Death Ride Report

A year ago, Justine and I did a vacation cycling camp together called "Kiss of Death Cycling Tour." Over 3 days we covered about 140 miles and 14000 vertical feet, including Sonora Pass, the second highest Sierra Nevada pass and a road with grades exceeding 20%. This was my introduction to "real" cycling, and I was both awed and intrigued. As a long-time follower of the Tour de France and an erstwhile cyclist who thought a 20 mile ride on flat ground was at least respectable, I realized that I had a lot to learn. Over the next few months, I shelved the idea of coming back for the official Death Ride, but I continued to spend time on my bike, commuting, hitting some of the minor SC Mountain climbs and increasing my mileage slowly.


In early 2009, I wasn't thinking much about the Death ride. I was in job search mode and training for my Napa Valley Marathon, but I was on the bike and starting to explore some of the more respectable local climbs (having no job can do wonders for the cycling ...). At some point I came to the conclusion that this was a great year to train and complete the Death Ride - I had the time, I had a partner to train with (Loren) and I had no domestic conflicts. Justine was focusing on an August half-ironman, so we had no logistics issues to resolve should we both be inclined to do the Death Ride.


In March, I finished the Napa Valley Marathon and turned my attention to the bike. A week after the race, I logged a 60+ mile ride, and the training picked up from there.


My training this year has been pretty good: if my log is accurate, I rode 1,850 miles and climbed about 150,000 vertical feet this year prior to the ride. I had bagged a good number of the "Billy Goat" climbs in the area, and I had logged 4 rides of 90 or more miles in the last month and a half. I also ran nearly 500 miles in that period. I completed the Primavera Century and the Sequoia 120 miler as preparation rides.


I arrived in Markleeville on Thursday night, pulling into the Carson river Resort at about 9:30. I had a chance to fish the Carson river Friday, hauling in a number of moderate trout and hooking up with what would've been a personal best fish had I kept it on the line. Alas, it's just another fish story, still swimming freely in the Carson river (my guess is it was 24 inches or more...)


Loren and his family arrived Friday and we game-planned our ride logistics while enjoying a relaxing day by the river. By 9:30 I was down.


Saturday arrived early. We were up at 4 and on the road at 4:45. We were waiting for a small group to join us (they had started at a different point) but they blew by us with a quick "let's go", and rather than try to catch them I settled into a rhythm and started towards Monitor Pass.


Now, for me the trick about these climbs is to just disassociate, not think, and pedal smoothly while chatting with whomever is around. Monitor West went by smoothly in this fashion. It was still dark and so I had my lights on, and I got up and over the 3K + foot climb with dusky conditions still present. The descent down the back was fast, but for whatever reason I came up short of my speed goal of 50 MPH, hitting the brakes at 49.8....

At the bottom, I stopped for a quick bite (ate potatoes mostly) and then it was back up and over. As expected, I didn't have much trouble with Monitor. It's long but not too steep. On the front side, I hit another long speed patch, and I delayed hitting the brakes as long as possible. My odometer confirmed that that was the right choice, 51 MPH! I remember being sketched last year at 43, this year I felt as stable as could be at 50. Amazing what a few changes and a bit of practice will do.

Ebbets is steeper and tougher, and I started to feel it on the front side. Nevertheless I got over the top and was pleased that the back side climb was only 5 miles. A tough 5 miles, but doable.

The second time up the top of Ebbets I was feeling pretty spent, and I knew that the ride to and up Carson would be tough. Luckily, I hooked up with a small but quick train through the valley and hammered my way to Carson, enjoying the ride. By the base of Carson I was in good shape and ready for the long and tedious climb to the 5th pass.
Carson is where the Death Ride gets tough. This climb goes on forever, and it's where you start asking yourself the questions. Luckily, it's the last one, so the answers to those questions are pretty easy: "get over it, get your ice cream at the top, and get back to camp" (Ice cream at the top of pass 5 is apparently a tradition).
I was clearly a lot weaker going up Carson, using my lowest gear on most of the climb, but I wasn't worried about speed at that point, just getting to the top.
Getting to the top was a great feeling, kinda like hitting mile 26 of a marathon and knowing you just need to kick it home. I was done with the climbing, I had a great descent to look forward to, and I had accomplished what I'd set out to do. I didn't linger, but had a snack, sat for a couple of minutes, and then pointed downhill. the descent down Carson did prove to be a blast: I hammered past a small group and picked up a rider and he followed me all the way down and across to the finish. I again hit the 50MPH barrier and we also ran into just a touch of rain, but the return was quick and painless, and I ultimately brought my average speed up from 11 to 12.1 during this period.
That's about it. Very satisfied with the effort and the result, and I didn't feel too wrecked afterwards. My main cycling goal for the year is done, and now I'll start focusing on a fall/winter marathon, probably Santa Barbara. It's also possible that I'll try for Big Kahuna half ironman, but not sure yet.

Death Ride Preview, or, Well, I'm certainly tapered

Ready to go. 5 days and counting till the Death ride. The mental preparation is a lot different for me than approaching a marathon. I don't feel any time pressure, no worry about how fast to go, pacing, or any of that. I'm just starting to focus on being ready for the time on the bike, getting through each pace one at a time, and enduring the challenge of doing five passes. My training has been good enough, I'm sure, but in a sense this race may be a week or 2 too late for me. Once summer starts, the family travel schedule heats up, and as a result, my bike riding has gone down while my relaxing, beer in hand, riverside time has gone up. So... my legs are rested, but I'm probably up a couple of pounds from a few weeks back.

Nevertheless, I'm ready, I have a few personal goals, and I know it's gonna be a lot of fun. I did some of these passes last year and was amazed at the scale, but after a year on the bike and a bunch of great local climbs I am looking forward to seeing them again and realizing what a difference a year makes. The idea of a few days in Markleeville is also appealing. I have my fishing rod at the ready and hope to catch dinner at least one night.

262 Mile Week

With another big day yesterday, that brings my weekly total (Sunday - Saturday) to 262 miles. Certainly an epic week. Yesterday was 4 climbs: Quimby West, Upper Mt. Hamilton, and then back over Mt. Hamilton and Quimby East. Our clmbing gauge registered about 9500 vert feet, so it was a big day.

new milestone

The cool thing about the bike is that you can hit milestones going downhill. Today I smashed through the 45MPH barrier on Summit road. My top speed on today's ride was 46.5! It is a section going south just prior to taking a left turn on Old SC Highway. I decided I'd just overshoot the turn and see how fast I could get going, and was surprised when I scrolled through to find my Max Speed. Another good indicator for next month in Markleeville.

Cross Posting

I liked this post.

You read a blog for a few months and then you learn something that surprises you.

Quite a week: Sequoia Metric Double Century Report

Even without work, that was a hectic week. Chloe graduated from Junior High on Friday and the frenzied activities on both sides of the day were both fun and gratifying as well as a little tiring. Nonetheless we had a great week and were proud to see our baby finish her junior high school experience. For me Jr. high graduation was not a big deal, but for Chloe and her classmates, they have attended the same school for 9 years and will all split up and go to different schools next year, so it was truly the end of a significant chapter in all our lives.

Friday night, we attended a late graduation party and followed a rest and nutrition regimen not recommended by any of the training books I've read. Ah well...

So that brings us to Sunday morning: I was unsure of my form and how I would feel, but Justine convinced me that if I was doing the Sequoia Century I just could not cut it short and do the 100 miles. Basically, her message was: "OK, you've got the whole day, don't come back and tell me you just did the century." My cycling muse!

She was absolutely right on this one, it would be important for me to stretch my limits and see how the body and mind responded, pre-Death Ride, so I went in with the idea that I'd do the double metric.

Long story short, the ride went really well. I am starting to learn understand how to manage my energy and nutrition on these long rides, and clearly the long training rides I've banked are helping (as well as the 27 tooth rear cog!) . I'll skip the blow-by-blow and head straight for the highlights:

Redwood Gulch - a good way to start the day and begin the dialogue with the legs. Everything feeling fine. Except that the guy I was climbing with told me the most harrowing cycling story I'd heard in awhile. I was asking him about his frame (custom carbon from the east coast, the name escapes me now) (ed. note: I just remembered, it was a Parlee) and he told me that it was a replacement for his first bike that he cracked when he was forced off the road on Mt. Hamilton last year on father's day. He broke his neck, was in the hospital for three months, and was back on his bike by December. Titanium plates in his neck, rehab after they had to completely open up his throat to operate, completely crazy. He said that if the driver hadn't stopped and helped, he would've died. My legs stopped hurting the more I listened. That said I did enjoy hearing the visitors to the ride complain about Redwood Gulch, a climb I do at least twice a month these days. That hill got a lot of respect yesterday.

Climb # 2 was the backside of Hwy 9. Not a highlight but it is the kind of moderate and sustained effort that can wear you out.

Descents at the ride this year were quite technical: down Alpine road on the backside, down Kings on the front side. Kings is in dreadful shape and I can't stand going down that road, and it was worse on a Sunday afternoon. Thankfully we stayed upright. Nice to have a car pull over for me to pass ;).

Nutrition Management and Lunch: I think this was a major improvement for me. There is so much food on these things that my natural instinct is to just eat a lot at every stop and then get a big lunch. This time I was pretty judicious with the calories I consumed. Lunch was actually really tasty - chicken wraps and veggie wraps - but I didn't overdo it and I was back on my bike pretty quickly. Food at this ride was outstanding overall. Not too heavy on the baked goods, a great lunch, HOT COFFEE at one stop, and Coke at the top of Tunitas.

The Coast: for all the drippy fog in the mountains, once we got to the coast it was just spectacular. Add to that a tailwind and the ride south to Pescadero was a real joy. I hooked up with a couple of groups and made some good time on this section until I flatted in Pescadero. The Metric Double had 230 riders, so losing my pace group was a bummer, but I was able to hook up with a couple others and rode with them to the finish. coming back up the coast I was a little burnt, but I grabbed a can of coke (16 OZ for 99cents !!!) in Pescadero and that helped a bunch.

Tunitas: I rode Tunitas with the San Francisco crew and held their wheels as long as I could, which was until about 2.5 miles from the top. I was happy with how much I had to give on that last climb, I hadn't been able to hang with those guys earlier in the day. Tunitas also got a lot of appreciative comments from the riders, it is super pleasant at the end of a long day. I really don't know why the Tour of Cali went up this one though.

Bunch Sprint: Coming back from the Kings descent to Palo Alto, we started hammering the flats and picking up riders as we went. The result was an all out sprint for the last several miles, a really good way to burn off the last bit of energy and test the fast twitch muscles. I'm certainly more sprinter than climber (climb like a sprinter!) and elbowed my way to a 3rd place finish (third in the bunch, not third overall).

Stats:

Miles- 124

Vertical Feet - 10,600

Avg Speed ~13.8

Riding Time ~9:10

Total Time ~10:15

Top Speed - 42 MPH

Mental Fatigue

OK, I'm starting to wonder ... today I spent 5 riding hours, covered 60 miles, and did it solo. I couldn't get out over the weekend, so Monday became my ride day. I threw a new climb in (Soda Springs) and was treated to 5.6 miles with no flats, and overall climbing of over 6K feet. I have to say though, I just wasn't feeling it. Honestly readers, don't you just get tired of climbing sometimes? Thankfully my next long ride will be Sequoia, therefore supported and plenty of company.

I don't ever remember having that kind of day while running. Plenty of shitty runs, believe me, but rarely if ever did I feel like I just wanted to be done after the first 5 or so miles, especially if I got through the first 2 miles of whatever malaise of the day I was feeling.

So I'm a little whiney. But the reality is I'm a bit of a rookie at these long rides, so I had hoped that every ride would be thrilling and fun. sometimes though you just have to put in the miles.

there were some great parts though: hit a new speed record, 44.9 on summit approaching Old SC highway. great descent down old SC (hit the brakes only 4 times, two corners I just don't think I can get through without them) and the bike handled everything with aplomb.

I picked up my death ride ticket Saturday, so I'm committed through July, then I'll probably enjoy a brake. I ran 7 last Saturday though, and still trying to keep sharp with that.