mike868y

+1. jeebus you guys are nuts.

uspspro

Planning on doing it again on the tandem with my wife. We did it last year, and barley finished.. but we did finish.

We are waiting until next week to register, since we want to be sure that we are ready. We had a very slow start to the season.

We used a 28x28 low last year, this year it will be 28x32 (SRAM XX cassette). We do have a 53x11 high and use it!!

Here is a pic from umd's wife

umd

Look forward to seeing you guys again.

danahs

sadly I have to say that I am out due to knee injury. i figure that I am better off skipping it than pushing myself and then having to take the rest of the year off the bike.

Ygduf

trying to do my derailleur/cassette swap tonight, so I can work the 34-32 on triple diablo-saturday this week. I'm excited for this after doing well at Challenge last week. Weight is down too, 166 this morning.

uspspro

Any other updates, training, etc.. ?

I know Ygduf has been doing 3x Diablo repeats.

My wife and I just did White Mountain Double Century on the tandem to help us prepare.
https://www.strava.com/rides/182309

Took us a few miles to get into the groove on the Schulman Grove climb (White Mountain), but eventually did, and started passing a several solo bikes.

The wind was a definite factor on WM Double, should be less so during EC, but the wind can still get pretty strong on the EC course. Last year the wind was a slight factor.

We will finish hours behind even pack-fodder racers. The goal last year, was just to finish without being relegated by the race staff due to the time cut-offs, since we were the only tandem, and we did it. This year there is another tandem signed up, so there will actually be some kind of race (maybe)!

ericm979

I've been doing a lot of long climbing rides, many with Ygduf. Well, not really "with" but he waits for me at the top of the climbs. The last set of Diablo repeats I had two good fast ones and one awful one (but still faster than other awful third times up so it's an improvement of sorts). The last 6 or 7 weeks have all been over 20k feet and a couple close to 30k. LTS (CTL) peaked at 118.

Now I'm starting to taper and hoping to avoid getting sick. They "fixed" the AC at work. It used to be nice but now it's cold, and losing a couple pounds seems to have made that worse. I felt like I was coming down with something last night so I skipped my ride today. I'm wearing two shirts and a fleece jacket with added cat fur.

bam

dope. i'll see you guys there.

umd

cat?

bam

is there a 6? i'm actually gonna be on vacation for two weeks and planning to head out that way before visiting some friends in LA/SD. figured i'd get some climbing in on the way.

umd

They have a timed public category and an untimed tourist category

Ygduf

Really? That's awesome, but you know it's a long ride right, it'll be tough to complete the entire day 1 without a smoke break.

Ygduf

I'm uncomfortable with any praise, but thanks.

Any progress I've made, I owe to you all who I killed myself chasing since the day I started riding. If you thought I was waiting for you on Saturday, you should know that I've been sore since. Like, walking around sore. Suffering on my 10-mile commute sore. I'm taking an extra day off tomorrow.

umd

If you are waiting for Eric then you are really going to kill it in the 5s.

bam

i know, i'm mostly kidding. license is up to date but i haven't done a single race this year.

who says i can't take a smoke break?

haven't decided if i'm gonna enter but i'm gonna be in the area regardless. my err "training" schedule has lacked any real training.

Racer Ex 

Kramer at the dojo.

zstjohn

Just did the High pass challenge this last Sunday.

113 miles with 7500' climbing.

Mile 102/113. In position to come in 8th of 400 riders and finish in under 6 hours. BOOM tire exploded sidewall completely ripped open. Nothing i can do to fix.



complete tangent aside i really wanna do this ride sometime. 208 miles and 29000 ft climbing sounds brutal though....

Ygduf

you should enter. worst case you can ride with Marco/Ruth and yell at them to "bring it home!" for 60 miles.

bam

ok.

Ygduf

Do you guys carry frame pumps/co2/tubes on this thing? I'm thinking, yes, right? It's a long course and you could be out there for a while if unprepared?

Ben FR

Questions
1. Weather - how cold is it likely to be in the mornings? how cold will it be at 9-10k ft of altitude? how hot will it get and at what parts?
2. Food - how many aid stations will there be and where will they be located? (obviously at the tops of the climbs but where else?)
3. Cheating - what do they do to record that you made each summit? how do you confirm that you've been accounted for?
4. Stop signs - do we really need to stop at all the stop signs? where are they?
5. Descents - how fast are they? any bad road quality to worry about? are there any cattle grates to worry about (if so, where?)?
6. Stuff - does the course allow us to go back to our cars mid-race?

Thx

umd

1. Weather is highly variable. It will probay be chilly in the morning, hot for most of the climbs and chilly at the top. But you never know, it could rain or snow.

2. Definitely at the tops of the climbs. I think there was one at tom's place, people handing out bottles (although maybe not neutral) at the bottom of pine creek. And an aid station at 6K feet (i think) on the south lake climb. On the second day there are two aid stations on on the last climb. That's lay year anyway, haven't looked at the emails for this year. My wife will likely be driving around giving neutral feeds as well.

3. They record numbers at the tops of climbs. They are pretty good about getting everyone. Not many other opportunities to cheat.

4. Yes, but there aren't many, and some of them ar during neutral portions. The most annoying one is the one at the top of Lower rock creek and the 395. You really want to stop at that one anyway, since it's a highway crossing...

5. Fast, mostly good roads. The top of rock creek is a bit rough. Don't think there are any cattle guards that I can recall. The glacier lodge descent Ive averaged over 40mph on the 10ish mile descent, with peak speeds over 50. It's straight and steep and smooth but there is a sheer drop on the right side when descending. I like to ride it close to the centerline.

Racer Ex 

Valley floor: expect mornings in the 40's. Day time will be 70's. You'll lose about 10-15 degrees as you leave the valley floor. That's the current weather and it's supposed to hold through the weekend. Pretty much perfect, though wind is a bit unpredictable and it's the mountains. At times they make their own weather.

While you're all at Baatan, I'll be puttering up Mt. Rose on my MTB in the "Bloody Rose" hillclimb. Good luck.

ericm979

the race web site explains where the feeds are and tells you about the danger spots on the descents.

There will be traffic on the roads. rock creek is the worst. Expect at least one giant travel trailer/rv to get in your way.

ericm979

I do. But I bring that stuff in all races.