins and ends at the Sierraville Volunteer Fire House.
Directions: From Truckee, take Highway 89 north 25 miles to it’s intersection with Highway 49, turn right and you are at the start.
Riders should start pedaling between 8 and 9 am.
Register online for the 62 or 42 mile version at tourdemanure.org
YOUR FRIEND IN HIGH PLACES 
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