The Tour of the California Alps — everyone calls it the Death Ride — has defined endurance cycling in the High Sierra for over four decades. The numbers are the draw: 103 miles, about 14,000 feet of climbing, and five alpine passes in a single July day, with ninety-five percent of the course on roads closed to cars. The organizers say it best — it is a ride, not a race. Push for all five passes or ride as far as your legs carry you; the mountains meet you either way.

The course and the resort share a road. On ride morning the highway past our gate is closed course: Caltrans shuts Highway 89 from Markleeville to the Highway 4 junction at five in the morning, and the Monitor climb begins where that junction is, a few miles south of the porch. Highway 89 reopens around midday and Highway 4 later in the afternoon, on the schedule the organizers post each year. Staying here that weekend means sleeping on the course — riders roll past the cabins before the sun clears the ridge.

Illustration of a single distant cyclist climbing a curving mountain highway across open sagebrush slopes, a river canyon dropping away beside the road.
The climb out of the valleyA rider climbing the Monitor Pass highway above the canyon — on Death Ride morning the highway past this property is closed course, and the ride's opening climb begins at the Highway 4 junction a few miles south. Ride day runs 103 miles and about 14,000 feet over three passes climbed from both sides, most of it on roads shut to cars.

The weekend has a shape. Friday is the festival day at Turtle Rock Park, four miles up the road: the vendor expo, packet pickup, a spaghetti feed, and the evening rider meeting. Saturday starts at five with headlights mandatory, and the park spends the day as a finish-line festival — food, music, and rider meals into the evening until the course closes at six.

If you want to ride it, everything official — registration, the route, time cuts, and the rulebook — lives with the organizers at deathride.com. If you want to sleep on the course, the cabins, the riverside sites, and the up-top RV row are all inside the closure, and the ride's own places-to-stay page lists this resort among them. Book early either way: the weekend fills the whole valley, from the parks to the pullouts, and the organizers' own camping sells out.

Riders on the Ebbetts Pass climb on Death Ride Saturday, passing the three-pass rider check-in.

The organisers publish the whole day as one sheet — where the passes come in the order they are ridden, what time each rest stop opens and closes, and the cut-off you have to leave each one by to stay on the course. The resort sits four miles down Highway 89 from the start.

The 2026 course map — five passes, ten rest stops, the cut-off clock and 103 miles of elevation. Death Ride · Tour of the California Alps; reproduced as published at deathride.com.

One practical note for that Saturday whether you ride or not: until the roads reopen in the afternoon, driving south out of the resort is off the table, and Markleeville runs on race time. Plan the day around the river and the porch — it is a good day for both — and check road and river conditions before the weekend for anything the mountains decide to add.