| From where I sit, neary 1500 miles away, I can hear the Valbonne men
dusting off their sturmey archer's in preparation.... :-)
Seriously, this sounds like a pretty awesome ride... 200km and 4700m
rod
|
| It indeed is an awesome ride!
I managed only four passes on my first attempt this year. I had the strength
and determination for all five, but I started the ride too late in the morning.
I also rode the first three passes with a fellow tri-geek who didn't prepare
adequately for the ride and needed coaching and more rest at the top of the
passes; these delays caused me to miss the cut-off time for the ascent
up to Carson Pass.
Nonetheless, I had a great time! The views at the top are nothing short
of breathtaking, elevation notwithstanding. The descents are a blast,
especially coming down the backside of Monitor Pass. While I only managed
45 MPH top speed on Monitor, I hit 50 MPH coming down Luther/Carson Pass.
(Some friends I camped with said they had dome 59-60 MPH down the
same stretch - whoa!). Weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky.
The ride was very well organized, and had lots of food at the rest stops.
My favorites were the Entemann chocolate cookies and the hard boiled red
potatoes (yum, yum - instant carbos!). As you were slowly climbing up
the back side of Monitor Pass, there were volunteers you could hand your
water bottle to, run up to the water station, fill the bottle with water,
run back and catch you, and hand you your bottle back, all while you were
still pedaling up the mountain. Now THAT's service! At the top of passes,
there were volunteers with pitchers of water ready at the wait. Plus,
the roads were closed for the first three passes -- the mountains were
filled with nothing but bikies!
My gearing: six speed freewheel 13-15-17-20-23-26 with 52-39 up front.
I got in my 39-26 combination early and got in it often.
I didn't see much of Mike "Bat" Buchanan except briefly zooming down
the third pass (Ebbets), and the fifth pass (Carson). I noticed he had a
great big grin coming down Carson pass, probably because he had just made
it through all five passes. Oh yeah, he was wearing his Digital jersey
proudly.
Next year, I'm starting earlier, riding solo (or with Buchanan if he wants
a good draft) and making all five passes.
AAA
|
| Here's Bat's report. I've just got to do this ride! -john
From: DECWRL::"[email protected]" "MICHAEL BUCHANAN (CONTR)" 15-JUL-1991 20:47:59.25
To: "ellis" <"ellis"%amdcad:ellis%[email protected]>
CC: "shroyer" <"shroyer"%amdcad:shroyer%[email protected]>, "alvidrez" <"alvidrez"%amdcad:alvidrez%[email protected]>
Subj: Death Ride report
Since I'm not longer contracting for DEC they turned my account off so I can't
enter this in the notes conference.
I think that I mentioned in my note in the BICYCLE conference that I thought
that this years Death Ride would be easier than last years version.
I WAS WRONG!
Start to finish it took me 11= hours, and there were a lot of people behind me.
They made this years version about 16 miles shorter by moving Ebbetts pass from
last to third. This year you did all three southern passes first rather than
doing the two sides of Monitor then doing the Northern passes before coming back
south to do Ebbetts. The way that I figured it was that you get the three
hardest climbs over right away and then you're home free. I now choose to look
at it a bit differently. Those three climbs make a wicked 1-2-3 combination.
At the top of Ebbetts pass you've only ridden 58 miles but you've climbed
10,000 feet. 10,000 feet in only 58 miles, ouch!
Now with everyone in a weakened state the wind picks up and the temperature
raises. Imagine if you will, a relentless 10 mile climb with a hot wind right
in your face. However it's so damned dry up there that you don't really sweat.
The third thing, and the one that almost KO'ed me was a bad case of the "Power
Bar Runs". I eat 4 of those things (actually Fin Halsa bars) in the first part
of the ride and I was in big trouble. I used the can at 3 rest stops up to the
lunch stop. I pulled out of the lunch stop with my stomach feeling pretty
mushy. After lunch they send you for a loop (about 6-8 miles) through fairly
flat Diamond Valley before doing the last two passes. That stretch was tough,
very hot, very windy and fighting a case of diarrhea. I almost packed it right
there. But just at the bottom of the climb there is a fire station where they
were hosing you down, it wasn't a real rest stop but they had a bathroom which
I visited for about 20 minutes and then continued. I eat nothing, except a
couple pieces of watermelon, for the last 4= hours.
The route to the last two passes are kind of "Y" shaped, they start with a
common climb called Woodford Canyon grade, then you do the two prongs of the
fork, Luther and then Carson passes. Both with the wind right in your face. I
was fitted with a low gear of 39x26 which I was in for most of the time, just
grinding it out in the 6-8 MPH range with that damned wind in your face. I
knew that I'd use that gear on Ebbetts and parts of Monitor but I didn't think
I'd need it on these two, but thank God I had it.
However on the way back it was like heaven, downhill with the wind at your
back. I hit my max speed of the day there, 50 MPH!
My new cyclometer, a Cateye Mity, as an auto timer start/stop. My wheels were
turning for 9:20.
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Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Date: 15 Jul 91 10:15:00 PST
From: "MICHAEL BUCHANAN (CONTR)" <[email protected]>
Subject: Death Ride report
To: "ellis" <"ellis"%amdcad:ellis%[email protected]>
Cc: "shroyer" <"shroyer"%amdcad:shroyer%[email protected]>,
"alvidrez" <"alvidrez"%amdcad:alvidrez%[email protected]>
|