uspspro

I know JohnB is doing it, and it looks like VaultGuru is too.

Ruth and I are doing it on the tandem.

Anyone else doing White Mountain Double this year?

bigbossman 

I'll doing the easy ride that weekend - the High Sierra Fall Century.

VaultGuru

Finally get to meet you two and see your white Calfee rocket. Mark (Carmel) is a very old and close friend (actually my best man 40 years ago) that will be doing it with me. I'll bring the bungee cord and catch your wheel.

jonathanb715

There'll be a couple of nuts from around here doing it as a team on fixies. I can't imagine a 6,000 foot descent on fixed gear bike!

And yes, I'm going to give this a shot (but not on a fixie!). Looking at the roster, there are some other familiar names on there, but I don't think they post on here.

JB

Lanceoldstrong

I am saving myself for Knoxville followed on its' heels by Bass Lake.

Have great ride.

VaultGuru

Pretty small group that have signed up for this year. If you look at last years finishing list, there aren't many doing it again this year. Are they telling us something?

gpelpel

I do like the climb to the Bristlecone Pine Forest but driving it. It's a beautiful place.
It has to be quite a challenge on a bike. I mean... it starts climbing pretty much right off highway 395 in Big Pine and it doesn't stop until the park parking lot, and the grades get steeper and steeper the further you go. This thing is a major part of the Everest Challenge for a reason. Good luck to all!

jonathanb715

I have to use my bike - don't think my car could make it!

JB

uspspro

There is a break about 1/2 way up the climb, and Bishop to Big Pine should be just enough of a warm up. On EC, you have already climbed 5 tough mountains at a relatively fast pace over 2-days when you get to the Bristlecone Pine Forest (Schulman Grove) climb. This makes a tough climb become absolutely brutal!

I am worried about the heat on the backside of that mountain. The lower slopes can get hot too, but luckily that will be in the early morning. On EC, those lower slopes took a lot out of us due to the sun exposure and heat (and it wasn't even a really hot day).

VaultGuru

Posted this on the Summers here thread too.

Rode the Folsom Lake loop + Clementine today. Just shy of 70 miles and 5k of climbing. Left at 07:00 and 80º. The Salmon Falls climb wasn't bad as it was still in a lot of shade. Dropping down out of Cool wasn't the best. Thought I gave cars a good headstart, but quickly ran into slow trucks that backed everyone up. Oh well...
My watch was reading 94º at the bottom of Old Foresthill Grade. It was reading 99º at the top. Clementine was in shade, so it was ok.
I about cooked my backside coming out off the Foresthill bridge going up to the Chevron station. The sun was at my back and it was really hot. 102º. Dropping down Auburn-Folsom Rd just got hotter. I went through 6 bottles of water with Heed and Endurolite caps and still bonked about 10 miles away from home.
That ride was a little too hot. Hope WMD isn't like that. If it is, I hope the sags have IV's available.
uspspro, how did you handle the heat? It is a long ride with no shade

jonathanb715

LOL - I went to do Mt. Diablo repeats yesterday, and wilted completely in the heat. I only did 1, then limped home. My garmin showed temps up to 110, which I attributed to mounting it on my black stem, but I got back home in Livermore and it was 108 in the shade! Not sure how I'll handle the desert heat on 9/11.

BTW, by the time I got home the Morgan Territory fire was already blazing - from Livermore it looked like the entire eastern exposure of Mt. D was up in smoke.

JB

uspspro

Man this ride is rapidly approaching!

We will be getting 260 miles in this weekend with a bike/camping tour (self-supported) out to Pinnacle Natl Monument.

Look forward to seeing those going!

VaultGuru

Interesting to look at temperatures on Weather.com. Bishop is continuously about 4-5º warmer than Dyer NV. At 14:00 today, Bishop is 84º and Dyer is 75º. Don't know why this would be, but I like it. 10 day forecast now has Dyer at 81º on Wednesday and Thursday. Maybe our luck will hold and the temps will remain in the 80's

200miler

Altitude would be the chief culprit. Dyer is just about 1000' higher, and it's in the Great Basin Desert. In that climate the biggest concern for riders is the ultra-low humidity. If you're coming from the Bay Area, with it's 25-30% humidity you're going to notice the extremely dry conditions within hours of passing over the White Mountains. The Great Basin desert is usually in single digits for humidity which just amplifies the dehydration you face. I rode WM last year and listened to many folks who had not expected this extreme an environment. I live in the Mojave and we have the same type of conditions so I had really noticed what those folks were dealing with. Can't stress it enough, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. It will feel a lot like Death Valley, but you won't be down in the "hole"!
YMMV
-dg

VaultGuru

Heed the words of 200Miler. You never feel the effects of low humidity until it is too late. Our daughter went to UA, where it is continuously 3-6% humidity (except for monsoon season). She had to learn the hard way about hydration. UA has water available all over the campus with signs posted to continuously drink water. It is so dry, you never feel yourself sweat. It just dries too fast. The same thing will happen on this ride.

uspspro

I went to UofA for 2 years. Yeah... pretty much wipe your forehead, no wetness, just gritty dust!

jonathanb715

Arrrgh! Another ride I'm not going to make - just too much going on in my personal life right now. Good luck to those doing it - I'll be watching (jealously) for ride reports to see what I'm missing.

JB

tj90

I was feeling pretty good about this ride, until I started reading all these intimidating posts!! I was concerned that we would have extreme cold and heat. I have a coworker who just returned from a camping trip at 9k feet above Toms place. He said it was pretty mild - not too cold. Of course that was almost a week ago and anything can change.

I guess heat will be a major factor as well. I guess I will be starting at 4 to give me another hour of cool riding out there.

A buddy of mine told me to take a plastic bag for the white mountain descent that I can ditch later in the day. Of course, hes not terribly familiar with the descent and how cold it will be.

Any idea if wind will be an issue? I heard it was for the eastern sierra double.

I have another coworker who is camping at Mammoth lakes this weekend, so Ill be interested to hear how cold it was getting at 9k feet.

200miler

Last year the early start time was 0415 and just about everyone left at that time. It did make the run down 395 to Big Pine a bit nerve wrecking. Lots of skittish riders bobbing in and out of the shoulder avoiding debris and one WICKED rumble strip! Having CHP up and down the road watching was very calming either. As one who is NOT classified as a chimp on coke, I don't climb all that fast, and I was still at the Grove 1:15 before the cutoff. Descending from 10K feet in the mid-morning hours was actually pretty nice, although our weather was pretty nice all day, save for the hair-dryer winds in NV. Once over Gilbert Summit they'll be the ruling force, if there is any. I would suggest that a light breeze will be a lifesaver in most weather conditions.

The weather you need to watch is not the Bishop 4cast; you're not there all day. You're more concerned about what it's like out on the desert, at 5-6K feet. I'd suggest using the 4cast for Tonopah, NV as your base; there's not much in the way of natural barriers to impact weather there, and that in Dyer, or Coaldale. Using a Bishop or Benton station gives you misleading info as they're at least 1000' lower, and in a valley impacted by open water. If there will be any serious wind issues they'll be after lunch at Dyer. The desert always kicks up a bit after midday. Most of the weather reporting stations are particularly attuned to that.

Enjoy; it's just a bike ride!
YMMV
-dg

tj90

Thanks for the information. Really look forward to being out there.

VaultGuru

Yesterday, I rode my last long ride. 110 miles and 9k+ of climbing. Went to Iowa Hill and back. First time I rode back from IH. The climb to Colfax is a piece of cake compared to the climb to IH. After I finished the initial long climb to IH, I got stopped by a guy in a pickup truck. He said there were several rattlesnakes crossing the road, so be aware. Why? They are shedding their skins this time of the year, so are essentially blind. They strike at anything. Didn't know that. Hmmm...160HR and no one out there to help. I decided to be cautious. Did see two of them and they were 2.5-3' long. I gave them a lot of space
Felt really good about how I felt afterward. I hope I am ready for this ride.

tj90

OK - I finished my last serious ride yesterday now its taper time until WMD. Extended weather for tonopah looks like its cooling down!! Maybe a small chance of rain?

200miler

I'm seeing 4casts for next week that are suggesting possible rain in the Tonopah area from Wednesday night thru Thursday night. But that's subject to change without much notice... What drives the weather here is what fronts are moving thru CA, + 2-3 days. If you're looking at some wetish weather on Wednesday in NorCal, then it will have "some" impact on the 4cast for NorNev. You might want to bookmark this site:
https://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/...Select=WEATHER
And use the MesoWest Tonopah listing that's in the "source" pull-down menu.
YMMV
-dg

VaultGuru

I was reviewing the roster for Saturday's event and saw that Ann Trason has signed up to ride the WMD. Don't know if any of you follow ultra-marathons and results, but Ann is an absolute legend in the sport. Here is a link to her accomplishments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Trason
If she is as strong a rider as she was in ultra-marathons, she could put down a really fast time.

Ygduf

Aww. That's great. I just read "Born to Run" last month.