kjfitz

Here's my ride report from this weekend...


I started the Fall Death Valley Double in the first group at 7am and immediately committed rookie mistake number one by going out too fast and too hard. Twenty five miles and a couple pace lines later I was cooked at Stovepipe Wells. No wind so far - a relief given the hurricane like winds we'd experienced here three weeks earlier during the Furnace Creek 508. Cooked or not I hammered on until the Grapevine Ranger Station at mile 65 before giving in to a needed break. Along here I encountered Jason Pierce for the first of many times. He and I were both suffering some pretty tight quad. I gave him some of my Tums but really I was looking for an excuse to stop for a minute. He has a better excuse though... he was doing this double on a fixie!

A couple bottles of water and a fifteen minute rest got me feeling a lot better and I headed up the Grapevine. It seemed a lot less steep this year than during last year's century. I hardly got off the bike at the 'lunch' stop at Scotty's Castle (mile 68) before going on to crest the mountain and roll into Nevada (mile 73) and the first wind of the day. First light gusts and then picking up speed to about 10 mph. Not very bad but enough to make the most boring stretch of bumpy road feel like it was all up hill. Around mile 80 I was bogging down in mental boredom when Jason and his friend Nichole sped by. I hopped on with them for a while. Thanks, Jason for pulling me out of the funk. We each took turns pulling and were quickly through the wind and to the turnaround at Scotty's Junction (mile 94.)

Let me say that at this point you feel like you've done a lot more than 94 miles. I remember the halfway point at Davis and not even feeling warmed up. The Spring Death Valley Double we were completely done with the climbing at 100 miles and just had a very flat 100 to look forward too. Here I was now 100+ miles to go, sore and tired and the with the looming knowledge that I had to (1) go back through that mind numbing Nevada stretch and (2) still had the Hell's Gate climb to do. Time was going by and meanwhile I was sitting in a chair.

Eventually Jason, Nichole and I headed back out. It quickly became clear to me that I was having a bit of stomach trouble. I fuel with my own homemade magic concoction in 1000 calorie bottles that I drink in four portions over four hours. I had just accidentally consumed two hours worth during the rest break and my stomach had shut down. I was also concerned that I hadn't peed but once in the last 100 miles. Then the wind did a 180. No one said it was going to be easy. I'd been here before though and new I could wait it out while riding a bit slower.

My stomach eventually started processing again by the California border (116) and I bombed down the Grapevine in good order passing Jason midway down and Nichole at the Scotty's Castle rest stop (121). I felt good seeing a crowd there but then most of them started loading up their bikes in a car and I started feeling the pressure of time. I wasn't dangerously behind but definitely behind the 'bubble' of riders. But I still had Ubehebe and Hell's Gate.

The road on the ten mile (124-135) out-and-back to Ubehebe is just a cruel joke. I've seen worse roads on the Mt Tam ride but for Death Valley this is the worst I encountered. I saw lots of riders that I had pace lined with earlier coming back the other direction as I headed towards the crater so I knew I wasn't too far behind. This stretch actually went fairly well, I saw Jason and Nichole and a bunch of the others headed into the crater as I headed back out, and I made it back to the Grapevine Ranger Station with 60 miles remaining and 6 hours to do it in. I still had Hell's Gate waiting for me at mile mile 169. But before that I was rewarded with 33 very easy but blisteringly fast totally dark downhill miles that helped me buy back a whole lot of time.

Then I was sitting (literally) at the water stop at the base of the Hell's Gate Climb (169). I figured that by the time I got there I'd be pretty tired. I was right. So I sat down to catch my breath for a while. The cup of soups looked really good after a whole day of malto-slime (tm). I hadn't been there two minutes though when George (Vireo) was standing in front of me, hands on hips, all "How long have you been sitting there?" and "Never sit down. I never sit down. I'd rather be doing 3 mph on a bike than sit down." Point taken. I started climbing. Thanks, George.

6.8 miles. 2000 feet. After 170 miles of riding and 7000 feet of climbing. Piece of cake. I took the climb at 5 mph. I passed a few riders. I got passed by a few. I just found my pace and climbed. The mile markers came slowly. One guy hung in there behind me pushing me a long time until I realized it was the moon setting in my mirror. Thanks, moon. I made it to the 6 mile marker. %$%#!! I forgot about that .8 part of the 6.8. Made it to the top (175) and stopped just long enough for the coveted last mark on my ride number and then plunged down the mountain at 40 mph in the dark.

Did I mention I had broken my freewheel on the notoriously rough part of the Baker-Kelso descent on the Furnace Creek 508 and hadn't realized it until Jason (about fifty miles into this ride) explained why my rear wheel had 2 mm play on my rear axle? All I could think going down the hill was that Jason had told me it wouldn't lock up and that I had forgotten to ask if the freewheel had any other failure modes and what they might be and what they might do to a 40 mph rider.

Not quite as bumpy as Kel-Baker but bumpy enough. Got to the bottom in one piece (185), made a left and was quickly into the finish at Furnace Creek.

I finished with a 15:40 ride with 14:08 of that on the bike, my second fastest double in my first year of riding doubles and and my fifth and last double this year.

In all it was a fun ride. It was hard but not as hard as Mt Tam or Knoxville. On par with or a bit harder than Davis (with Davis's heat this year.) Harder than the Spring Death Valley Double. The weather was pretty mild and I only felt the heat when I was cooked in the first fifty miles. I think if I had taken the first fifty a bit slower I'd have done the whole second half a lot faster.

Thanks to all the riders with whom I chatted this ride. I think I met and talked to more riders on this ride than any other ride. Jason and Nichole of course. Tom on the 'bent from the SF Rando Club, I'll see a lot of you next year.

The support on this ride was great. The volunteers were uniformly friendly and helpful. The setting can't be better. If you get a chance I highly recommend any of the AdventureCorps events.