28th annual “America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride” around Lake Tahoe June 2

Over 3,000 bicycle enthusiasts will be riding the 72 miles around Lake Tahoe on Sunday, June 2 as they participate in the 28th annual America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride.

This fun ride is not a race, but a tour and promotes the Lake Tahoe Bikeway project, the master plan to construct and interconnect all the bike lanes around Lake Tahoe. This is a fully supported tour offering spectacular scenery, fresh mountain air, rest stops with great food & beverage; is staffed by volunteers from various local organizations and is professionally managed by Curtis Fong and his team of experienced ride organizers.

There are still about 300 spots available for the ride. Online registration closes on Friday, May 24 - https://www.bikethewest.com/register-to-ride/. If there is availability, signups can be taken the morning of the race.

The ride is also the culmination of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s spring Team In Training (TNT) national fundraising program where 900 participants from 26 chapters and branches are participating and expect to raise nearly $4 million dollars. Over the past 22 years, TNT has brought nearly 25,000 participants to Lake Tahoe and America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride, bringing their total funds raised to $100 million dollars! Since its founding in 1949, the Society has invested more than $100 million in research to support their mission of finding a cure for Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin’s Disease and Myeloma and to improve the quality of life for their patients and families.

Bicyclists will ride three different tour options based on their ability level with all rides starting and finishing from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Stateline.

For the "recreational" experienced bicyclists, the Lake Tahoe Boat Cruise & 35-mile Half Ride is traditionally offered featuring a sightseeing boat cruise on Lake Tahoe Cruise’s Tahoe Paradise, complete with a continental breakfast across the Lake to North Lake Tahoe where participants start their 35-mile bike ride back to the Hard Rock. This ride option offers challenge as well as beauty with over 1000 vertical feet of climbing along Lake Tahoe’s east shore.(sold out)

For the conditioned bicyclists, the 72-mile route around Lake Tahoe is not only one of the most scenic, it is also one of the only bi-state bike rides in the country with it’s route in both California and Nevada. The 72-mile route circumnavigates the highways around Lake Tahoe in a clockwise direction and offers over 4,000 vertical feet of climbing.

For the more conditioned “Century Rider” bicyclists, a 100-mile option is offered that includes an additional out and back on Hwy. 89, from Tahoe City to historic Truckee offering additional vertical feet of climbing before returning to Tahoe City to continuing around the Lake. This ride option offers over 4,900 vertical feet of climbing.

Rest Stops, stocked with a variety of fresh fruits, Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars, Cookies, Tahoe Trail Bars, Cytomax Energy Drink, Gu Energy Gel, and more are offered at the Vikingsholm Parking Lot overlooking Emerald Bay; at Gate Keepers Museum Parking lot in Tahoe City; Save Mart in Truckee; King Beach and Spooner Junction. A lunch is featured at the Kings Beach Rest Stop co-sponsored by Port of Subs and Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care. Tahoe Sports Ltd., Shoreline Sports, Blue Zone Sports, Olympic Bike Shop, Paco’s Bike Shop, WattaBike Shop and more also provide technical support. Sponsoring rest stops include volunteers from Sierra Education Foundation, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Rite of Passage and the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition plus many other volunteers. Event communications are coordinated with the Tahoe Amateur Radio Association and the Tahoe Blue Riders provide Motorcycle support as well as Barton Health Care / Tahoe Orthopedic Center and Douglas County Search & Rescue providing medical first aid services.

All ride options begin at 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., with staggered 15-minute start windows. All bicyclists will receive a Lake Tahoe welcome packet, a commemorative number, event T-shirt, custom water bottle, food & beverage at all rest stops, a lunch stop in Kings Beach and after ride Meal & Pool Party with live entertainment featuring local favorite group, Deep Fryed Mojo, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. All riders will also be awarded a Finisher’s Medal at the Finish Line.

Pre-registered rider check-in will take place on Saturday, June 1, from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Tahoe Sports Ltd. In the Village Shopping Center, located on Hwy 50 & Heavenly Village Way in South Lake Tahoe; or on Sunday, June 2, the morning of the ride, starting at 5:00 a.m. at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Parking lot C. Registration is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Tahoe Sierra. The ride has a limited number of spots for late / same day registration.

America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride - Lake Tahoe has been supported by The Reno-Tahoe Territory of the Nevada Commission on Tourism and sponsored by the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tahoe Daily Tribune, Lake Tahoe Cruises, Cytomax Energy Drink, Tahoe Sports Ltd, GU Energy, Sparkletts/Alhambra Water, Port of Subs, Pace Sportswear, Thule Rack Systems, Tahoe Amateur Radio Association, Cycle California! Magazine, Safe Pedaling In Nevada (SPIN), Alpen Sierra Coffee Company, Sol Sunguard, Rudy Project Technical Eyewear, Outside-Lake Tahoe TV and KTKE 101.5FM, KRLT 93.9FM & KOWL AM1490.

Please share the road with the 3000+ cyclists.

America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride participants will be riding clockwise around Lake Tahoe and from Tahoe City to Truckee and back to Tahoe City, starting at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino at Stateline, South Shore, Lake Tahoe, Nevada from 6:00 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. Traffic will be DELAYED on Northbound Hwy 89 - Emerald Bay Road from 6:30 am to 8:30 am at Baldwin Beach/Camp Conrad Road. Southbound Hwy 89 will remain open. The remaining roadways will be OPEN and motorists are asked to share the roadway and plan a little more time to get to their destinations. Below are the Highways, locations and times that bicyclists will be sharing the roadways on Sunday, June 2, 2019:

Hwy 50 westbound -Stateline - South Lake Tahoe 6:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
Hwy 89 northbound - South Y - Campd - Rich - Emerald Bay 6:00 a.m. - 10.00 a.m.
Hwy 89 northbound - Emerald Bay Road CLOSED 6:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
Hwy 89 northbound - Emerald Bay - West Shore - Homewood - 7:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Hwy 89 north/south bound - Tahoe City - Truckee - Tahoe City 9:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Hwy 28 eastbound - Tahoe City - Kings Beach - Incline Village - 8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Hwy 28 southbound - Incline Village - Spooner Junction - 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Hwy 50 westbound - Spooner Junction - Stateline - 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Hwy 50 / Lake Parkway: Stateline / Expect Delays - 12:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

The ride is produced and professionally managed by Curtis Fong of TGFT Productions / Bike the West, a 30+ year member of the Bicycle Ride Directors Association of America (BRDAA) which sanctions the event requiring all participants to wear helmets. TGFT / Bike the West also produces Tour de Tahoe – Bike Big Blue – in conjunction with the National Psoriasis Foundation on September 8 and OATBRAN, “One Awesome Tour Bike Ride Across Nevada”, September 22-28, 2019. For more information visit the website, www.bikethewest.com or call 800-565-2704. E-mail: tgft@bikethewest.com