Sunday, July 13, 2008

Success!



Well, it's over - the Death Ride for 2008 is in the books - and I finished all 5 passes. Thanks to everyone who has supported me for the last 18 months as I decided to get back into cycling with a bang - by training for the '07 Death Ride.

Special thanks to everyone who donated to one or more of my TnT fundraising campaigns. This not only supported my training, but helped raise funds to fight blood cancers. I've personally helped raise over $10,000 now, and the teams I've been involved with have raised more than $600,000!!!!! This money not only supports research into new treatments, but also helps support the patients financially while they are being treated.

Extra special thanks also to Brian and Kevin, my 2 sons who were very understanding as my training caused me to miss more baseball games, soccer games and swim meets than I care to admit. And special thanks to Karen, Valerie and Michael, and Anne and Kris, who all helped watch the boys for so many of those Saturday training rides that all seemed to start at 6 am and go all day.

And of course I have to mention the coaches, who showed me that I could go from couch potato to being able to do this ride in 6 short months, then kept me motivated to do it again after last year's ride got derailed by, well, a broken dérailleur.

So, how'd that ride go?


Starting out in the dark was both surreal and interesting. The sky soon started showing signs of light.










I figured I might have a shot at doing this ride leaving at the "official" start time of 5:30, but it would be a close thing and everything would have to go right. After the fiasco of last year, I wasn't counting on that! A whole group of us started riding at 4:00 am. Early. Dark. But really not that cold - not like last year. A vest, arm warmers and knee warmers on top of my regular jersey and shorts were sufficient, and I took most of the extra layer off once we started climbing. I started out with a large group of TnT cyclists, but it became pretty clear that there were a few of us going about the same pace, and we ended up riding more or less together all day. K. Sue in particular was inspirational several times when I was struggling, and Sue agreed to ride with me when conditions were worst.


Climbing up Monitor Pass to the sunrise - getting closer!












Starting out, I felt pretty good - considering I'd waken up at 2:30 and tried to convince myself it was just a normal morning ride..... We finished the first climb right on schedule, at about 6:00 am and just as the sun came over the crest of the pass. The Death Ride puts stickers on the number for each rider for each pass, to keep track of which ones you've done. First one down, 4 more to go!


One pass done - the summit of Monitor at sunrise!
















Teammate Kimberly is all grins after the fast and fun descent down Monitor towards Nevada.








The descent down Monitor Pass was fast and fun. There weren't that many other riders out there yet, and we were able to go as fast as we wanted. The road is really good, wide and was closed to auto traffic - perfect conditions to have some fun. The only spoiler was that nagging thought that when we got to the bottom, we'd have to turn around and go right back up (the Death Ride does the front side and back side of 2 passes - Monitor and Ebbets. The last climb, Carson, just goes up one side). Anytime you can go that fast on a descent you just know the climb will be steep.



Climbing up the backside of Monitor Pass - steep and long.









Sure enough, it was steep and long (the climb up the back took 2 hours), but our training was paying off. It was hard, but do-able. I ran into a friend who goes by the handle "BenRidin" on a couple of internet cycling forums. I was doing well, but he went by effortlessly.



The 2nd summit of Monitor - haven't we been here before?









By 8:00 or so, we'd gotten to the top of Monitor again. 4 hours of riding time, 2 passes down and most of the civilized world hadn't even had their 2nd cup of coffee yet. We were doing well.

The descent down the front side of Monitor is also a good, fast one. It was getting more crowded now, so we all took it kind of easy, but it is always a good fast descent on Monitor. At the bottom, we regrouped, took a left and rolled over to Ebbets, the next pass. It was while we were doing the gentle part of the climb (for about 4 miles or so) that I realized I didn't feel as good as I might. My legs felt dead, my back was tight and kind of painful and my heart rate was much higher than I'd expect it to be - we were going up, but it wasn't steep or hard.



A Death Ride tradition - just past the last rest stop before the Ebbets climb gets serious, a group of women get all dressed up and cheer on the riders.










Climbing Ebbets - long and steep, many consider this the hardest climb of the day.









At the last rest stop before the climb to Ebbets got serious, we all stopped to refuel a bit and fill our water bottles. Then we started the climb. Having done this a couple of times in our training, I knew what to expect - except this was my first time after having already done 2 hard climbs. It was hard. It was long. Some of it was steep. My back hurt. A lot. Coach Jacqui and Coach Kim both had words of encouragement that helped keep me going (I'd long since lost touch with K. Sue, Sue and the rest of the crew I'd been riding with). And I made it to the top. I was mildly disappointed that the sticker crew at the top was not wearing angels wings like in years past (Ebbets is the highest elevation of the day).

Descending on Ebbets is challenging at the best of times. With hundreds of other riders both descending and climbing at the same time, it was kind of crazy. Ebbets is really a single lane road for the most part, so if riders are 3 abreast, they end up taking more than half the road. Given different climbing abilities, that was bound to happen. We all took the descent carefully, and made it safely.




At the Hermit Valley rest stop, we saw the Death Ride mascot (complete with helmet, beer and bra) being towed by the "Rolling Bones" cycling team.






I took my time at the rest stop. I didn't feel good, but I was able to eat. I ate some oranges, a banana and a PBJ. After a while, I started to feel better and I saw Sue and K. Sue grab their bikes, so I got on mine and started climbing, hoping to catch them. I never quite did (I got close to K. Sue just as a back spasm forced me to stop and stretch - the first time I'd stopped on a climb in a long time). Turns out I was only a half mile from the top (at this point, we were climbing the backside of Ebbets, for our 4th pass). I got to the top and spent a good 15 - 20 minutes stretching. Kaya, who also had been riding with us, rolled up - she was struggling also. We quickly decided to ride back to our cars together for lunch (we'd all decided to skip the official lunch stop, and the lines that go with it, and had lunch in coolers waiting in our cars). Another long, fast descent (most of the climbers had cleared the front side of Ebbets by this point, so the descent wasn't quite as hair-raising as going down the back side), and then we regrouped at the official lunch stop.

The ride back to Turtle Rock Park (the official start/finish and where our cars were) is an interesting one. The first 5 miles or so are mostly downhill, and it is very tempting to go fast and hard. Not on Saturday, not after 4 passes of pain. We took our time, hooked up with one gentleman who pulled us for a while. Eventually, we rolled into Markleeville, where I think all 600 residents were out on the main street cheering us on. A really nice feeling.





Teammate Kaya soaking her feet - it got hot enough in the early afternoon to make hot spots a real problem.






So we got back to our cars, and Kaya immediately starts soaking her feet. At this point I really couldn't eat much, but knew I had to try. It was already a tough day - if I didn't keep eating I'd really be in trouble. So I forced down half a turkey and cheese sandwich, drank a Coke (not something I normally do, but sugar and caffeine can help you do remarkable things sometimes), and we rolled out of there. Kaya decided to rest some more, so I left with K. Sue and Sue. At Woodford (a little town at the base of the final climb to Carson Pass), a volunteer at the rest stop was hosing down cyclists. It was hot enough that I couldn't resist that - Sue and K. Sue kept going. Ironically, it wouldn't be long before I was wishing I was warmer and drier.

I caught up to Sue and K. Sue just as Sue got a flat. I stopped to help, and it started to rain (we'd been hearing distant thunder for a while). Sherry, our SAG captain all season, happened to be driving by (looking for her husband) and stopped to let us use here pump. Little did we know that she'd parked in quick sand and would need help later to get her car out.....

By the time we were back on our bikes, it was raining pretty hard. We were soaked through and through by the time we got to Picketts Junction. The rest stop there had a large canopy setup, and we joined the throng underneath. Unfortunately, I'd left my wind vest and jacket in my car, since at lunch it was all blue skies and 85 degrees. I was wet and cold - it finally got to a point where I told Sue and K. Sue that I wanted to go on. At that point, it started hailing. K. Sue thought it was too dangerous, so Sue and I started to head to the top (I really wanted to finish this ride this time, and I was only going to get colder sitting around).



The Summit of Carsons Pass - a very welcome sight! 5 passes done, just a fun, fast descent to go! Now, where's my ice cream?!!








It turned out to be a good choice. I warmed up while we were pedalling, and after a couple of miles the rain stopped. For a while. We had intermittent rain and hail all the way up, but it was better than sitting around waiting for it to end. My back was really bothering me by now, so I stopped and stretched a couple of times, but once again we made it. It was clearing at the top, so we were able to dry out a bit. While we were waiting, K. Sue rolled up - no way was she going to let us finish without her! Then another ride group came in - one we were worried might not make it. So it was fun at the top, even if it was still a little too cold and wet to be comfortable.





Teammate Kaya and her boyfriend Josh showing off freshly shaved legs and TnT tattoos. Notice that there's still snow on those mountains in the background!














We got to do the descent on dry roads - many of the earlier riders were trying to descend in the same lousy weather we'd climbed in. After a nice, relaxing descent (ok, it was pretty fast), we then had our last couple of climbs to Turtle Rock Park. Not hard in and of themselves, by this point they just hurt. We got up them and rolled into a great reception at the TnT tent.

It was a great finish to a tough ride and a great season.

I'm not sure what my next cycling adventures will be, but there will be plenty more!

JB


Wet and kind of cold, celebrating at the top of Carsons Pass.