July 11th, 2009

Carson Pass #5

So the hardest part about this pass was actually getting to the climbing. From what I looked at on the map, I had anticipated that the point from where Hwy 89 meets Hwy 88 up until Pickett’s junction would be a straight flat ride that would go by fast. I however was competely wrong in my assumptions. While Hwy 88 to Picketts junction did start off flat enough, it started to ramp up fairly fast. There were definitely some points where I felt that it would be so much easier to just turn around, that this false flat bullshit was bullshit. Despite these random thoughts I was determined to gut it out. What I did enjoy though was that I was alone the entire time, just as had been the case during my training. I didn’t have to worry about trying to catch or maintain a pace with another rider. I also didn’t have to push a faster tempo to stay in front of somebody either which was nice.

There was one section of climbing which I remember being like wtf, how am I going to drop down into the small ring if this is supposed to be flat. Despite this, the final turn before reaching the final aid station before starting the actual climbing section was a sight for sore eyes. Reaching the Picketts Junction section felt so good, I actually can’t remember how many helpers I told that this final lead up section should be what is billed as one of the harder mental parts of the entire ride. I reached this part just after 11am and spent about 10 minutes waiting forboxes of clif bars to be opened so that I could carry some food on the last climb for a just in case situation.

The actual climbing part of Carson left much to be desired. While I did end up cramping a bit in my right calf I didn’t feel like the grades were hard at all. What bothered me slightly about this cramp was that I had never felt this specific cramp before. While I have cramped in my right calf quite a few times, the specific muscles that were cramping this time around were something new. Despite this what also affected me on this climb was the wind. I think throughout the ride the wind was more or less calm but for some reason during this segment, the wind picked up and was becoming an “issue.”

From what I can remember, upon finally seeing an aid station after reaching the elevation sign post of Carson pass, I felt that there was still more to go but that I should stop and check to see how far. To my surprise, this was the end of the climb and the end of the ride. It was extremely funny when I rolled in because everybody was more or less astonished that somebody had already finished. I showed up at and around 1205-1210pm.

Once off the bike I chatted it up with about five volunteers about what time I started, what I thought of the ride, how I felt, etc. The lowlight of the ride was that the ice cream bar that was being served as a dessert was absolute crap. While I can’t say that I was hungry, I would have definitely scarfed down a scoop or two of ice cream.

The descent was fairly awesome since there was little to no traffic, no chance of riders coming in the opposite direction, and a slight tailwind. All in all I was finally able to enjoy a descent.

Transition from Ebetts to Carson Pass (#5 climb)

So once I reached my car I decided that I needed to drop off everything that I wouldn’t need which was about 3 salt packets, all my gatorade packets, bike lights, arm warmers, my make shift beanie/shirt thing, and all of the food that I was carrying. I had a few sips of water, used one of the wet hand towels that I brought, topped off a water bottle and went on my way to finish my 5th and final pass.

Ebbetts pass #4 (back side)

The descent was nothing spectacular, however it was unbelievably cold. Made my stop at the bottom station to get my sticker, but because I had already filled up/ate at the top I didn’t need to mingle at the bottom so I started the ascent of the back side which was nice since it was short, a sustained climb where I was able to set a tempo and stick to it. This side was the complete opposite of the front side where it was like every 30 feet something new was thrown at you. Either way, I believe I made it at the time that she said I would be back but because I was still topped off with water/Gatorade and there would be food at the bottom of Ebbetts front, there was no reason for me to stop so I descended. This descent was a little trickier since the roads were narrow and there was no dividing line. However, since I think the other riders had already seen me descend past them on Monitor, most of them knew that riders (me, all in white, how could you honestly miss me or forget me (my vanity)) would be descending at some point during their ascent. Either way I was more careful on this descent because of the narrow roads, the dirt, and the lack of a dividing line. Once I reached the point where it was rolling hills/flats I got in the drops and put the hammer down. I definitely got as aero as possible and made it a goal to try and discourage some people by being that much farther ahead of them. I found myself in my 53-11 and was putting the kind of effort that I normally do when I am heading home on a ride. As I approached the lunch area at the bottom of Ebbetts front side, one rider specifically mouthed off “why are you going so fast.” Definitely seemed like his day wasn’t going as well as he had planned seeing as he still had to do 3 more passes. At this station, I had another 1/3 of a banana, one of those bite sized clif bars (100 calories), and for the first time, I filled up a bottle with cytomax. After eating all that was left was to make it back to my car, drop stuff off, then ride out to Pickett’s junction where the start of Carson pass is. Just as I had descended down the flatter sections of Ebbetts, I got as aero as possible and hammered it to my car. I passed a few random cyclists who were just riding in the area and not participating in the death ride.

Ebbetts pass #3 (front side)

This pass is the longest pass of the ride and from my avg grade calculations was no more difficult than my Fresno climb. What started to get me think though was that for about the first 3-4 miles there were flats/very short rolling hills (which were beyond annoying). Throughout this part, I honestly thought “where the fuck are the climbs, give it to me already”. I didn’t think that the climb was anything special when it finally picked up. There were certain turns where I purposefully took the smallest possible turn so that I could get as close to the apex as possible just so that I could get out of the saddle and power through the turn. At one point, an ambulance pulled up besides me and the passenger paramedic asked me if I had already done monitor. I told him “yeah” in a isn’t that the way you’re supposed to do it tone and he turned to the driver and said “Dammnn!” I probably rode on for about another 5 miles where there were portions that I got out of the saddle to use a different set of muscles as opposed to hammering and overworking the muscles used while in the saddle. As I reached the top/aid station/sticker station one of the volunteers took my bike and set it aside so that I could comfortably get some water/food/nature break, etc. This was the first station that I was officially first to arrive. Everybody was surprised as it was before 830am. Had a salt packet, 1/3 of a banana, half a clif bar, chatted for about 10 min about how dangerous the descent was with so many people in my lane, and then I was off again. As I was about to descend down Ebbetts back side, I asked a volunteer what time it was and she said 830something and that I would should expect to see them again at 905-910. I said “really? I thought that Ebbetts back side is harder despite being only 5+ miles (I thought this because the avg grade for the back side of Ebbetts is 7% while the front is 6.3%)” and she responded with “No, the front side is harder, you’ve already done the hardest part of this ride so everything that remains will be a lot easier.” Honestly, I gained a little bit of confidence with this statement and made it a goal to be back before she said I would be back.

Monitor pass #2 (back side)

Two other riders who had started #2 at the same time as I did soon got dropped extremely fast. I am not quite sure what happened, but it wasn’t like I was hammering it or out of the saddle. Either way, it wasn’t till about half of the way up that I started to see other riders descending what I was now climbing. I passed by the event photographer who took my picture and told me that I was the first to finish two passes. It was 615am at that point. There were about 2-3 miles from the photographer’s location back up to the aid station where I had received my 1st sticker. During these 2-3 miles more riders past me as they descended in the opposite direction and they were cheering me on for some reason. When I reached the 1st sticker aid station at the top of both passes, I topped off one bottle, had a couple sips of cytomax and half a banana. I noticed one woman who appeared to have crashed at some point already despite having only done one pass, and another guy who had a bloody nose. Now that the sun was up, I was salivating at the thought of bombing down the front side of monitor and reaching 50-60mph. My plans were sabotaged by the “peloton” or this huge mass of riders still coming up the first climb. Not only were there riders riding across the yellow line into my lane, but they were doing so at 2-3 people deep. I did notice the effort of people getting out of the way but my thoughts were that they shouldn’t be in my lane in the first place. Despite slowing down to 25-30mph, there were more than a few close calls where the people climbing just plain refused to get out of the way almost forcing me into the dirt on my own side of the road.

Monitor pass #1 (front side)

My legs truly felt amazing (just a simple fact). I was climbing in the 39-26 for the most part but it wasn’t like I couldn’t shift up and still keep tempo. I think what got me through this first pass for the most part in the beginning was seeing blinking red lights in the distance. My goal was to catch and pass everybody while still staying in the saddle. As the map of the grades shows, it states parts where the grade ramps up to 7.something% and 10+%. Not knowing exactly where these parts were, I was waiting to hit them and then to have to get out of the saddle for an extended period of time. However, this never happened. While I can think of parts where my breathing was a little more intense and where the grade increases might have happened, I definitely did not feel like it was unmanageable in any way. One of the other things that I really enjoyed about this pass was that it was so dark (with only my small $20+ headlight casting light on the road/trees). I have honestly had dreams/a desire to ride at night, in the dark, with no cars around, where I was truly alone without any worries. Anyways, I made it to the first checkpoint/sticker stop and had to wait for 5 min before a volunteer actually noticed me. Had this guy take a picture of me and then I continued on to the decent down the back side.

The decent was not tricky in the least, it was wide, very few turns, but somehow I still almost managed to overcook a very wide hairpin turn. It wasn’t for the fact that I chose a bad line, but mainly because I was oblivious to looking into the far distance. When I first noticed that it was a sharp turn, I started thinking “oh shit oh shit oh shit”. Luckily I pumped the brakes and was able to make the turn without any problems for the most part. When I got to the bottom there were already 3 riders there. Only filling up less than half a water bottle, nature break, chatting up a volunteer and getting my 2^nd pass sticker, I turned around and started up monitor #2 (back side ascent).

Wrap up Intro

So now that I have time to write (Sitting at the Fresno Air Terminal for about an hour or so), I will finally be able to write about my death ride experience in more detail.

First off, getting up at 130am was not as hard as I had originally anticipated. Not sure if it was the adrenaline that was already running through my system or if I did in fact get enough sleep by turning the tv off/shades drawn at 530pm. Either way, prepared my normal routine for the most part by mixing in some protein powder into a jamba juice that I had specially made with all the usual fruits/peanut butter/soy milk ingredients. As for coffee, I was too ramped up to get going so I only brewed a cup from the room’s coffee maker and even then I only had about half of it. Driving from South Lake Tahoe to Turtle Rock Park was fairly interesting. Knowing that I would encounter a deer or two, I decided to drive at a moderate speed as I was in no rush since it was 3-something-AM. Interestingly enough, a moderately sized deer did in fact cross the road about 2-300 ft in front of my car. However since I had seen its eyes reflect my headlights light, I slowed down so as to not hit it. Once arriving at just before 340am I sat and waited for the current song (Teenage wasteland) to finish before exiting the car and getting everything ready. To my surprise, there were already about 10-15 people in my proximity that were also getting ready. After spending about 10 or so minutes putting my home made vest, helmet, bike, pocket goodies, etc. together, I rode out. About a mile or so into my ride I was like man oh man my bike feels amazing (thinking those 3 days off the bike was the best decision in the world). Slowly I realized, oh shit, I didn’t pump my tires up. I was probably running them around 80-90 psi at that point but I always ride at 100-105 for the front and 120+ for the back. Anyways, I rode back, quickly pumped them up and then rode out again towards monitor and ebbetts. The ride to monitor didn’t seem too bad despite it being unbelievably dark. I honestly couldn’t see more than 200 feet in front of me at times, mainly because there were no street lights, nor was there moonlight.