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09-15-09, 08:08 PM
So we left the Bay Area at around 10:45AM on Friday. Tandem and gear all packed in the car. We stopped at a pretty good hot dog/sausage place in Escalon on the way out there. Got into Bishop just past 5 PM, stopped at the famous Mahogany Smoked Meats to buy some beef jerky to take back home (we have been to Bishop before).
Registered for the ride, followed by a free race dinner at 6 PM, and race meeting at 7 PM. Saw some people we know, including Eric (ericm979). Then it was off to the motel to prepare and get to bed. We unloaded everything, got the bike all setup, and took a quick spin down to the store to get a few things for breakfast.
We rode around 5 miles to the start on Day 1, located at the Millpond Recreation Area. The bike drew a lot of attention. A few people saying "nice tandem" and many more saying "OMG a tandem (at Everest Challenge)?!" We checked in, and then started. 6:40 neutralized 15mph roll out along with the Public and Clydesdale men.
The beginning few miles was mostly flat, but rolled gently up and down. When we hit the end of the neutral part of the course, it sloped downhill slightly. I got sick of riding my brakes in the pack and pulled out around the group. We were cruising in the upper 20's and one guy jumped on our wheel. Pretty nice guy, and smart to take the opportunity to draft. When the road tipped upward again we had effectively bridged him up to two guys off the front, who didn't understand what a neutral start was (I guess). That's cool, we were in our own category, none of these guys mattered in our race. Our "race" was really against the clock (the aid station cutoff times). For us, it was purely a test of attrition and the will to push ourselves. I had setup a spreadsheet beforehand, that estimated our arrival times at each aid station. I knew if we didn't keep a good pace, with minimal stopping, that we would fail.
Other racers were all telling us how crazy we were, or that we must have true love to be doing this, or telling us that it was just plain awesome that we were doing this event on a tandem :lol:
So on to the the more exciting stuff:
Day 1
This day is 122 miles with 102 miles to the timed finish (The final descent doesn't count... so it is a summit finish) with 15,465 feet of climbing.
Climb 1 Mosquito Flat (10250')
22 miles long, ave. grade 5%, max. grade 12%, total elevation gain 5825':
The average grade of 5% is deceptive. There are some gradual sections in the beginning, as well as a significant little descent that skew the average. The second half of the climb was definitely steeper than 5%. Nothing crazy like 10%+ but maybe a fair bit of apx 7% or so. This was my first time riding a bike above 8000 feet, and that's just about the altitude where I could perceive some sort of effect on me. This climb was long and high, but not brutal steep. the Pro/1/2 group that started 35 min after us, caught us before reaching the summit this climb. Nate English (def. Champ) was at the front , and had a group of maybe 6-8 riders with him. Every rider who passed was encouraging us, and saying "good job." The one thing that sucked about this climb was the stiff headwind, it was pretty bad, and made the climb seem "virtually steeper."
The descent was nice, good roads, and not too technical. I forgot our top speed on this one. However, we passed a few racers, who had passed us near the top of the climb, on the way down.
Climb 2 Pine Creek (7425')
8 miles, 7% ave. grade, 11% max. grade, total elevation gain 3000' :
This one was just steady and pretty steep. It did not deviate much from that 7% average listed on the specs. It was also getting pretty hot. At this point most of the racers were descending down, while we were on our way up. The heat was getting to me, but we were fine. We had the same pace as a couple other riders (who looked to be suffering), so that helped. But this climb took a lot out of me. The wind was a factor once again, but not as bad as climb #1. Towards the end, I started having troubles with my eating/calorie intake. My stomach didn't feel too good so it was becoming harder to force stuff down, even though I needed it. Even HEED was starting to taste bad, so I made sure to start getting plain water as well so that our hydration wouldn't suffer.
The descent was fast, rough pavement, but pretty straight. We hit 58.8 mph here, and were cruising about 50 pretty easily.
Climb 3 South Lake (9835')
20.4 miles long, ave. grade 6%, max. grade 17.5%, total elevation gain 5410' :
OK this one went on forever. Once thing I noticed right away was that my HR, which i had been keeping in the mid/upper 160s - low 170s on the climbs (around 165-172), would not go up to where it was earlier in the day. FYI: my max is around 197 bpm. Instead it was staying mostly in the mid 150s. There was a somewhat demoralizing section at the beginning of the climb, that seemed like it shouldn't be that steep, but we were suffering on it. We really wanted to get to the aid station soon. Before getting there, we got hailed on pretty good. At this point it seemed quite daunting that we had 4800 more feet to climb and several more miles.
It looked clear up on the mountain, and we just made it to the aid station around 8 min after the cutoff IIRC. There was another rider (suffering bad) who got there when we did. We were pretty close to throwing in the towel, but the race staff was so encouraging, and the weather was clear at their location and up, so we pressed on. I asked them, what happens if we finish at like 6:10 or so, will it be OK (cutoff was at 6 PM). They said it would be fine, that helped, since I knew we would be close.
The climb had a gentler section for a bit, but then got steeper and steeper. My HR was still lower, and we started to suffer pretty good. We had to stop a couple times, and I was gagging at the food I was trying to eat. We contemplated, if we could finish or not. There was an aid station at around 8300 feet with 5 miles to go. I told Ruth, let's try to make it to the aid station and we can figure out our options there. It seemed like forever, we got to a turn where you would think there would be an aid station, since there was space and racers' cars parked there to bring them down, but nope. However, I really knew it wouldn't be there since I was watching the distance on my computer. I just wanted it to be there, so did Ruth. She was in a bad state at this point, not wanting to quit, but just wanting it to be over, I could tell. I felt the same way. All the riders descending looked so happy, and we just wanted to be them. :( The riders coming were all shouting "keep it up!" or "go tandem" or "you can do it," etc... I was actually almost in tears at this point, it was just so overwhelming. The whole thing was just so epic... the terrain, what were were doing, how far we had come, all the encouragement from staff and riders, and being so close to quitting. I pushed harder to get us to the aid station.
Finally we get to the aid station, they grab our bike and Ruth sits down. They were so surprised to see us. They had asked a couple riders that passed us while we were stopped on the side of the road "What about the tandem, are the still out there?" The riders told them that it looked like we "were done" and probably quitting. They asked us what we needed, I half jokingly said "I need a coke." The lady was so nice, she actually went into the lodge where they were stationed, and bought us a Coke! I think Ruth thought we were going to quit here at the aid station. I saw the sign that said 5 miles and 1500 feet to go. I thought to myself, as I drank the Coke the staff had just bought me... We are SO close, this event is about those last 5 miles. Today, the previous 97 miles are merely a setup for this last 5. I told Ruth, we can do it, it's 5 miles, we are so close, I know we can do it. I asked her if she was ready, and we took off. The guy at the aid station said it would take around an hour to hit the finish and it was just about 5:10 when we left the aid station. I was ultra-motivated almost in tears again and just pushed as hard as I could. I think Ruth was in disbelief that we were still going. She really thought we were done. I got my heart rate back up to the low to mid 160s and pushed. We passed the sign... 5K to go.. I told Ruthie, c'mon we got this! Now, there were several ramps of over 15% including some at around 17%+ :eek: We saw the guy who passed us maybe an hour ago, and he was walking his bike up the hill. I pushed harder, and shouted some encouragement to him. Saw the sign... 1K to go. We had to stop, for a second. The pitches were seriously steep and we needed a few seconds to recover. We got back on, and saw the finish in sigh! We finished just ahead of the guy who was walking earlier. We finished at at around 6:07 or 6:08 PM. I couldn't believe we made it. :thumb: Everyone clapped as we came in, and we were so happy :love:. We had hot soup and descended down to the aid station where we got a ride the rest of the way down, as many of the racers did).
Pictures, and Day 2 report to come.. :)
Registered for the ride, followed by a free race dinner at 6 PM, and race meeting at 7 PM. Saw some people we know, including Eric (ericm979). Then it was off to the motel to prepare and get to bed. We unloaded everything, got the bike all setup, and took a quick spin down to the store to get a few things for breakfast.
We rode around 5 miles to the start on Day 1, located at the Millpond Recreation Area. The bike drew a lot of attention. A few people saying "nice tandem" and many more saying "OMG a tandem (at Everest Challenge)?!" We checked in, and then started. 6:40 neutralized 15mph roll out along with the Public and Clydesdale men.
The beginning few miles was mostly flat, but rolled gently up and down. When we hit the end of the neutral part of the course, it sloped downhill slightly. I got sick of riding my brakes in the pack and pulled out around the group. We were cruising in the upper 20's and one guy jumped on our wheel. Pretty nice guy, and smart to take the opportunity to draft. When the road tipped upward again we had effectively bridged him up to two guys off the front, who didn't understand what a neutral start was (I guess). That's cool, we were in our own category, none of these guys mattered in our race. Our "race" was really against the clock (the aid station cutoff times). For us, it was purely a test of attrition and the will to push ourselves. I had setup a spreadsheet beforehand, that estimated our arrival times at each aid station. I knew if we didn't keep a good pace, with minimal stopping, that we would fail.
Other racers were all telling us how crazy we were, or that we must have true love to be doing this, or telling us that it was just plain awesome that we were doing this event on a tandem :lol:
So on to the the more exciting stuff:
Day 1
This day is 122 miles with 102 miles to the timed finish (The final descent doesn't count... so it is a summit finish) with 15,465 feet of climbing.
Climb 1 Mosquito Flat (10250')
22 miles long, ave. grade 5%, max. grade 12%, total elevation gain 5825':
The average grade of 5% is deceptive. There are some gradual sections in the beginning, as well as a significant little descent that skew the average. The second half of the climb was definitely steeper than 5%. Nothing crazy like 10%+ but maybe a fair bit of apx 7% or so. This was my first time riding a bike above 8000 feet, and that's just about the altitude where I could perceive some sort of effect on me. This climb was long and high, but not brutal steep. the Pro/1/2 group that started 35 min after us, caught us before reaching the summit this climb. Nate English (def. Champ) was at the front , and had a group of maybe 6-8 riders with him. Every rider who passed was encouraging us, and saying "good job." The one thing that sucked about this climb was the stiff headwind, it was pretty bad, and made the climb seem "virtually steeper."
The descent was nice, good roads, and not too technical. I forgot our top speed on this one. However, we passed a few racers, who had passed us near the top of the climb, on the way down.
Climb 2 Pine Creek (7425')
8 miles, 7% ave. grade, 11% max. grade, total elevation gain 3000' :
This one was just steady and pretty steep. It did not deviate much from that 7% average listed on the specs. It was also getting pretty hot. At this point most of the racers were descending down, while we were on our way up. The heat was getting to me, but we were fine. We had the same pace as a couple other riders (who looked to be suffering), so that helped. But this climb took a lot out of me. The wind was a factor once again, but not as bad as climb #1. Towards the end, I started having troubles with my eating/calorie intake. My stomach didn't feel too good so it was becoming harder to force stuff down, even though I needed it. Even HEED was starting to taste bad, so I made sure to start getting plain water as well so that our hydration wouldn't suffer.
The descent was fast, rough pavement, but pretty straight. We hit 58.8 mph here, and were cruising about 50 pretty easily.
Climb 3 South Lake (9835')
20.4 miles long, ave. grade 6%, max. grade 17.5%, total elevation gain 5410' :
OK this one went on forever. Once thing I noticed right away was that my HR, which i had been keeping in the mid/upper 160s - low 170s on the climbs (around 165-172), would not go up to where it was earlier in the day. FYI: my max is around 197 bpm. Instead it was staying mostly in the mid 150s. There was a somewhat demoralizing section at the beginning of the climb, that seemed like it shouldn't be that steep, but we were suffering on it. We really wanted to get to the aid station soon. Before getting there, we got hailed on pretty good. At this point it seemed quite daunting that we had 4800 more feet to climb and several more miles.
It looked clear up on the mountain, and we just made it to the aid station around 8 min after the cutoff IIRC. There was another rider (suffering bad) who got there when we did. We were pretty close to throwing in the towel, but the race staff was so encouraging, and the weather was clear at their location and up, so we pressed on. I asked them, what happens if we finish at like 6:10 or so, will it be OK (cutoff was at 6 PM). They said it would be fine, that helped, since I knew we would be close.
The climb had a gentler section for a bit, but then got steeper and steeper. My HR was still lower, and we started to suffer pretty good. We had to stop a couple times, and I was gagging at the food I was trying to eat. We contemplated, if we could finish or not. There was an aid station at around 8300 feet with 5 miles to go. I told Ruth, let's try to make it to the aid station and we can figure out our options there. It seemed like forever, we got to a turn where you would think there would be an aid station, since there was space and racers' cars parked there to bring them down, but nope. However, I really knew it wouldn't be there since I was watching the distance on my computer. I just wanted it to be there, so did Ruth. She was in a bad state at this point, not wanting to quit, but just wanting it to be over, I could tell. I felt the same way. All the riders descending looked so happy, and we just wanted to be them. :( The riders coming were all shouting "keep it up!" or "go tandem" or "you can do it," etc... I was actually almost in tears at this point, it was just so overwhelming. The whole thing was just so epic... the terrain, what were were doing, how far we had come, all the encouragement from staff and riders, and being so close to quitting. I pushed harder to get us to the aid station.
Finally we get to the aid station, they grab our bike and Ruth sits down. They were so surprised to see us. They had asked a couple riders that passed us while we were stopped on the side of the road "What about the tandem, are the still out there?" The riders told them that it looked like we "were done" and probably quitting. They asked us what we needed, I half jokingly said "I need a coke." The lady was so nice, she actually went into the lodge where they were stationed, and bought us a Coke! I think Ruth thought we were going to quit here at the aid station. I saw the sign that said 5 miles and 1500 feet to go. I thought to myself, as I drank the Coke the staff had just bought me... We are SO close, this event is about those last 5 miles. Today, the previous 97 miles are merely a setup for this last 5. I told Ruth, we can do it, it's 5 miles, we are so close, I know we can do it. I asked her if she was ready, and we took off. The guy at the aid station said it would take around an hour to hit the finish and it was just about 5:10 when we left the aid station. I was ultra-motivated almost in tears again and just pushed as hard as I could. I think Ruth was in disbelief that we were still going. She really thought we were done. I got my heart rate back up to the low to mid 160s and pushed. We passed the sign... 5K to go.. I told Ruthie, c'mon we got this! Now, there were several ramps of over 15% including some at around 17%+ :eek: We saw the guy who passed us maybe an hour ago, and he was walking his bike up the hill. I pushed harder, and shouted some encouragement to him. Saw the sign... 1K to go. We had to stop, for a second. The pitches were seriously steep and we needed a few seconds to recover. We got back on, and saw the finish in sigh! We finished just ahead of the guy who was walking earlier. We finished at at around 6:07 or 6:08 PM. I couldn't believe we made it. :thumb: Everyone clapped as we came in, and we were so happy :love:. We had hot soup and descended down to the aid station where we got a ride the rest of the way down, as many of the racers did).
Pictures, and Day 2 report to come.. :)