With the 2025 Rose to Toads ride just a few short weeks away, we asked TAMBA Board Member, mountain biking enthusiast, and trail builder Alex Robinson to tell us about his experience and insights as a Rose to Toads aficionado.
In this blog post, Alex shares updates to the 2025 route, as well as some great training routes to help you prep for the big day.
I’ve been calling 2025’s Rose to Toads, “The taste of the forbidden fruit”. Kudos to the TAMBA staff for finding a way to make our beloved sufferfest continue despite trail closures due to critical repairs on the Marlette Dam.
This year’s route increases the climbing by 1300’ and adds a lot more singletrack by keeping us on the TRT to bypass the Flume Trail, Marlette Lake, and North Canyon Road.
We are so grateful to our partners at the US Forest Service, The Tahoe Rim Trail Association and NV State Parks for the special use permit to access TRT from Marlette Peak to Marlette Lake on the day of the event. That section will remain closed to bikes other than the day of the event. See below for some rides that feature trails in our plans B and C!
This modification gives us 9000+ feet of climbing on technical singletrack with a rowdy and fun 11,000+ feet descent! Are you ready!?
We’re a little nervous, but we’ve been training and having fun!
While you shouldn’t feel the need to ride another 9K’ day to prepare, when it comes to training for big events, it’s good to target an activity 2-3 weeks ahead of the event, that gets you 70-90% of the effort. With Rose to Toads less than a month away, I’m sharing a few more larger prep ride routes to get inspired. (Check out last year’s blog with even more ride ideas)
Training Routes
Star to Toads – 26 Miles – 4700’ – Climb over Freel Pass and over to Mr. Toads without starting all the way at Mt. Rose! Lots of places to start this loop. Climbing High Meadow Road to Star Lake is an efficient way to gain a lot of vert, and makes for a great half day out!
Triple Crown ++ Over Freel – 47 Miles – 7500’ – A few of us did this this year for the 2025 Tahoe Mountain Bike Festival, it’s hard! If you missed the Triple Crown, but are registered for Rose to Toads and want to get prepped, this ride will whip you into shape and has a high density of great South Lake trails.
South Lake TRT Loop – 50 Miles – 7500’ – Like big rides but hate shuttle logistics? Me too! I wanted to remind myself how challenging climbing monument pass was, and mentally test riding past toads. This keeps going on TRT past toads, and connects to Xmas valley, can be ridden as a big loop starting and ending anywhere in South Lake.
The next two can be shortened or lengthened a variety of ways, and are along the lines of what some of the other discussed alternative routes may have been for this year.
R2T Training – Clear Creek/TRT/Star Cold Creek – 49 Miles – 7,700’ – Point-to-point starting in Carson City and climbing Clear Creek Trail. Feels fitting to descend Cold Creek after! This previews a discussed option, and allows you to test climb one of the route’s cruxes (Monument Pass through Heavenly) while descending something sooner than Toads.
R2T Training – Rose/C2T/Kings/TRT/Monument Cold Creek – 61 Miles – 8100’ – This is the typical elevation of the ride, now it’s a training ride?! Starting up at Mt. Rose, if you wish to preview the course start, this route takes you on the new-ish Cap to Tahoe trail, then has you climb up the old Lincoln Highway. This is a fire road that we can’t say is particularly fun, but avoids the current closure. Go as far as you’d like to train from there!
I hope these routes inspire a couple of fun adventures before the big day! Get creative, mix and match routes, and share if you did a big training riding ride that others should know about! We look forward to seeing you on Sept. 7th. Yeeewww!
