Southern California - Hells Gate Hundred - Whos going and anyone camping?

I'm going to ride march 26th in the Hells Gate Hundred and will be "car camping".
Anyone else already get reservations at Furnace Creek campground and want to split cost?
Furnace Creek campground reservations are full as are the hotels.
I'll probably go to Sunset RV campground but it may be full and loud. It says furnace creek can have two cars per site so maybe I can share entry fee?

Long shot, anyone want to carpool? Gas is expensive!

I'm going with two other people, as volunteers. We're staying at the ranch.

I'm in the same boat. It's my first time, and will probably end up getting a hotel room in Pahrump. :(

Did you guys just procrastinate on the rooms or what? They held back the reserved rooms for a looooong time and sent out several emails about them before they finally released them to the general public.

Anyway, I'll be there, but in a room. :D

I wasn't planning on getting a hotel room. Forgot to see if the campsites were reservation only and come to find out that only furnace creek is reservable and its full. There are other sites but they are further away. I'll be getting there afternoon Friday so was hoping to share a spot closer to the start.

March is the wildflower month in Death Valley, which is the main reason its all booked up. Pretty sure all the other months are much less crowded.

I think I'd be up for a July Hells Gate....120 degrees? Bring it on!

Did you guys just procrastinate on the rooms or what? They held back the reserved rooms for a looooong time and sent out several emails about them before they finally released them to the general public.

Anyway, I'll be there, but in a room. :D

Just for that, you're not invited on the Sub-Five-Hour Express.

http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/travel/images/Shinkansen_500.jpg

If anybody does this thing in <6 hours I'm gonna be super impressed, much less sub 5 hour. I'll be shooting for 8:30'ish.

Have you set a goal for this one?

I usually make a goal of sub five on all my centuries. (Just finished 5:00:29 on a fairly windy Solvang last weekend, and finished Tour de Poway in 4:57 last year.) But I've never done this one before--maybe 5:30 if the wind doesn't blow too hard?

[Edit: just found results from last year. Perhaps 7 hours is more realistic. Either way, it will be decent training for l'Etape in May.]

Whoa, yeah, just found the results too. Forgot just how long this one is supposed to take. If George V takes 6:55, then I think I'll be lucky to be under 9.

Either way, good luck!

Do you suppose a 39-25 is low enough for this sucker? In looking at the photos, there are a lot of larger cassettes and compact cranksets doing this ride.
Might a 39-28 be better?

What's the steepest point?

The steepest point is right near the start, "Artists drive", and its short'ish.

Read through george's report from last year:
http://epictrain.blogspot.com/2010/04/hells-gate-hundred-ride-report.html

He did it with "Chainrings 53/39 and 11-23 Cassette", but also says "Bring some low gears for Artist Drive! "

Good writeup but reading a blog from a rider like that makes it sound like and "easy" one. I expect to be in the pain cave. I am thinking of actually taking my touring rig as it has a triple. Never rode with a triple much.
I am turning 53/39 with 12-28 on my road bike. I've no idea if I'll be maxed out with that and have no bail out gear left. I guess the 50-34 on my workbench may need to be installed. I don't think going with a different bike is a good idea so close to the event.

To everyone going out to HGH, try to make it to Furnace Creek Ranch for the 5PM yoga class. I'll be teaching it, assuming I'm there on time!

i'm not registered, but i'd be interested in carpooling and/or sharing camping. my car kinda sux (no radio, heat, ac, etc.) but gets decent mileage, and i have a parks/interagency pass (can put in your car if you wanna drive.) i don't know what the camping situation is like, and whether reservations are needed or not, but i do remember that it is somewhat expensive for 1 person (was at texas campground last fall.) i'm ok with camping sauvage or someplace somewhat far away such as ballarat ghost town if campgrounds are full.

i live in oceanside. looking to share ride/camping. pm me.

is it really $100 to register for this ride? holy cow...

Yes, I think registration is closed now anyhow. I have a family member driving with me, I'll leave at 1AM or so and get there in time to check in and start riding. After the event I'll just hop in and fall asleep on the way home.

Bringing my roadie with 53/39 and 12-28, just take it easy up artists pallet to avoid burning too many matches. I have a habit of trying to ride other people's pace instead of my own.

Looking forward to spending my birthday in the saddle though, good luck to all! Looks like the weather is cooperating.

Yes, I think registration is closed now anyhow. I have a family member driving with me, I'll leave at 1AM or so and get there in time to check in and start riding. After the event I'll just hop in and fall asleep on the way home.

Bringing my roadie with 53/39 and 12-28, just take it easy up artists pallet to avoid burning too many matches. I have a habit of trying to ride other people's pace instead of my own.

Looking forward to spending my birthday in the saddle though, good luck to all! Looks like the weather is cooperating.


Make sure and say hi to me (Darren). I'll be working the water stop in Rhyolite.

Make sure and say hi to me (Darren). I'll be working the water stop in Rhyolite.
I'll keep an eye out for you Darren. I'll be rockin' the La Vie Claire Jersey, clown shoes, and probably showing my badger teeth...
(But I've just gotten over a chest-cold and haven't been able to ride at all, so I probably won't be rolling very fast.)
http://www.calamarichris.com/images/110312-chrsolv9a.jpg

Darren, if I remember I'll say howdy as well, assuming I make the time cutoff at daylight pass. :D

My wife Yoana will be at the Daylight Pass station. So there are two pretty ladies at that stop to motivate you to get there on time for the cutoff!

I'll be in red Craft bibs and maybe a plain white and black jersey (since nothing else matches those bibs!). White steel bike, my brain may not have enough blood or electrolytes to function properly so I may not be chatty. ;)

Good luck all! Let's have some fun.

Good to meet all you guys. You're some strong riders.

My wife Yoana will be at the Daylight Pass station. So there are two pretty ladies at that stop to motivate you to get there on time for the cutoff!

Maybe she's the one that took this pic of me then? Very kind and helpful!

My wife Yoana will be at the Daylight Pass station. So there are two pretty ladies at that stop to motivate you to get there on time for the cutoff!

What a great, great ride and experience!
I think I might have said, "Grazzi Bella" (which is Italian for "Thanks, good-lookin'") to your wife then, Idoru. No impropriety intended, but she is indeed a beauty!

Before doing this ride, it was a mystery to me why people were so eager to volunteer these AventureCorps deals, but after yesterday, I would really like to volunteer for Mount Laguna (if I hadn't already registered for it.)

Thanks for the excellent yoga session Idoru, and please tell your wife I said thank you for the precious, precious water. I was a freezing cold without my arm & leg warmers (plus jacket), but that was a great, great ride.
Between the excellent food and pretty girls at the water-stations, I spent FIFTY FIVE minutes of non-riding time! (But still managed to finish in 6:02 riding and just under 7 hours total elapsed. http://forums.youthrights.org/images/smilies/rockon.gif) Going to be better prepared next year (if I can resist volunteering) and will crush 6:30 total elapsed. It should be much easier with arm & leg warmers, starting on time, and with a decent breakfast (instead of repulsive hashbrowns from the McDonalds in &$^% Pahrump; I was burping up potato-like product, grease, and teen-despair during the Artist's Road climb.

And delighted to meet you too, Nomad & Jmx. Thanks for putting up with my endorphin-fueled babbling after the ride. (Poor Jabantik had to endure it all the way home.)

Ride safely!

P.S. This downhill stretch on Artist's Road was my favorite--almost more fun than riding a motorcycle on Palomar:
http://www.adventurecorps.com/hgh/2010/2010show2/images/IMG_2074.jpg

Nice meeting you guys. What a great ride that was. So much easier than last month. I placed 40th of 119, so I did much better than my goal to beat 1/3rd of the field. Next year I'll shoot for top 25% :D Chris, nice finish at 14th!

You guys were looking pretty strong at Rhyolite. Great meeting all of you, while you were in your element. Nice pic of Artist's Palette Chris! Three of us rode Artist's Palette this morning and you are right, that descent was like a roller-coaster. How do you like that hairpin turn on the descent that becomes surprise climb? I made the mistake of entering that turn in a pretty tall gear, and then not being in the right gear all at the end of the turn. Pretty brutal. After AP, Yoana and I rode to Badwater, then back to Furnace Creek. Got there with just enough time to pack the car and check out.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5066/5566729239_f77530247b.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5267/5566730251_db0d54c1e8.jpg

Maybe she's the one that took this pic of me then? Very kind and helpful!

Yep, that was her.

Lessons Learned for Next Year's HGH:

~Bring the arm warmers & knee warmers and maybe also a jacket, even if the forecasted high for Death Valley on the day of the ride is 83.

~25 teeth isn't enough--bring the 12-27. Gmaps street view is a poor method of judging a hill's grade.

~Reserve a room or campsite at the resort. Driving an hour to and from Pahrump to stay in an overpriced room in a foul, 2nd-hand-smokey Nevada casino and fueling up on repulsive McDonald's hash-browns will definitely detract from your Death Valley experience and your performance.

~Have the resort restaurant's date-nut bread with prickly-pear butter again. YUM! :thumb:

Looks like I got 45 out of 120 on the Montana timing site.
I wish I hadn't flatted and also did some research on my food intakes. The Hammer Perpetum made my stomach upset. Next time it's less stopping and hopefully less pain.
My knee blew up and am still trying to get the swelling to go away. Guess I may be in for some scoping soon.

http://www.montanatiming.com/wp-content/uploads/Results-for-website.txt

Waiting for them to post the "suffering up the hill" pics.

I think we placed better than the preliminary text file shows. If you look, 9 or 10 of the people ahead of us have no Rhyolite time. Some of them probably had signed up for the century, but ended up turning around and doing the metric

It took 4-5 days for them to finalize the results from last months event. This is probably also why they havent been posted on the AC website yet.

Bummer, I'm sorry Nomad. Before you get your surgery scar, consider getting a professional fitting.
A little more than 3 years ago, I was sure I was due for knee surgery. The pain was almost constant; it limited my miles, and I dreaded walking down stairs.
I'd gotten the MRI done and they'd noted that I had some residual fibers and scar-detritus from the partial ACL & PCL tear I suffered about 3 years before that. BUT there was a 4-month wait to get the surgeon that I wanted. So I figured in the meantime, I'd get a fitting done.

Zombie-robot-jayzus! I felt like a clod for paying Nate Loyal (http://nateloyal.com/) $180 to shift my seat and my cleats less than a centimeter in any direction, but that two hours completely transformed my riding! I now ride as much as I like (well, as much as freetime will allow) and walk down dozens of consecutive flights of stairs with impunity. I still don't trust the knee enough to run marathons again at possible hazard to my riding, but every ride is sex after you've gone through something like this. The fitting admittedly might not work for you as well as it did for me, but then again... 180 bucks is pretty cheap compared to surgery, drugs, therapy...

Good luck and keep us abreast!

P.S. Forgot to mention: I canceled that appointment and still haven't gotten the surgery, and am still pain free (at least when I'm not feeding chunks of that same knee to the jagged boulders around here when mountain biking with my nephew.)

Yeah, I've not had this happen much before so I attribute it to not enough real climbing in my training regiment and I also did some training rides on a different, unfitted, bike the week of the race which was a dumb move on my part and may have started it off. Oh well.
I definitely don;t want something coming between me and riding though so I've been meaning to tweak fit.

I don't get any discounts or kick-backs from Nate, nor is he a friend, but what 'feels right' doesn't cut it.
I was positive that my cleat placement was perfect, but I was nearly a full centimeter off!
See a trustworthy bike-fitter. Doesn't have to be Nate. It seems ridiculous to pay someone that much dosh to slide your seat & cleats a tiny amount, but consider how many pedal revolutions you made during HGH--80rpm x 60 minutes per hour x 8 hours = 38,400 pedal strokes.
Just being off by half a centimeter becomes substantial when multiplied by such numbers.

HGH photos are up. (Clicky.) (http://www.adventurecorps.com/hgh/2011/2011show01/index.html)

They got a swell photo of me. (First time I've ever had to pee THREE times in one century.)
http://www.adventurecorps.com/hgh/2011/2011show06/images/IMG_7669.jpg

What happened to the clown shoes?

Usurped by the Pimp Liberace Ergos that went on clearance right after I bought the clown shoes.

http://img3.prosperent.com/images/250x250/site.unbeatablesale.com/img062/adgr137.gif

They're seriously pimp and this was my first time wearing them out in public. They inspire me to ride faster so the shriek of wind in my ears drowns out the ridicule and chuckling.

http://www.procyclingtalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/sidi_ergo-2_pic.JPG


Good eye, by the way. Are you coming to Mount Laguna?

Good eye, by the way.
My natural reaction when I see a picture of a toilet and a guy in bike shorts - look down, don't fixate on the crotch.


Are you coming to Mount Laguna?6 am start. No.

My natural reaction when I see a picture of a toilet and a guy in bike shorts - look down, don't fixate on the crotch.

Thanks, I and my horribly disfiguring circumcision scar appreciate your self-restraint.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_Gate