Southern California - Son of Death Ride?

Anyone know the story with this event? http://www.sonofdeathride.com
It looks like they held it once.

Anyone?

Okay, I'll step up - but it's not entirely ride related:

Sounds great, but the jersey is one of the ugliest I've seen - and as a designer, I must say that an overwhelming majority of jerseys around are quite atrocious in visual quality. This one, though, is right on par with the generality of 'blah' jerseys I see on most riders backs.

As for the ride - HELL YES! I love it. Would I be able to do it this year? Probably not. I've only been riding for a few weeks after coming back from a 3+month healing time from injury, and I know I wouldn't be able to pull this off this year. Next year? It is on target.

Back to a design standpoint:

Title of the ride? 6/10 - They could've picked a better title. Really.

Marketing - 5/10 - Website is dull and in need of a designer, but then again so is Planet Ultra's. Then again, most rides don't have the budget to hire a designer, so they all end up in 5/10 or less.

Fee @ $75 - 3/10 that's a little steep, buddy.

Jersey - 4/10 - sucks my left butt cheek. Most jerseys I've seen around range between 4/10 and 6/10 so it's nothing terribly shocking.

Route - 7/10 - I wouldn't say this is the hardest out there in California. I don't like the idea of 'turning around' the same way you came up, and there are much more difficult routes - whether proposed or executed - a little further north between Death Valley / Lone Pine / Mt. Whitney. The area that the ride is being held is, comparatively, not as visually stunning as other areas that would offer much more difficult routes that would live up to the 'hype' of this ride's marketing.

that jersey is awful...does this ride actually have anything to dowith the death ride or are they just riding on the coat tails of an established event?

Anyone know the story with this event? http://www.sonofdeathride.com
It looks like they held it once.

I think they have held it more than once, some year's the weather has cancelled the ride. For more info why not contact them at info@sonofdeathride.com

I sort of like that errie jersey....

that jersey is awful...does this ride actually have anything to dowith the death ride or are they just riding on the coat tails of an established event?

The way I heard the story, The Death Ride folks objected to this ride's use of "Death Ride" in the title, so that's when they changed it to: "That Which Doesn't Kill Us Makes Us Stronger."

Rick / OCRR

I think they have held it more than once, some year's the weather has cancelled the ride. For more info why not contact them at info@sonofdeathride.com

Did that before I posted. I haven't heard back.

Did that before I posted. I haven't heard back.

Maybe the ride died? :D

The ride started in the Kern Plateau above Lake Isabella and used very limited traveled roads. It was suppose to go over Sherman Pass and back, but just days before the ride the Forest Service shut the ride down citing too much traffic. A friend of mine did the ride, even thou it had been shutdown and said he only saw one car the whole day on the road (I guess that is too much traffic for the Forest Services). The only thing I could figure was the bikes where going to be too hard on the road or maybe the one car was going to have to wait or slow down for some bikes, I don't know what the Forest Service was thinking. Maybe it had to do with money changing hands. I don't know where the ride stands today.

I sort of like that errie jersey....

I'm with you... I like the jersey especially the back because of the cool scenery they tried to emulate...

My wife and I did this ride the first year they held it, or should I say we attempted the ride. This was by far the hardest event I have ever tried. It's also the only road cycling event we have entered and not been able to finish. We made it 87 miles and had done about 14000' of climbing before we got sag'd. There was 'only' about 5000ft of climbing left. I got the jersey and think it looks pretty cool, but I don't wear it much mainly because I didn't really finish the ride.

It all started really good. On the first climb I felt awesome. It was something like 15 miles with 6000ft of climbing. Problem was when we reached the top it was only 32 degrees. All I had was arm/leg warmers and a wind breaker and the following downhill section, in the shade no less, just drained my legs of power. After that downhill my legs had no power for the rest of the day. It seemed to take forever to cross over the meadows and rolling hills to the decent down 9 mile canyon to 395. On the climb back up 9 mile canyon the wind really kicked in. Uphill for 9 miles with a head wind gusting up to 35mph really sucked. There were numerous occasions where we got blown to a standstill. Literally track standing. By the top of 9 mile canyon the sag van was already breathing down our necks and about 7 miles later they picked us up.

To put it into perspective, we have since done breathless agony on our single bikes and then we did the KOM series on our tandem last year. We have also done numerous 12hr mtn bike races as a two person team and a number of other Mountain bike endurance rides. Son of the death ride still stands out as the hardest event I've tried.

Going back to the original poster, if you look at the website closely you will see it's pretty out of date. The ride results are from the first year when I attempted it. Hopefully they will bring the ride back as i would like a shot at redemption.

Cheater ;)

(had to say it, based on your username - but otherwise, props to your attempt!)