Northern California - Death valley Fall double - Who's in ?

Death valley Fall double

http://www.adventurecorps.com/dvfall/register.html

managed to get in :)

Hotels had already sold out in Furnace Creek :(

I can root you on ... :)

I like that jersey. If I can confirm that weekend is clear with my GF, I'll be in.

I like that jersey. If I can confirm that weekend is clear with my GF, I'll be in.

It sells out really fast. Dont wait too long.

Yeah, just waiting on a phone call. I'm in now.

Just need one more.

Anyone doing Solvang Double?

I'm in:eek:

Uhh, how long is this ride? I'm actually aimed at Knoxville for my first double, but some friends are doing this one, so why not?

JB

I'm in:eek:

Uhh, how long is this ride? I'm actually aimed at Knoxville for my first double, but some friends are doing this one, so why not?

JB

It's around 200... :rolleyes:

I'm in:eek:

Uhh, how long is this ride? I'm actually aimed at Knoxville for my first double, but some friends are doing this one, so why not?

JB

:thumb:

I'll have to pass on this. Frankly, my track record on doubles this year stinks, so I'd rather not commit on this. If I have a change of heart, maybe I'll see if I can snag a late entry.

I'm in!

I'm doing the single century. And I got a room in Stove Pipe about 25 miles from the start. I think I have one person sharing the room, but if anyone else wants to join us, I think we can get in one or two roll aways.

I'm doing the single century. And I got a room in Stove Pipe about 25 miles from the start. I think I have one person sharing the room, but if anyone else wants to join us, I think we can get in one or two roll aways.

Thats where I am staying too

I'm doing the single century. And I got a room in Stove Pipe about 25 miles from the start. I think I have one person sharing the room, but if anyone else wants to join us, I think we can get in one or two roll aways.

I live in San Ramon and am thinking of giving the century a try. I might take you up on your offer. :)

EDIT: I'm in - just signed up for the century. Wanna carpool? :D

I'm in for the double. I did the century last year with perfect conditions. If we can have that again we'll all have a great ride.

I think I'm going early with the family and staying at the resort.

I called the Furnace Creek Resort today and there were still rooms available. Just tell them your doing the century or double with Adventurecorps. They blocked off some extra rooms. Rates were $120.

My wife has never been to Vegas, so I think we'll hit that up afterwords.

I called the Furnace Creek Resort today and there were still rooms available. Just tell them your doing the century or double with Adventurecorps. They blocked off some extra rooms. Rates were $120.

My wife has never been to Vegas, so I think we'll hit that up afterwords.

Thanks for the tip! I snagged a room today.

I'm in for the century - anyone have a route profile/description?

...anyone have a route profile/description?

Here (http://www.adventurecorps.com/deathvalley/northernroute100.html) is the century description with profile and here (http://www.adventurecorps.com/deathvalley/northernroute200/index.htm) is the double century description with profile.

I'm doing this ride for a few reasons -

1) I love Death Valley, and have always wanted to ride there
2) I'll be meeting a best friend from SoCal
3) I'll be spending a few days there, so the ride is just part of a family vacation

That being said...... $109 registration, plus $12 "processing fee"? Non-transferable? :wtf:

Anyone know what's up with this ride this year? I've done the last three Death Valley Spring / Fall centuries / doubles and they all sold out within a couple of hours. The ride in the spring sold out in less than an hour if I remember correctly.

This morning AdventureCORPS sent out an email saying that there were still spaces available (after being open now for over a week.)

I know it is expensive and there's the room and travel involved but seriously... selling out in an hour three events in a row and then not selling out in a week.

I know the new ride he started this year also took a long time to sell out but I figured that was because he announced it only a month or two in advance. I plan for DVD a year in advance.

Is there any buzz I'm not hearing?

Anyone know what's up with this ride this year? I've done the last three Death Valley Spring / Fall centuries / doubles and they all sold out within a couple of hours. The ride in the spring sold out in less than an hour if I remember correctly.

This morning AdventureCORPS sent out an email saying that there were still spaces available (after being open now for over a week.)

I know it is expensive and there's the room and travel involved but seriously... selling out in an hour three events in a row and then not selling out in a week.

I know the new ride he started this year also took a long time to sell out but I figured that was because he announced it only a month or two in advance. I plan for DVD a year in advance.

Is there any buzz I'm not hearing?

Down Economy, price of Gas ?

Down Economy, price of Gas ?

>BUMP< :D

Probably more to do with a $109 registration plus $12 "processing fee", Non-transferable. This will be my 1st and last time riding with these folks.

>BUMP< :D

Probably more to do with a $109 registration plus $12 "processing fee", Non-transferable. This will be my 1st and last time riding with these folks.

AdventureCORPS is a pretty good group as far as I know.

That is pretty pricey, but they are providing you with full support out in the middle of nowhere, right?

Is that price for the century or double century.

Hope we dont get winds like they had in the 508, although it would take a mighty wind to blow the recumbent trike over :-)

I'm doing this ride for a few reasons -

1) I love Death Valley, and have always wanted to ride there
2) I'll be meeting a best friend from SoCal
3) I'll be spending a few days there, so the ride is just part of a family vacation

That being said...... $109 registration, plus $12 "processing fee"? Non-transferable? :wtf:

Well, hello best friend from NoCal. <G>

I'm still going, but whether I ride or not is TBD, depending on how my arse feels after the 508.

The Miscreant was going to ride with us, but he now has a Band event, and had to beg off. Instead, Bill (also from NorCal) will be taking his place. It's Bill's birthday, so his wife is also coming along, but she'll probably just rock hound. Mrs. B395 will be in SLO at another event.

Also coming is my partner George. He's riding the century and wants to see Scotty's Castle.

Also probably coming are Saralie and Rick ... and they'll probably volunteer the ride. So we'll have a full room. <G>

Looking forward to it. I have some good 508 stories. Jeebers, I have had some baaad experiences riding in Death Valley. :eek:

Who is definitely in and where are you staying ?

_______________________________________

http://britcpower.wordpress.com/

I'm in. Staying at Stovepipe Wells. Going down Friday night with the family and coming back Monday.

IN. Furnace Creek.

This ride damn near killed me. Too tired to post report, and pics will have to wait till I get home Tuesday - forgot the USB cable.

This ride damn near killed me. Too tired to post report, and pics will have to wait till I get home Tuesday - forgot the USB cable.

Very glad to hear about the "damn near" part. Congrats, tough guy!

This ride damn near killed me. Too tired to post report, and pics will have to wait till I get home Tuesday - forgot the USB cable.

looking forward to the report!!! :p

This ride damn near killed me. Too tired to post report, and pics will have to wait till I get home Tuesday - forgot the USB cable.

Hey, it's not called Death Valley for any reason. Glad you made it through. Congrats!

+1 for all the other comments, BBM. Looking forward to the particulars.

Something tells me that the report will include the following:
1. If Nevada gets some stimulus money, perhaps they should use it on the road to Scotty's Junction;
2. When the road cracks are sealed, are the resulting bumps more jarring (or...should there be a full-suspension bike-swap station for the road to Ubehebe Crater)?;
and
3. Hell's Gate is a good name on the map for the final climb.

Congrats BBM! I've always wanted to ride in Death Valley. Damn near, huh? Good to know now LanceOldstrong's 102 degree suffer fest up Oakville Grade a few weeks back was actually a training ride for you, at the time I thought he was just trying to kill us. lol.

I had cry off sick with a heavy cold and wicked sinus problems :(
I still went along for a weekend offroading but took time out to watch the riders come through the Ubehebe checkpoint and there were some very tired looking people. That road is bad enough in a 4x4 never mind a skinny tyred racing bike. In the morning there wasnt even a breath of wind. It was blowing pretty hard up at the crater.

Here's my ride report from this weekend...


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/4049091172_63e2601d92_o.jpg

I started the Fall Death Valley Double in the first group at 7am and immediately committed rookie mistake number one by going out too fast and too hard. Twenty five miles and a couple pace lines later I was cooked at Stovepipe Wells. No wind so far - a relief given the hurricane like winds we'd experienced here three weeks earlier during the Furnace Creek 508. Cooked or not I hammered on until the Grapevine Ranger Station at mile 65 before giving in to a needed break. Along here I encountered Jason Pierce for the first of many times. He and I were both suffering some pretty tight quad. I gave him some of my Tums but really I was looking for an excuse to stop for a minute. He has a better excuse though... he was doing this double on a fixie!

A couple bottles of water and a fifteen minute rest got me feeling a lot better and I headed up the Grapevine. It seemed a lot less steep this year than during last year's century. I hardly got off the bike at the 'lunch' stop at Scotty's Castle (mile 68) before going on to crest the mountain and roll into Nevada (mile 73) and the first wind of the day. First light gusts and then picking up speed to about 10 mph. Not very bad but enough to make the most boring stretch of bumpy road feel like it was all up hill. Around mile 80 I was bogging down in mental boredom when Jason and his friend Nichole sped by. I hopped on with them for a while. Thanks, Jason for pulling me out of the funk. We each took turns pulling and were quickly through the wind and to the turnaround at Scotty's Junction (mile 94.)

Let me say that at this point you feel like you've done a lot more than 94 miles. I remember the halfway point at Davis and not even feeling warmed up. The Spring Death Valley Double we were completely done with the climbing at 100 miles and just had a very flat 100 to look forward too. Here I was now 100+ miles to go, sore and tired and the with the looming knowledge that I had to (1) go back through that mind numbing Nevada stretch and (2) still had the Hell's Gate climb to do. Time was going by and meanwhile I was sitting in a chair.

Eventually Jason, Nichole and I headed back out. It quickly became clear to me that I was having a bit of stomach trouble. I fuel with my own homemade magic concoction in 1000 calorie bottles that I drink in four portions over four hours. I had just accidentally consumed two hours worth during the rest break and my stomach had shut down. I was also concerned that I hadn't peed but once in the last 100 miles. Then the wind did a 180. No one said it was going to be easy. I'd been here before though and new I could wait it out while riding a bit slower.

My stomach eventually started processing again by the California border (116) and I bombed down the Grapevine in good order passing Jason midway down and Nichole at the Scotty's Castle rest stop (121). I felt good seeing a crowd there but then most of them started loading up their bikes in a car and I started feeling the pressure of time. I wasn't dangerously behind but definitely behind the 'bubble' of riders. But I still had Ubehebe and Hell's Gate.

The road on the ten mile (124-135) out-and-back to Ubehebe is just a cruel joke. I've seen worse roads on the Mt Tam ride but for Death Valley this is the worst I encountered. I saw lots of riders that I had pace lined with earlier coming back the other direction as I headed towards the crater so I knew I wasn't too far behind. This stretch actually went fairly well, I saw Jason and Nichole and a bunch of the others headed into the crater as I headed back out, and I made it back to the Grapevine Ranger Station with 60 miles remaining and 6 hours to do it in. I still had Hell's Gate waiting for me at mile mile 169. But before that I was rewarded with 33 very easy but blisteringly fast totally dark downhill miles that helped me buy back a whole lot of time.

Then I was sitting (literally) at the water stop at the base of the Hell's Gate Climb (169). I figured that by the time I got there I'd be pretty tired. I was right. So I sat down to catch my breath for a while. The cup of soups looked really good after a whole day of malto-slime (tm). I hadn't been there two minutes though when George (Vireo) was standing in front of me, hands on hips, all "How long have you been sitting there?" and "Never sit down. I never sit down. I'd rather be doing 3 mph on a bike than sit down." :) Point taken. I started climbing. Thanks, George.

6.8 miles. 2000 feet. After 170 miles of riding and 7000 feet of climbing. Piece of cake. I took the climb at 5 mph. I passed a few riders. I got passed by a few. I just found my pace and climbed. The mile markers came slowly. One guy hung in there behind me pushing me a long time until I realized it was the moon setting in my mirror. Thanks, moon. I made it to the 6 mile marker. %$%#!! I forgot about that .8 part of the 6.8. Made it to the top (175) and stopped just long enough for the coveted last mark on my ride number and then plunged down the mountain at 40 mph in the dark.

Did I mention I had broken my freewheel on the notoriously rough part of the Baker-Kelso descent on the Furnace Creek 508 and hadn't realized it until Jason (about fifty miles into this ride) explained why my rear wheel had 2 mm play on my rear axle? All I could think going down the hill was that Jason had told me it wouldn't lock up and that I had forgotten to ask if the freewheel had any other failure modes and what they might be and what they might do to a 40 mph rider.

Not quite as bumpy as Kel-Baker but bumpy enough. Got to the bottom in one piece (185), made a left and was quickly into the finish at Furnace Creek.

I finished with a 15:40 ride with 14:08 of that on the bike, my second fastest double in my first year of riding doubles and and my fifth and last double this year.

In all it was a fun ride. It was hard but not as hard as Mt Tam or Knoxville. On par with or a bit harder than Davis (with Davis's heat this year.) Harder than the Spring Death Valley Double. The weather was pretty mild and I only felt the heat when I was cooked in the first fifty miles. I think if I had taken the first fifty a bit slower I'd have done the whole second half a lot faster.

Thanks to all the riders with whom I chatted this ride. I think I met and talked to more riders on this ride than any other ride. Jason and Nichole of course. Tom on the 'bent from the SF Rando Club, I'll see a lot of you next year.

The support on this ride was great. The volunteers were uniformly friendly and helpful. The setting can't be better. If you get a chance I highly recommend any of the AdventureCorps (http://www.adventurecorps.com/) events.

http://www.adventurecorps.com/deathvalley/images/DVDCnorthelevation.jpg

...In all it was a fun ride.

kjfitz,

Congrats on your DVFD!
Great report I really enjoyed reading it. You make me want to do another double.
(1 in the bag, Davis this year)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/4049091172_63e2601d92_o.jpg


Thanks for the report.

At least you came prepared with the right bike and attire for the location. :thumb: