The first four passes are generally steeper than the front section of Mt. Hamilton. There are a couple steep parts on Monitor but the highest grades are on sections of Ebbetts. None of it has extended sections like Quimby or Sierra. There were tons of riders on standard double cranksets. You could probably start off with a change to 12-27 then do both sides of Hamilton or Diablo from north and south and see how well 39x24 and 39x27 work over extended periods.

The altitude will affect you to some extent until you get used to it. By the time I was descending the back side of Monitor I had made the necessary adjustments to not climb in zone 5. The day before the ride was much hotter and dryer so I think we caught a break last year.

Yeah, at least until the hail Seriously, the event day seemed much less smoky and closed in than the day before.

Want to get really po'd at the event organizers? They're clearing out prior year jerseys - including 5 pass finishers. I had to bust my butt last year to get those 5 passes, and now anyone with some room on their credit card can get the same jersey!

JB

You still need a proof of completing the 5 passes in order to get the finisher jerseys.

Our pride is safe. Money doesn't buy everything... yet.

Yup, proof still needed. I was happy to see the smoke clear the day of the ride too. Kinda wierd, I heard the smoke came back the next day.

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.

I got mine, for both Mrs. Ritterview and myself. Whew!

I just checked, and it is now full.

What we need to do now is equate each pass with a specific climb in the Bay Area.

Diablo is a great training climb. Many will disagree, but I think Diablo (north or south) is a tougher climb than any of the 5 passes.

Now is the time to find out what your body likes on long rides. I brought a full tube of Nuun tablets to use in my water bottles instead of the Cytomax that is provided at each stop.

Oh, good. I really should read the fine print on their website at some point!

JB

I don't know if it's tougher, but it's certainly in the same ballpark as either side of Monitor or the first side of Ebbets.

I think we're pretty lucky to have Mt. D, the Oakland hills, etc. in our backyard for training! Not to mention Mt. Tam, Mt. Hamilton, all the climbs on the peninsula (I've heard from more than a few folks that they found the Santa Cruz Mountain Challenge tougher than the Death Ride) all just a short drive away.

JB

Interesting! I think the back side of Ebbet's is a bit tougher than Northgate.

I found what worked best for my training is serious hill climbing (Diablo, Tam, Hamilton, Auburn, Forrest Hill or the Sierra's), Diablo repeats (junction-to-top on weekdays & bottom-to-top on weekends), eating right and getting plenty of rest.

By then, you should be in pretty good shape after training for the DR. The old adage, use it or loose it applies here. I thought doing the full 137 miles of the Auburn Century was a tougher ride.

See you in the hills!

BR

Got on to register....Filled!
life sucks...

I cursed active.com for 50 minutes before getting a registration for me and a friend of mine. They have some obvious scalability issues.

That's a bummer. However, I'm sure there will be *plenty* of people selling their numbers before the event.

I should credit the adrenaline and excitement of the ride that made the 5 passes easier. 3 Diablo repeats, riding solo... now that was torture!

I did the Lone Ranger this year! It was on par with the Death Ride for sure.... and about 2600 less people.

THat sucks! Maybe you'll have to do Team in Training with us?


JB

Felt like I did last year, I ran into you so much!!!

I had 3 browsers going at the same time. Finally got in after 50 minutes. I also had a friend trying on another computer to sign me up. I must have tried 150-200 times. This process is really ridiculous. There has to be a better way, but I don't know what it is.
I'm using the DR as a backup to STP. Both are on the same day. If rain is forecast during the STP, I'll ride the DR.

I was able to register along with a friend back in December. We've been riding for a year and it's definitely one of the craziest things we've done. However, we figure the desire not to die in July will be our motivation to get out there and train.

We're on the peninsula, so tons of great hills to train on. This will be a good excuse to finally do Diablo, too.

Wow, that's interesting. I thought the 108 miler was tough, but then again, I thought I was a wimp when it came to climbs. It's good to know that others also think Auburn is tough. It's a well run ride, and not that full. My favorite part of the ride was the top of Iowa Hill, with the cheering blonds at the top ... should have taken a picture with them.

I rode the Auburn Century when they called it the "Worlds Toughest Century". That was probably the hardest climbing event I have ridden. The Corkscrew wall was a killer. I ride the Santa Cruz Mountains Challenge every year and it is pretty tough but not in the same league as that old Auburn monster.

Wow.. I had actually debated on signing up for this.. glad I skipped the headache. If I do go, I'll do it via Ramon registration... = craigslist

My Auburn friends and I do the Corkscrew during our Deathride training sessions. Great ride.

BR

Devil Mountain Double registration is open. There is a group discount for multiple registrations in one envelope.

Three months away... much training to be done.

Yep.. I DL'd the PDF for Ruth and I

Ramon... you want to put yours in our envelope.