Grizzly Peak Sonoma Tandem Rally

This Saturday Jenny and I went on the Sonoma Tandem Rally, a ride organized by the Grizzly Peak club, who are located in Berkeley. As it was a couple of hours drive from Palo Alto, and Jenny had the weekend off work, we decided to make a long weekend of it and went up on Friday and did a hike to the beach at Point Reyes National Seashore. Very cloudy at the coast.

The ride started at Valley Ford, on a side street with lots of head in parking. Most people had driven up on the day including the tandem couple I had met on my Peninsula Death ride the previous week. I think there were a about a dozen tandems and a few singles, most all from Grizzly Peak. I recognized one couple that I had met on the Solvang double and I knew the organizers, Nancy Wu and Mark Abrahams by reputation, and remembered seeing them on the hot, hot, Davis double.

This was a really wonderful ride, with a wide variety of scenery and just enough climbing to make it interesting. There was some traffic at times, and the roads generally did not have bike lanes, but most drivers were well behaved. The ride started off inland heading for the village of Occidental, and then along the Bohemian Highway to Monte Rio. This was familiar territory for me as last part of the Terrible Two comes in the other direction.

Lunch was in Cazadero at Raymonds Bakery in the redwoods. We were advised to order ahead, which we did, to minimize the wait when we all arrived simultaneously. It's a great spot for lunch, well off the beaten track, with plenty of inside and outside seating.

After lunch we headed back to 116 and off to the coast. Pretty strong headwind on the way down. Not quite so foggy at the coast as Friday but still pretty grey. Tough climb up to Goat Rock State Beach and then nice rollers and bends into Bodega Bay, where we regrouped for the final segment. Really big rollers on the way back inland to Valley Ford, and got into the 60-11 gear pedalling down the last hill without spinning out. Unfortunately I had forgotten the bike computer, so I have no idea how fast we were going, or how much climbing we did overall, but I estimate 2000'. The distance was 52 miles and the total ride time including stops was about 5 hours. Quite a step up from our previous ride and getting close to the magic 75 mile number we need for the Waves to Wine ride. We are both really stiff today, not from the cycling, but from the hike!

The photo of us at the top is at Valley Ford store at the end of the ride.

A very well organized ride and hats off to the organizers, Nancy and Mark, who also did a good job of making sure the stragglers (usually us!) didn't get left behind.

Pensinsula Death Ride

This is training ride I put together last year when I was preparing for the Tour of the California Alps, aka the Death Ride. Since I missed the 2009 ride, I decided to do the training ride this weekend as Jenny had to work Saturday. I needed a long ride, as I haven't done one since the Terrible Two in June and the Mt. Tam double century is in two weeks. They say you lose your endurance in a couple of weeks.

This is a pretty tough ride that I built up to last year one pass at a time. In the end, after doing the real Death Ride, I decided it was every bit as hard. While it doesn't have the altitude component, the climbs are steeper on average and all the descents are technical. In the end its 15600 feet of climbing and 141 miles from our house in Palo Alto. It would be about 135/15500 if you started at the park and ride at 280/Page Mill. This is not a ride for people who don't like climbing. I estimate that there is about 5 miles of actual flat road on the entire ride.

I started at 6:30, it was nice and cool, but no need for a jacket or leg warmers. While the forecast was for temps to top out in the upper 80's, I carried my lightweight Pearl Izumi Oyster jacket because I never go to the coast without a jacket as the weather is so unpredictable over there.

The ride climbs six passes; a pass being defined as climbing to Skyline Boulevard on the ridge. The first and last passes are the toughest. As you might guess, the first climb is Page Mill. This is a long climb, about 10 miles from the 280 junction. It's not the perfect climb because it actually has some short descents on the way, but it makes up for those with some steep grades. After a short warm up on easy grades, it kicks up sharply and hairpins its way up to Foothills park. Because of that, there's often more traffic on this section, but not at 7am! Immediately after Foothill the grade picks up sharply to just beyond the junction with Moody Rd. A bit of relief then steady grade until a down section before the toughest section, one particularly steep hairpin, and then steady 10% or more, the steepest part of which is also exposed to the full sun. After that it's kind of mixed but with a couple of steep pitches, one 16% that doesn't seem like it's much when you start, and then the famous "wall" which my Garmin 305 claimed 20% after yet another short descent. I think this is where the San Andreas goes through as it's just before the Los Trancos open space reserve with it's Earthquake Trail. One more descent to where the dirt road that Alpine Road becomes joins in, and a final easy climb in a nice shaded section to the junction with Skyline. As I'm climbing I realize there is a temperature inversion as its getting warmer as I get higher.

At Skyline, you are not actually at the highest point. The right turn on Skyline climbs higher as does Alpine to the west. Only the left turn on Skyline descends but that is short lived as the road eventually climbs to 2600' at Saratoga gap. The ride continues west on Alpine, climbing to 2400' at the entrance to the Russian ridge open space preserve, where they seem to have had a controlled burn recently. The descent on Alpine is probably the most technical of the whole ride, in part because it is often foggy, and the road can be wet. But not today, this is probably as good as it gets, and the first time this year that I have not donned my jacket. There's a nice open section to start, but plenty of bends, until you reach a short flat section with great views to the south, then more bends down to a fork in the road with one branch dead ending at Portola State Park. Alpine continues, now in the shade and narrower, on and on until a sharp hairpin marks the descent into the canyon and more hairpins. This is where the temperature often takes a sharp dive as the canyon sees very little sun even in midsummer and today is no exception. I have been seriously cold here in the past but today it's just bearable without the jacket. The 15mph sign marks the end of the steep stuff and it's a mile or so alongside the stream and past some pretty big redwoods to the junction with the road from Old La Honda to Pescadero. We'll be taking that later but for now we turn right, meeting highway 84 and into Old La Honda.

There's a running race to the coast today and a small crowd of people hanging out getting ready. I continue up 84 to the junction with Old La Honda Rd and take that back to Skyline. Old La Honda is one of those roads which you can see snaking up ahead of you on the hillside and when you get to that section you have great views to coast and, of course, the lower section of the road you just came up. Eventually you enter the redwood forest again where the road gets very narrow. Not many cars come this way, but I've had a few close shaves with bikes on the wrong side of the road. There is a short wall of 16% to reach Skyline where there is inevitably a group of riders looking tired after having climbed the east side. The pass is in a dip, so it's a short climb out either way. I go left to 1780' and then it's a long downhill to Skylonda where highway 84 crosses. Turning left I head back down 84 to Old La Honda, which starts off at a very gradual grade but picks up later. There's no bike lane and the first section is endlessly twisty and cars heading to the beach often back up waiting to pass. No cars at this time of the morning, thankfully. There's a market at Old La Honda which is good for picking up extra fluids but its been closed the last few times I've been down. A casualty of the recession perhaps. Since its a long way to the next source, I beg some water from the bar. The runners have left on their way to the beach by now.

Then its back up Alpine, which is about a 45 min climb from the 15mph marker for me, to the Skyline ridge at 2400'. There's lots of 10%+ grade on the lower sections of Alpine and if its hot, the top section, which is 7-9%, feels as bad because its exposed to the sun. Down 200' to Skyline then left and back up 200' to the summit just before the big parking area at the Vista point where all the bay is spread before you. Unfortunately today, the smog in the valley is the most obvious component of the view. It's mostly downhill with a few rollers from here, past Windy Hill, back to the junction with Old La Honda. The ride continues on to Skylonda, so covering this section of road twice and then down 84 east. This is a fun descent, not usually too many cars and it's twisty enough that except for the odd boy racer, you can keep ahead of the cars. At the base of the hill, the ride peels off on a sharp right turn along Portola Rd, to meet up with Portola Valley Rd, where we turn right and head for the base of the climb up Old La Honda. Portola Valley Rd is part of the famous "loop" ride which is very popular.

It's getting hot already and this is pass number four, 6000' and four hours into the ride. OLH is a steady climb, no crazy grades just a consistent 7-9%. I've done it faster, even when tired, but today it takes me 30 minutes. At the top, we retrace the short trip to Skylonda for the third time. In the past I've gone back down 84 again to Woodside for lunch but this time I'm trying a variation that continues along Skyline to Kings Mountain and descends that to Woodside. It's more climbing, back up to 2350', but that's the point! Unfortunately, I'm getting low on fluids so it's a bit of a grind. Fun descent on Kings, especially the smooth road surface after Huddart park.

Woodside is the lunch stop, with 72 miles and 8000' covered so far. Robert's grocery has the basics and across the street is the bakery for special goodies and caffine shots. I usually do both. As it happens I run into some old friends outside Roberts from my soccer coaching days. In keeping with the spirit of the ride I'm wearing my 2008 Death Ride kit and they spot this and ask if I did it this year. No, unfortunately, but they did it on their brand new Co-motion tandem which has one of these new fangled Gates carbon belts instead of the conventional timing chain. We chat about the Death Ride and riding in general and I am humbled to learn that they can (both) climb Old La Honda in 22min on their singles and the same time on the tandem! Still the stoker was a tri-athlete in her younger days and they appear to have BMIs in the low teens.

I end up spending about half an hour longer than I had intended to but, heck meeting people is half the fun. One reason for not taking too long for lunch is that it is hard to get going again. There's a short warm up en route to the base of Kings which then climbs steeply. Kings is one of those climbs that is easy to break into segments, which is all part of the mental aspect of climbing. Kings has three, the first is twisty and steep up to the Huddart Park entrance. Then the road surface deteriorates and its a consistent medium grade to a dead straight wide and exposed section that seems out of place with the rest of the road, then steep again to Skyline ending in a narrow tunnel of redwoods at 2100'. Dead opposite is Tunitas Creek which we'll be coming up toward the end of the ride, but for now we turn left and head up Skyline, retracing the inbound route to lunch. This involves just a short climb and then a nice long descent to Skylonda, followed by a descent down 84, for the second time, to Old La Honda and the road to Pescadero. This time we stay right at the junction with Alpine Rd and head up Hoskins Grade. This is a fairly short 700' climb through the redwoods but for some reason it always seems longer than I expect. You know you are close when you see the "Horse Camp 1000 feet" sign. The problem is that whoever placed the sign was measurement challenged, as it's more like 1000 yards. The summit tops out at 1100' and then there is a great descent with several fun hairpins and rollers into Loma Mar. It's really a very pleasant ride at this point for several miles until the headwinds from the coast start to pick up. It was on this stretch on my first organized ride, the Tour de Cure in 2007, that I followed a guy wearing a Triple Crown jersey, with the "200 miles in one day" logo. I remember thinking that that was, first, impossible and, second, nuts, but now I'm doing them! I was wrong on the first but right on the second.

The headwind on the way into Pescadero typically gets worse but is alleviated eventually by one of those few stretches of flat road. The deli and grocery store at Pescadero is terrific, with a real old time feel about it, but sporting a brick pizza oven, inside seating and an outside beer garden, sometimes with live music. Ironically I run into another old friend from the soccer era, which adds a bit more time. I know pretty much exactly how long its going to take to get back from here and I really want to leave by 4pm, which I manage by the skin of my teeth.

The route follows Stage Rd through San Gregorio, where it crosses 84, and then up to the junction with 1. There are three small climbs and descents of about 300-400' each on the way and, despite the warm weather inland, the fog is blowing in pretty hard and I almost put on the jacket. If it's sunny there are some great view of the ocean along the way, but not today. At the junction with 84 is the (very small) village of San Gregorio, but which also has a very cool store that is popular with bikers (with and without engines). I don't usually stop having just fueled up at Pescadero. This is one of many bailout points on this ride and I have taken it in the past. A right turn on 84 will take you all the way back to Skylonda at a fairly leisurely grade, unlike Tunitas Creek where we are headed next. From the junction with 1 it's a fast descent down to the bridge over Tunitas Creek and then a right turn. Now we are traveling on the same road as the Amgen Tour of California and we have a lot to thank them for as, no doubt to avoid embarrassment (and possibly lawsuits) the steep midsection of the road was paved just before the tour last February. I once made the mistake of descending Tunitas in it's old condition and was absolutely shaken to bits by the end, as the surface was more pothole than tarmac. It's 10 miles from the coast to the summit, with a fairly long lead in. Then as the canyon closes in, it gets dark, usually so much so that I take my sunglasses off, and then it gets steep, 10-12%. There are three hairpins that delimit this section. The surface is now mostly excellent except that, curiously, they left one section of about 1/4 mile in its original condition, perhaps just as a reminder of how bad it used to be. At the second hairpin there is a "slow" sign, for no apparent reason, perhaps left from the construction. I am certainly in obedience! Some wag has also painted "N miles to go" on the surface at 5, 4 and 3 miles". The steep section eventually ends, indeed it almost looks like the summit, but the cruel trick is that you are still three miles from the end. The road deteriorates again, the pros were probably reminded of Belgium cobblestones on this section, and three miles at 3-5% grade never seemed so long. It's all S-shaped and you keep rounding a bend thinking, this must be it, only to see the road snake the other way again. Eventually when you do reach Skyline, it's almost an anti-climax as the grade drops to zero and you almost overshoot it.

This is another bail-out point. Just head on down Kings and back. But for the full credit you must climb back along Skyline through Skylonda to Old La Honda and descend that. If you wanted to get 150+ miles you could go left all the way to 92 and then back along Canada Rd to Woodside. Either way, the route ends up on Portola Valley Rd with the easy 1-2% grade up to the junction with Alpine, being careful to watch for the local sheriff at the stop signs! Then down Alpine, up the short hill on Arastradero, past the open space parking area and down to the park and ride at Page Mill. I have one more short hill on Arastradero to get down to the flatlands of Palo Alto. Total ride time was 13:05, on-bike time was 11:16, for 141 miles and 15600' of climbing. Definitely a Death Ride!

W2W Training Ride: Old La Honda

So, just a short year ago on this day, I was doing the the Death Ride, which was my first ever really hard ride. I'm missing the carnival atmosphere of 3000 bikes a bit, but not the lines for everything at the rest stops and the dangers inherent in that many bikes on the road.

Today a small number of the Sun Waves to Wine Ride team, Pom, Steve, Mary Jo, Jenny and yours truly, did our own little Death Ride by climbing up Old La Honda Road to Skyline. OLH is not as tough as Page Mill or Kings Mountain but it's a very consistent and steady climb. Someone apparently calculated that Lance Armstrong would take 13 minutes to climb it, but most riders are happy with a time in the 20s. The Western Wheelers bike club use the time as a way to categorize riders for club rides.

After warming up on the route we took two weeks ago, Arastradero, Alpine and Portola Valley, we were ready for the left turn up the hill. I knew we took somewhere around 40 minutes last year on the tandem, which was then our very first real climb. We were a bit further along in our tandem training at that point, but my climbing legs are in better shape after the hilly double centuries in June. We made it to the top in 41 minutes this time, without stopping. When I checked the bike computer log, I was pleased to see that we had improved our time by 5 minutes. Pom, however, showed us the way with a stunning time of 18 minutes, which puts him in the "into thin air" category of the Western Wheelers.

Nice descent down Woodside Road with absolutely no cars on our tail and cruise into Woodside for a deserved treat at the bakery. Then back via Portola Valley to the park and ride at Page Mill, saying goodbye to Steve and Mary Jo, and then one final hill before the cruise back to the flat lands of Palo Alto. Total of 33 miles and 2700' climbing. Time for a nap!

The State of California (from a Bike)

In the last three months I've ridden five double centuries in the Triple Crown schedule, ranging over quite a wide area of the state from Solvang to the Bay Area to the Sierra and Sonoma County. Specifically, Solvang Spring, Devil Mountain, Davis, Alpine Challenge and the Terrible Two.

Biking is a good way to see the countryside, you often ride back roads where you might not take a car and you travel at a pace that lets you see the sights. Yet 200 miles covers quite a lot of ground. My executive summary is that California is truly one of nature's marvels. Every single ride took me through stunning countryside, most of it unspoiled by man, and I have barely scratched the surface of what the state has to offer.

It's just too bad that, with a few notable exceptions, e.g., the Golden Gate bridge, man's contributions, particularly the recent ones, don't come close to living up to what nature provided. In fact in many cases, the man-made stuff is truly hideous and is an affront to the natural surroundings. For example, I can't get the ugly, out of proportion, housing developments in the Diablo valley out of my mind. There is obviously something about wide open spaces that bring out the worst in planners. Of course it is not lost on me that, without the tarmac road surfaces that are a by product of development, none of the double century rides would be practical. But something has gone badly wrong in recent years. The early development in California, which is where most of the rides go, was scaled appropriately and didn't overwhelm the natural surroundings. Not so any more. Whenever I see a new subdivision in the middle of nowhere, I worry that next year when I'm riding the same route, another one will have sprung up, and endlessly on, until I'm riding in exurbia wherever I go. Because, make no mistake, the developers would happily pave over the entire state in the name of economic growth and "progress". With luck we will run out of fossil fuels before that can happen.

Waves to Wine Kickoff Ride, 6/27/2009

And now for something completely different!

Today marked the start of the training for the MS Waves to Wine ride. A bunch of the Sun team from last year, most of whom are returning riders this year, got together for a kickoff/reunion ride.

We had originally planned an afternoon ride followed by an evening BBQ, but the weather forecast of temps in the mid-90s persuaded us to ride in the morning and BBQ at lunch. Good call,the ride was pleasant but by lunch it was hot enough that we chose to eat indoors even with backyard shade. I was sooo happy that the Terrible Two wasn't this weekend.

We started at our house in Palo Alto and headed up Page Mill Road to do the Portola Valley loop with Woodside as the turnaround point. For Jenny and I, this was the start of the tandem season. It felt a bit strange after my single road bike but we settled in pretty well considering the long layoff. The change from Shimano to Campy shifters always tricks me as the lever shift has the opposite effect. Plus you can't easily see which gear you are in on a tandem from the front.

I was happy to be starting late, after three consecutive weekends of double century rides starting at the crack of dawn. As we got onto Alpine Road we ran into people coming the other way on the Giro de Peninsula ride. The police were out in force and, unfortunately, were taking the opportunity to do a bit of fund raising by ticketing bikes for not following the letter of the law at stop signs. One member of our group got hit up at the right turn into Portola Valley Road, which has got to be one of the most ridiculous places to ticket a bike. It's obviously a fund-raising exercise not a safety issue. So that was a bit of a downer. We cruised down to Woodside, being very careful at all the stop signs, spotting another rider getting a ticket at the Mountain Home junction.

Iced latte at the Woodside Bakery and then back to Palo Alto via Sand Hill and Stanford. 21 miles, 1:30 on bike time, average speed 13.9. Not bad for a first outing. 10% of a double!

Terrible Two - Not So Terrible This Year 6/20/09

Ride time: 15:05
On bike time: 14:06
Distance: 200
Climbing: 18044'
Avg Speed: 14.1

The unseasonably cool weather stuck around for one more weekend despite warming up sharply on Thu/Fri. Whereas the cool was a problem in the Sierras it was a boon in Sonoma County keeping the maximum temperatures on the Terrible Two way below average, which frequently top 100.

Josh Beisel, Sun's Fitness Center manager joined me for this ride. Well, he rode in the van and we shared a room, but that was about the extent of our interaction as he was off with the lead pack for the actual ride. He was well rested by the time I rolled in to the finish at 8:35pm having finished two and a half hours faster in 12:32. Awesome!

I was actually quite worried about finishing this ride in the official time limit of 16:30 (17:30 for triple crown credit) as I hadn't previously done any hilly double in less than 18 hours. The cutoff for leaving the lunch rest stop seemed particularly tight for 11o miles by 1:45pm.

The ride started in Sebastopol at Analy High School which required a short drive from our hotel in Santa Rosa. Analy HS must have one of the smallest parking lots of any high school in the US and and by the time we arrived it was jammed. Luckily we managed to squeeze into possibly the last remaining space else we likely would have missed the mass start at 5:30am. This ride is much more like a race than other doubles; they have a big digital clock counting down to zero for the start and the same clock showing your ride time when you arrive at the finish.

Mass starts freak me out a little as they are always a bit crazy, everyone is excited, so the chance of a crash is quite high. Fortunately, this one went off safely and the riders quickly separated into two main groups, the racers (including Josh) and the rest. The course starts by traversing Santa Rosa with a scout car that supposedly can trip the many traffic lights. This was partially successful but the group was split a couple of times by the light going red. After Santa Rosa it was out towards Glenn Ellen and then up over the Trinity Grade into Napa Valley. Trinity Grade was quite steep but nothing I hadn't encountered before (unlike later on) with a fast descent into Napa Valley. Although I descended by myself (hills always break groups of riders up) a big group of riders eventually joined me waiting to cross onto highway 29. This was good because we formed a paceline that ran all the way to the first rest stop in Calistoga on the Silverado trail at a good clip. It's got to be one of the longest first segments of any double at 55 miles. Worried about making the lunch time cut-off, I am in and out of the rest stop quickly, initially solo, but quickly caught up by a smaller group of riders from the earlier paceline. So we motor fast up through the Alexander Valley to the turn off for the Geysers. I recognize some of the route from the rainy Wine Country 200K back in May.

The paceline breaks up as we start the climb into the Geysers. This is where is usually starts to get hot, but not today, its cloudy and still quite cool. The Geysers is an active geothermal area and the road has about six patches where it is there is no tarmac, just hard pack with some gravel. I'd told these exist because the ground is unstable and prone to washouts but the first two of these on the ascent look fine to me - it just looked as if they forgot to pave it. The Geysers has a double summit but the grade is fine and there is a rest stop at the top of the second summit. Some of the guys from the paceline had got away from on the hill but efficient rest stop management means I'm on my way before they are. Of course they catch me on the descent and now the non-tarmac sections are much more hairy. I'm amazed how fast these guys go through these sections as I feel very unstable. One guy says he is also a mountain biker so it doesn't faze him. But my wheels just feel very unstable. The descent seems to go on for ever and road surface is pretty bad and I feel like the bike (and me) is being shaken to bits. This is a continuing theme for most of the ride. Eventually we get down and cross the valley back to Warm Springs dam for lunch. The pacelines have really worked wonders for the first half ride time of 7 hours, which is I figure is the fastest 110 miles I've every done with any hill climbing involved. So, so far so good.

Its completely clouded over the the lunch stop and almost looks like it might rain. The last time I was here on the Wine Century it was pouring. The time before that was the finish of the MS Waves to Wine ride last September, when it was a little warmer. Everyone at the rest stop is incredibly helpful, making me a sandwich to order, filling my water bottles with the magic juice (I've now fixed on Perpetuem Caffe Latte as my favorite endurance ride drink). As I'm standing eating my sandwich, a couple of guys (see photo below courtesy of Bo Crane) who evidently were just out riding and happened on the rest stop, are curious about the crazy people who do these double centuries and ask me lots of questions. Fame at last!

Eventually I escape and start off alone, 45 minutes ahead of the cutoff, where, traditionally, the TT gets truly terrible; Skaggs Springs, the road built by the Army Corps of Engineers to replace the road flooded under dammed Lake Sonoma. This is two steep climbs to 2000' with a 1000' drop in between, almost all of it exposed to the sun where temperatures are often 90-110. Thankfully it's a lot cooler today but it's still hard enough to make me wonder that would be like. Remembering how I struggled at the Davis Double in 100 heat on modest grades, I do wonder if I could handle these grades of 10-12% in those temperatures. Early on in the first section my chain jams on a front chainring shift. Usually this is fixed by a quick back-pedal but not this time. At first I'm worried that the rear derailleur is broken but I eventually realize that the chain is actually jammed between the large and medium front chain rings. I manage to free it and breathe a huge sigh of relief as everything seems to be working ok again. There's a water stop at the top of the first summit and I grab a bag of peanut M&Ms and reward myself with two and a shot of drink every 100' up the second climb, where the sun has come out and it's getting a bit more uncomfortable. Fortunately the road gets shadier half way up and its easy going to the summit and then down the long descent and runout to Camp Gualala and the next rest stop. That was a long 25 miles, but everyone at the rest stop is exulting about how easy it is this year compared to the usual torture. One guys lectures me quite seriously that in a normal year this section pushes you to your absolute limits.

The bad news is the next section, while shaded, is known as the Gualala "wall". And indeed, this is the steepest climb I've ever done (so far). It's only a mile long and 900' of elevation but the grade is a sustained 16-18%. I actually switchback across the road in a few places. But my 28-27 low gearing gets me up without too much pain and it's on to the coast and Stewart's Point. At one place I encounter a fallen tree that, while not big enough to bother cars, requires me to dismount and carry the bike over it. Fortunately, this was not on a steep downhill section! I'm dismayed that there is another short climb before reaching the coast but eventually I arrive at highway 1. It's beautiful at the coast, no fog and a nice tailwind. I haven't seen many bikes lately but eventually a couple catch me up and I catch their draft for a while. One guy I recognize from last week's Alpine Challenge, who I overtook on my frantic race for the Monitor pass cutoff. This time he has the better of me as eventually I can't match his pace and he pulls away. I never see him again until the post-ride dinner.

Eighteen miles later at the Fort Ross rest stop is where I pick up my lights and battery extender for the Garmin Edge 305 bike computer. Ironically I'm not going to need the lights today as it's still only 5pm with just 37 miles to go on the longest day of the year. I'm beginning to get that manic thirst and down a cup of noodle soup, a V8 and half a Mountain Dew and a bunch of melon and (very good) strawberries. Like Gualala, there is a reluctance to leave the rest stop as up next is the dreaded Fort Ross climb, that is considered by many to be the toughest of the ride. This turns out to be just as bad as the Gualala wall except that it lasts for 1500' and twice as long. As I look up and see people on the hill I begin to question whether the eclectic mix I just put in my stomach was such a good idea. My speed is barely 3mph on most of it and midway I pass a tandem that had actually overtook me on Skaggs, walking up. Later I saw them being sagged in; a shame to have got so far and not finish. The climb is shaded by redwoods until the final section which is now in bright sunshine. The hills look beautiful. Fort Ross is another double summit and we drop down to 900' before climbing back to 1500' before the final descent into Cazadero. The road surface is really bad again on this section.

On this section I meet up with a guy who I get talking to and he mentions the Eastern Sierra double. Some if what he says sounds familiar and eventually, seeing that his bike and apparel are orange, I realize that he must be Jay from the Pumpkin Cycle blog who wrote the excellent post on the recent Eastern Sierra fiasco. Amazing coincidence. We rant for a while about that and other double-related stuff.

Once we get back on highway 128 the surface improves and magically we find another paceline that gets us into the last rest stop at Monte Rio in short order. Only 17 miles to go now. I head out alone and reach a T-junction that I can't find on the route map. I'm pretty sure I should go left but then I see Jay coming up the road to the right. He claims that getting lost is one of his things, but that we are definitely on the right road. There are no other riders to confirm that but we press on. We climb steadily up to Occidental and then turn left towards Sebastopol. I'm very glad when we start descending and I ask Jay, who rode this section yesterday, if we are done with the climbing. He says yes, but it's a lie and there's still a couple more short hills. Finally we hit a flat section and then turn onto High School Road for the last mile. Great reception at the finish, the digital clock showing my (personal) record for a hilly double and lots of people clapping and cheering. Josh is waiting patiently and seems (pleasantly) surprised to see me this early!

In another extraordinary coincidence I meet another old friend, Bo Crane, from Palo Alto at the finish, who used run the Palo Alto AYSO youth soccer program during my tenure as head coach a few years back. He's also a biker but he's here cheering on a friend who came down from Oregon to do the ride. He snapped this picture of me.


Great post-ride meal and then Josh and I decide to head back rather than stay an extra night as we are done so much earlier than (I) expected. He graciously offers to drive as I'm not sure I would be safe. I'm feeling pretty beat up; my arms in particular are aching from all the bumpy descents.

So now I've done the top three "radically difficult" doubles, Devil Mountain (DMD), Alpine 8-pass Challenge (A8) and the Terrible Two (TT), in one year. Ironically, I did my best time by far on the TT, which I was most worried about. Obviously I'm in better shape than when I did the DMD back in April, but it's still interesting to try to rank them. The TT had a lot more fast flat riding than I had expected, which helps get the average speed up, but the after-lunch climbs are monsters. The DMD and the A8 basically have no paceline riding at all, it's either up or down all the time. I'm sure the TT would be much, much harder in normal, hot, temperatures, so I think it definitely deserves its title. My personal enjoyment ranking is: DMD, A8 and TT. I score the TT last because the road surface is truly awful for long periods, whereas the A8 roads (and views) are fantastic. The DMD is somewhere in between but overall gave me the biggest sense of achievement and the still-green countryside is truly magnificent in April. All three rides are incredibly well supported with fantastic volunteers.

So, given that the TT is only a week after the A8 I'm not sure I'd do it again. It would almost certainly be hotter and tougher and I'm no fan of heat. Check back next year!

Alpine Challenge Double (aka Death Ride +++) 6/13/2009

I made it (just). Stats from my Garmin 305 (with handy battery extender):

Ride time: 19:00
On bike time: 16:41
Distance: 198
Climbing: 21416'
Avg speed: 11.8

I went up a day early to acclimatize to the altitude and stayed at
Kirkwood. Lots of snow still around and temps in the 50's on arrival. Friday dawned frosty but sunny and I went for a warm up ride in the late morning to Silver Lake and then up to Carson Pass and back. Clouds gathered during the afternoon and some light rain.

Riders were assigned start times and I had the earliest possible at
3:30am, although a few people evidently started even earlier. Saturday was cloudy with temps in the 40s, warmer than I expected but early cloud never bodes well in the Sierra. After my debacle at the Eastern Sierra the weeks before I was better equipped, at the cost of extra weight. I had two layers, arm warmers, leg warmers, bootees, three pairs of gloves(finger gloves, cold weather bike gloves and ski gloves), ski pants and a handlebar bag to put it all in. In the end I wore everything at various points in the ride. Oh, I forgot the essential but practical fashion accessory. A cool blue Walgreen's disposable shower cap. Lightweight, easy on/off even when riding, keeps the rain out and the cold on descents for the hair-challenged among us. Also a good way to meet new people as it invites comments -;)

The start was at Turtle Rock park just north of Markleeville, 30 minutes drive from Kirkwood (there's very limited accommodation much closer). I got a scare at the start as I tweaked my left calf muscle in the parking lot. Initially I thought this would be a show stopper as every time I dropped my heel, pulled back or pushed hard it reminded me sharply that it wasn't 100%. So for the first half of the ride I babied it and did most of the work with my right leg. Now you know why single leg training is important! Fortunately it improved through the day and by the end I was able to push pretty much full out. Never would have made it otherwise.

The ride starts by descending into to Carson valley and traverses along the foothills parallel to 88/395 and then up Kingsbury grade towards Lake Tahoe. The first rest stop and turn around was at 7300' where it was cold and damp. Ski pants and gloves on for the descent which was fun. Back in the valley it was light and you could see the great views we missed in the dark on the way in.

After stopping to remove the descending gear, hit the the second rest stop, where there were more volunteers than riders just before the climb up from Woodfords to Hope Valley at 7000' and then up to the top of Luther Pass at 7700'. I was trying to be efficient at the rest stops, just grab some food, fill up drink bottles and leave. I.e., no rest! After Luther it was back down to the Hope Valley and then up to Carson Pass at 8500' by 10am. I'm really happy with my schedule at this point. Still noticeably colder above 7500' and occasional spots of rain. Notice that the whole course is basically an out and back affair centered around Hope Valley and Markleeville. Of course, this allows you to spot the leaders coming down while you are going up. A right turn and a very scenic ride up to Blue Lakes at 8200'. On the way the sun comes out and I actually take off my jacket and put on my finger gloves! I'm also passed by Triple Crown Stage race contender Robert Choi, who probably started two hours after me. Everyone has their name and number very visible on their back. Had to duct tape one of my (not Titanium) water bottle cages which had broken at the rest stop. Weather turns cloudy and cold again on the long descent back to Turtle Rock for lunch. Useful to have access to the car for gear modifications, but I'm not changing anything as the weather on the next pass, Ebbetts, looks ominous. Quick sandwich and I'm on my way. No cell phone coverage anywhere so I can't call home with an update. It's just after 1pm, 111 miles, and I'm still feeling good about the time because I know how long it has taken me in the past to do the remainder of the ride. However, the fact is you still have 3/4 of the regular Death Ride to do and the two toughest passes.

It's a long ride in to Ebbetts, but pleasant alongside the Carson river and I've pulled down the leg and arm warmers. Ebbetts has the steepest grades, 12% in places, but I find it easier than I remember, probably because I recently lowered my lowest triple chain ring to 28. Half way up with the sun out, I even stop to take off by bootees! Short-lived experiment as by 8000' the rain is back and its getting really cold again. The summit is the highest point at 8750' and the rest stop has hot chocolate! Back on with the ski pants and gloves for the 5 mile descent to Hermit valley. It rains most of the way down, but at least no hail this week! Soup at the bottom rest stop, off with the rain gear and back up. Of course to starts raining again near the summit. Several people under the "sun shade" wrapped in blankets waiting it out - I don't think they are going to finish. More hot chocolate and I see it's nearly 5pm and I wonder where all the time has gone. The rain that started on the way up has stopped but the road surface is wet nearly the entire length of the descent and wet enough at the top to soak my bootees with spray. Ebbetts is the one pass with a tricky descent so its annoying that its wet, and I have to go slow. I also lose my water bottle three times from the flaky cage and the bumps and give up on it after the third time.

I turn onto to Monitor pass at 5:45 and catch one guy for about the third time and ask him how he's doing and he says ok but he doesn't think he's going to make it. I had forgotten that the cutoff for descending the East side of Monitor is 7pm. That's 8 miles and 2500' feet away, similar to Page Mill and I know how long that takes me when I'm fresh - very, very tight. And at this point I have 150 miles and
15000' on my legs. Another guy passes me, and asks me how far it is and curses when I tell him. So we team up and thrash up the climb. Of course the leaders are coming down already. There's a lot of 8-10% grade to start with and I'm worried I'm going to blow up. Once we reach the second section where the grade is 6-8% it's still tight time wise and we are passed by one of the many SAG vehicles and we ask him to drive up to the top and ask about an extended cut-off. He says not to worry as there are people 20 minutes behind us who are asking the same, and anyone who gets this far deserves to finish. We don't slack off however and make the rest stop at the 8300' summit bang on 7pm. No time for stopping as there is food and drink at the bottom of the descent. It turns out the the rest stop organizer enforced the cut off anyway and we are the last but one riders allowed to descend.

The descent to Topaz junction at 395 is one of the classics, ten miles, great surface, easy curves, just two benign hairpins, good visibility, minimal traffic and fantastic views. Hit a steady 45mph on the lower section and cruise into the rest stop to fuel up for the climb back, which is actually the longest of the day at 3300' and those ten miles. We team up with the last guy down, who also happens to be from Palo Alto, and start back up. He is struggling a bit so I elect to stay with him at a slower pace. It takes two hours to get back and it was dark and pretty cold by then. The SAG drivers hang around waiting for us to drop!

I estimate the temp was in the thirties above 8000 all day - it was 35 by the time I got back to Kirkwood which was ten degrees colder than when I started out in the morning. Back at the rest stop I request hot chocolate for my bottle, don the ski gloves one final time, but not the pants - there's one more climb back to Turtle Rock and I can't climb in them - and set off down solo (my teammate on the climb has a buddy who missed the cut off). It's a long cold descent and I realize I left the water bottle!. I have no idea how fast I'm going but I have the road to myself and my AYUP (http://www.ayup.com) lights are fantastic so it's pretty quick. Thankfully no wildlife, e.g., bears or deer, make an appearance on the road. The six miles back from the junction of 4 and 89 to Markleeville is something of grind but there is cell phone coverage in Markleeville! So I call Jenny to let her know I made it. The final 400' climb back to the park seems to go on forever but then there is the sign, lights and post-ride dinner (always a winner)! I check in, pick up my 8-pass finisher jersey and chow down with a bunch of very tired looking people.

For the record, the fastest time was by the person who won the Terrible Two last year - 13:01 - just amazing.

Overall this was a very well organized and supported ride, that is
destined to be a classic. I am so glad that I was able to finish it in
its inaugural year. There were surprisingly few riders, even for the
"build your own ride" variant, i.e., you could do the Death Ride (in
reverse) if you wanted and about 60 people did that, given how many people fail to get into the actual Death Ride every year. I must say I really like the atmosphere and support of the club-hosted double centuries.

Next weeks it's the Terrible Two - hope I recover in time!