Tioga Pass!

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Well, after the abbreviated Death Ride, I finally got around to doing a ride (on 8/23) that felt, well, monumental (and the Tour of Napa, as nice as it was, just didn't do it). I found myself with reservations for Yosemite, but without the family. I was going to cancel the reservations, but instead I took the bike. You see, ever since I had first seen the road, and then read about some people riding it on the Chain Reaction website (http://www.chainreaction.com/tiogapass.htm), I'd thought it would be neat to ride up to Tioga Pass.

I learned a few things:

- Don't do long hard hikes the day before going on a long hard bike ride (duh!). I'd gone up the Upper Yosemite Falls trail, then on to Eagle Peak the day before starting the bike ride. My legs hurt before I started pedalling.

-Bring water and food - the only place to buy anything, or to refill your water, is at Tuolemne Meadows, 36 miles and something like 5,000 feet of climbing up the road (OK, it's only a 3,000 foot change in elevation to that point - but on the way up, you get to go down several long descents, and therefore get some extra credit climbs. Plus, you'll get to do some climbing on the way back, when it's all supposed to be downhill!). Sunscreen is a really good idea, too.

-Bring good sunglasses. I was riding into the sun all the way to Tuolemne, and then for the whole way back down.

- Like most roads in Yosemite, there's not much of a shoulder. Most drivers were very polite and safe, but there's always a few bozos (you're on vacation! Where are you in such a hurry to get to?!!)

-The scenery is spectacular (duh!)

- I was a bit worried because I often struggle on the first hill of the day - and this had the potential to be a 46 mile long "first hill". Not to worry - within 4 miles I was into the first set of rollers.

- For some reason, the old Talking Heads tune "We're on the Road to Nowhere" kept playing in my head (beautiful scenery, but not a lot else going on. Unless you count the tourists).

- The only time I felt like the altitude really affected me was during the last slog from Tuolemne Meadows up the summit. It's only 8 miles and 1,000 feet or so of climbing - how hard could it be? Pretty tough, it turns out - I stopped more to catch my breath on this section than on the whole rest of the ride put together. I guess the air does get thin above 9,000 feet!

And of course I have a few pictures:

I passed the 8,000 foot elevation sign after only 12 miles. I was feeling good and thinking about how easy this ride seemed to be! Not for long.

That's Half Dome in the background - an incredible sight from any angle.

That's Tenaya Lake in the background. I got a tourist to take this for me - she didn't speak English very well, so we understood each just fine.

Tenaya Lake - a beautiful Alpine lake.

This may have been my favorite spot all day. A pretty little meadow and pond just past the 9,000 foot elevation sign - hardly any tourists or cars, because they all stopped at Tuolemne Meadows. This was a great place to stop and catch my breath.









What a great ride! It is a great feeling to be able to just go and do a ride like this without worrying about if I'm in shape, do I have the right equipment, food, etc. Team in Training got me into this shape, and now I'm determined to stay in shape to keep exploring California (and beyond?) by bike.

Death Ride and the Tour of Tucson

OK, I've been remiss in letting you all know how things went, but the Death Ride did not go well. I rode about 7 miles out of the 130 total, and my bike broke. Specifically, the chain - not a great thing, but ordinarily something that can be fixed. However, I managed to also mangle my rear derailleur (the gizmo that moves the chain between different gears) and even ruined part of the frame. My day was done - and I hadn't even climbed the first hill yet. The picture at the left shows how it looked - and this is not how it's supposed to look!

Anyway, that ruined my day, but the rest of the team was still riding and still in good spirits, so I stuck around and cheered for them as they finished. I had mixed feelings, but was happy to see so many people that I trained with doing so well. As the day went on, I realized that it wasn't so bad - I had gotten into great shape, trained with a great bunch of people, raised some money for a great cause - and there will be another Death Ride next year.

On the way home, I ran into a Leukemia Society employee who rode with us (and did great), and she convinced me to sign up for my next cycling adventure - the Tour of Tucson. This ride is a bit different - 109 miles and flat. It is also timed, so I'm looking forward to a training season with a completely different emphasis (ok, it's still on a bicycle). Of course, fund raising is part of this as well. I'm off to a great start already, and will be trying to use special events to raise the remaining funds. Everyone was so generous for the Death Ride season already, so I will try to make this a much lower-key fund raising season.

In the meantime, I had my bike repaired and I rode in the Tour of Napa, a 100 mile ride that had some climbing. This felt really good, and it was nice to ride with some friends and teammates from the Death Ride season. The ride felt great, and got me interested again in riding longer and harder rides.

See you on the road soon!