I am thinking about doing the Eastern Sierra Double and it looks like there are lots of choices for accomodations in Bishop (the same goes for White Mountain Double). I am also doing the Highlander Grand Tour Double. They do not have lots of choices for accomodations, any suggestions?

We stay in Motel 6 in Bishop for ESD; used to be a Ramada Inn so for sure a better than usual Motel 6. F

or Grand Tour we stay in Good Nite Inn, Calabasas and just drive down the hill to the start in Malibu. Why? Because my wife wants to do it that way . . . who am I to complain? She rides the Lowland, I ride the Highland; we finish about the same time.

Rick / OCRR

thanks I was eyeing that location

I stayed in Good Nite Inn Calabasas for the last two Mulholland Challenges.

It's a very basic motel, but it's clean and cheap (I paid $59 this year.)

What is the pavement and weather like?

OK well I registered for the ESD, wish me luck. Hamster is going to do it too.

I'm fairly sure you'll enjoy it, unless the weather just turns horrible. Great scenery and a great course with some beautiful climbs!

Rick / OCRR

Eugene, are you going to change your training for ESD at all since it has more elevation? I was thinking about doing more rides with elevation building on BA but I also want to get good long rides that require a higher cadence.

ESD has less elevation than BA. The way I look at it, what do I need to do to ride 3 passes of BA and then stay in the saddle for another 8 to 10 hours? Probably a thick callus on my, ahem, sit bones...

(late to the party)

110 bpm average heart beat??!? Sounds like you were mostly slacking or free-wheeling it. ;)

Great ride. :thumb:

Looks like Rick had a malfunctioning HR monitor for 4 hours... or had somebody drive him. :D

Yes, I thought it was a bad battery but later discovered that the heart rate band (the elastic bit) was not tight enough. I tightened it up (by about 4") and now it works fine. Guess those things stretch out over time?

Rick / OCRR

So I was wondering, since I sometimes get to the point on my long rides (over 125) that I just don't want to eat what I have, should I be eating a little bit more at each break to make up for the difference instead?

Yes, food is fuel, you need to eat. Or, drink Perpetuem, Sustained Energy, etc. (both are available on Planet Ultra rides) or eat more solid food but whatever works for you, i.e. what form you like to take your fuel; or maybe mix it up a little with some liquid nourishment and some solid food (which is what I usually do).

I find the liquid nourishment very easy to use, very effective in terms of supplying my body with a good mix of carbs, fat and protien, plus you don't have to carry little bags of it or anything, since they have it at every checkpoint.

But hey. whatever works for you but "nothing" is not an option!

Rick / OCRR

Which one tastes good is it the strawberry heed or perpetum? One is liquid food and one is electrolites?

Perpetuem is food, Heed is electrolites with some carb content (I think), so you are correct. My favorite Perpetuem is the Caffe Latte, but they don't always have that at every checkpoint, so I'm usually happy with whatever I can get.

Sustained Energy is supposed to be tasteless, but it tastes a bit "oat-lile" to me. Your taste may vary! My understanding from talking to a Hammer Nutrition rep at the show: The only difference between Perpetuem and Sustained Energy is that Perpetuem is flavored.

Hope that helps!

Rick / OCRR

Heed is carbs and electrolytes. Perpetuem is basically the same as Heed but it also adds 3.5 grams of soy protein per scoop. The theory is that protein limits muscle cannibalization and aids with recovery. I went through a whole 32-serving can of Caffe Latte Perpetuem, it's a nice product. I usually do one scoop per water bottle. In theory you should be able to tolerate up to 2 scoops per bottle (of either Heed or Perpetuem), I tried it a couple of times but I think I get gastric discomfort from those concentrations.

So I was checking on the weather for the ESD and it say 90 in Bishop and 65-68 around June Lake and Lee Vining. Given the weather what is everyone done in past years? I was thinking about just bringing a vest and maybe arm warmers. This might be a good time to get knee warmers? Also with the landscape has anyone brought a point and shoot camera before (better, bigger pictures then my cell home)? I imagine we are starting and finishing late enough that we will avoid some of the heat? Just knock on wood for that wind.

It's 9 days to the event, I don't think anyone can forecast weather accurately that far ahead. But I see highs of 55..60 in Mammoth Lakes forecast all next week. Accuweather.com predicts unseasonably cool weather and some rain.

Good news: accuweather.com is no longer predicting rain ... whew! I really didn't want to spend another $100 on rain gear.

Finally learned my lesson, bought a bottle of Hammer gel and a flask. Riding on nothing except Perpetuem and gel seems to work at least as well for me as eating everything in sight at rest stops.

I did that for KOM last year but never used it. I will be stuffing my pockets with stuff I like, like last time, hope I bring enough.

I put together a little chart with estimated arrival times at different speeds, based on '10 tracks in Strava.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=320059

In '11 there was a very nasty headwind over the last third of the course. So far the forecast is for _some_ headwind but not nearly as bad. It might add 30 min to the time.

my 2 cents on fueling - I run hammer sustained energy/and nuun tabs in the water bottles- and honey instead of GU as I have found that I can't tolerate any of the flavors anymore - mix with just a bit of water to make it less, "honey like" -( for the ESD,, I'll have 3 flasks on board) - also take sport legs and endurolites - at 220 - I have a big engine to fuel - - - - A big thanks to Vertical Bob for getting me to think of using honey VS GU

I recently started trying the "Honey" stinger gel, so good. I have 6 gels, 2 bloks and 6 waffles along with Gatorade. I will eat a little bit from their stops.

Here are my ride stats from the ESD. Rick thank you so much for recommending this ride. It was by far my favorite bike ride to date of any distance.
http://app.strava.com/activities/57813469#kudos