Originally Posted by
Rick@OCRR
I don't know Victor, but I'll think about it. Are you interested in having Chuck Bramwell certify it as a CAL Triple Crown event?
If so, you could do it this year as the qualifier to have it certified for 2015. Or are you worried about a conflict with Debby the Eastern Sierra Double?
I know Anny very well, Victor fairly well, and Ken somewhat too, so if these three would do it, I should ride it too. From the description it sounds like it has a lot more climbing than the Planet Ultra Easter Sierra Double. Maybe I missed in the narrative above, but how many feet of climbing if we complete the 200 miles?
Plus, I think you'd get lots more riders if you had a real checkpoint out there on 120 and one or two SAG vehicles on the course. On the other hand, this would require more organization, which equals work (oy!) to put the whole thing on.
Finally, where was Stefan? When it comes to over the top rides of adventure (and Miles of Unusual Size) he's usually right in the thick of it!
Rick / OCRR
Nah. The reason I wanted to put this ride together was because I kept missing the Eastern Sierra Double. The last thing I want to do is organize a ride that would reduce participation in the ESD. The notion was to do it more brevet style ... getting water water and food along the way where it's available. No problem anywhere near US395 ... there is plenty off food, water, and cellphone coverage along that entire route. It gets dicey on the 120 between the 395 junction and Benton, which is why I cached food and water in those two spots (near Mono Mills and Adobe Meadows).
The one thing I would really like to do is have a sag vehicle patrolling that stretch ... just in case something went wrong and help was needed.
I'll dig up a map of the route, but it is the same as the ESD route, except:
(1) We exclude the looping around Bishop at the beginning of the ride, and head right up Highway 168.
(2) Instead of going up Highway 203 to the Mammoth Scenic Loop and back over to US395, we took Old Mammoth Road up to the Mammoth Lakes Basin. The climb though Old Mammoth is a road many have not seen, and there is a forested (and steep) road that leads to the Lakes Basin that is really sweet. After looping around Lake Mary, we headed down to the 203 and took it all the way to Red's Meadow. Then, back out to US395 by the scenic loop.
(3) Instead of heading to that park at the North end of Mono Lake for Subway sandwiches, we went to the Whoa Nellie Deli. Gourmet food, real chairs to sit in, and if the weather turned ugly (as it did), we had shelter.
(4) From there, we follow the usual route ... 203 to Highway 6.
(2) above adds a lot of climbing. I'm gonna say maybe 3500 feet? But that's not the problem ... the problem was that it front loaded all the climbing, so you arrive would to lunch later in the day. If I do it again, I would ride up to Minaret Summit for the view, but not down to Red's Meadow.
I think we did this back in 2011 ... I hadn't met the crazy Romanian yet.
I really think I might plan to try to do it again next year ... I really think the route actually improves on the ESD.