First off Death Valley in the spring is amazing. The snow-covered peaks in the distance and the wildflowers were beautiful.

I started in the second wave at 6:10 AM from Furnace Creek. The first 35 miles were uneventful. I was riding with a nice group and the weather was great. At about 35 or 40 miles picked up a significant headwind and it stayed with me the rest of the day. Stopped at a rest stop at mile 45 to replenish water and headed out again sans pack. It was pretty much steady climbing and headwinds up to the Shoshone turn around. Some more climbing and the prospect of a tailwind lay ahead as I returned the way I came. Unfortunately by the time I descended Jubilee Pass the wind had shifted and I staring down 75 miles with a headwind up to Stovepipe Wells. Luckily, this was the first significant ride with a Powertap so I played around with that quite a bit. 11 mph at 200 watts on flat ground is mindnumbing. I pretty much put my head down with a couple stops to refill until Furnace Creek at mile 150. I almost quit there because a hot shower and food would have been so nice but I persevered and away to Stovepipe Wells I went. I never thought I would get there. My mind started wander and I started thinking about how strange it is to climb up to sea level. Mercifully, I arrived at the turnaround, had a Coke, and headed back on a sugar and caffeine high. Averaged about 21 mph over that last 25 and had a finishing "sprint" of 593 watts. I was 13th at Stovepipe Wells but two recumbents flew by me and I only passed one other rider on the way back for 14th overall and a time of 13 hours 19 minutes. I was shooting for 12 hours but that may have been a little optimistic for my first double. I now really want to do the Fall Double up there.

Some Stats:
My garmin was only half charged for some reason so I didn't take it along.
Ride Time: 12:33
Total Time: 13:19
Work: 8537 kJ
Distance 197.31
Average Power: 190 watts
Average speed: 15.8 mph