donrhummy

Anyone here done the Furnace Creek 508? It's a 508 mile race in Death Valley (check out the profile below).



The amazing thing? The all-time record holder not only did THAT race (again see the profile) in 27 hrs, 15 min (a speed of 18.64 mph!!) but also was in the 40+ age category.

Cypress

Steve Born did that race. Twice. In one sitting.

DanteB

And what is really amazing about it is the roads are not the best roads, potholes and rough surface.

voltman

Vireo, but I think he soley posts in SoCal. I think it's on Extort's plate this year.

urbanknight

My wife's uncle does it all the time, but I believe in 2 man teams. He's in his 50's and apparenty finished within 30 minutes of Tinker. Age helps with the Stamina compared to us young folks who blow our energy in the first few hours.

Yes, I've been told some people switch to a mountainbike for some of the roads.

Chucklehead

vireo has done it. several BF members and i will be crewing for him and another rider during RAAM in june.

roadfix

....and I think he said he's doing it on his fixed gear this time.

donrhummy

oh, and it's 36,000 feet of climbing.

MIN 

The Seattle-to-Portland is a walk in the park comparatively.

Machka 

I haven't but I know several people who have ...... and it's on my list of Rides-To-Do.


So many great rides .... so little time.

Snicklefritz

I'd do it as a 2 or 4 person thing if it were flat.

Mukluk

And if that isn't enough for ya, you can continue West and ride up to Mt. Whitney Portal. Then get off your bike and climb to the summit of Mt. Whitney- highest mountain in the lower 48!!!

Brandy

That's the plan! He has two fixed gear double centuries under his belt this year and after the next couple of months of climbing doubles and RAAM, I'm sure that he will get back to fixed gear training in preparation for 508.

Here's his ride report from last year...

https://epictrain.com/2006_Furnace_Cr...ce_Report.html

I will be crewing for him, and there will be no big breakfast prior to the ride. Yesterday I watched this man go out and start riding the Mulholland Challenge route less than 12 hours after he finished the Mulholland Double...29,200 ft of elevation gain and 315 miles between the two rides. He puts himself through some serious pain when he trains and races. He's definitely my inspiration.

donrhummy

When he does fixed gear for something like that, what gearing does he choose? Does he ever have to get off the bike and walk?

(And does he bring an extra pair of brake pads for the insane ride back down? )

Brandy

He's still trying to decide what gearing he will use for 508. For Butterfield Double he used 49x16 and there was 8200 ft of climbing on that ride, nothing more than a short section that topped out at 10-12% though. On Solvang Double he used 49x15 and said that if he came back next year he would think about 49x14 instead. That ride had an elevation gain of 7200 ft. same thing, some shorter sections of 10-12% but mostly more gentle grades. He always gears for the flats and rollers instead of gearing for the climbs and can keep up with most of the lead pack pacelines until the descents, where he gets dropped. Because you can't unclip on descents on 508, he never does that when riding. Oh...and no, he hasn't walked on any of the events he's done on it!

His fixed gear is set up like a road bike with front and rear brakes, and no...no extra sets of brake pads.

I love when he rides a fixed gear double century because it means that I have a slight chance of being able to ride with him! He still has to keep his pace down for me, but if he was on a multi-speed I'd be outta luck!

GuitarWizard

What's so amazing about that...you think the only "fast" people are sub-25 year old guys?

donrhummy

No, I'd have figured someone in their 30's would have the record.

donrhummy

That's incredible! I can't imagine doing that. Zero coasting, zero gear changes to ease the pressure on your legs and spinning hard all the way down a mountain. (Where's a bowing emoticon when you need one?)

PDay

They have a 108 mile ultra-marathon through death valley. A woman surprisingly won it last year, the lead guy passed out.

donrhummy

You sure about this? The only thing i can find is a 135 mile ultramarathon in Death Valley (called the BadWater ultrMarathon) that's run by the same people as Furnace Creek and no woman has ever won the whole thing. One woman did place 6th last year though.

https://www.badwater.com/results/index.html

Brandy

It truly is amazing when you think about it. During the Solvang Double a couple of weeks ago he left about 50 minutes after me and caught me at mile 60. From then on, it was pure torture for me for the rest of the day, trying to keep pace with him and some tandems. At one point, I was on the verge of puking and he actually pulled me out of the paceline, rode alongside me physically PUSHING ME at 22-23mph so that I could coast and recover for a minute without losing the group we were with. To think that he couldn't coast and was pedaling the entire day is insane. I want to be like him when I grow up.

roadfix

One other thing that Brandy forgot to mention is that on the 508, you have to commit to one gear ratio for the entire length of the ride. No cog size change is allowed.

GuitarWizard

It's 135 miles.

Brandy

That's right, I did forget about that! Too many things to keep track of...still trying to recruit RAAM crew, beg for $$$ and remember things like George liking V8 and Hostess snack pies.

PDay

yeah youre right, i was just going off the top of my head, and ill find that woman, i think she won in 2005 or 06.