I spent 45 minutes clicking before I got in too. active.com does suck. At least they didn't have the automatic magazine subscription page for the death ride (check your active.com registrations carefully!)


I think Diablo,especially the north side, is the local climb that is most like the majority of the death ride passes. About the same length and avg grade as the two Monitors. The south side has a short downhill, but so does Monitor 1. Last year there were a lot of people out doing Diablo repeats the couple weeks before the death ride. The grade on Hamilton is a little easier than the DR climbs and the descents break it up too much. But you can go over the hill and do the other side (just go down to isabell creek). That's a 2000' climb in only 4.5 miles. It's often hotter there than anywhere else in the bay area, making it good for heat training.

If you haven't done a long hot ride with a lot of climbing before, bring at least one gear lower than you think you will need, in case you have a bad day. On my first Death Ride I got hyponatremia and had the most miserable time on Carson, barely crawling in a 30x28. But having that low gear let me finish.