Great Western Trip: part five, Everest Challenge day two (contd)

Here we are on Death Valley Road:

was it hot?  you bet it was.  I was grabbing every bottle I could and showering with them as often as possible.

This was a particularly weird part of the race, since it traditionally is the shortest climb of the day's three.  This is due to the arbitrary nature of where they put the turnaround.  At some point, however, someone decided that we "must" have even more climbing so the decision was made to lengthen the second climb.  They pushed the official turnaround 1.5 miles further up the road.

Official.

Well, it didn't quite work out the way they planned.  It all comes down to communication, and the folks in charge of setting up the turnaround didn't know exactly where to set up, so they chose a spot....

FIVE

miles

further.

ouch.

Needless to say, there was a lot of "where the hell is the turnaround?"  but it did finally come.  Of course, now the second climb was every bit as long as the first one!

The third climb, however, was the "big" one.  Ha-ha.

As if climbs lasting an hour and half are not big.  No, seriously, the third climb on day two is ridiculous.  It gains over 6000 feet, tops out over 10,000, and has some of the steepest grades in it.  Not only do you have to deal with endless undulations of little dips followed by double-digit ramps, but near the top, above 8000 feet, you have sections that are several miles long averaging 9% or more!  I think my time on climb three was well over two hours.

At this point we are less than halfway up on the third climb:

And here we are about 3/4 of the way up, on a nice little 15% ramp at high altitude:

And, getting near the top, over 9000', with about a mile and a half to go.  The grimace was very real.  Of course, right now I am pushing as hard as I can and putting out about 150 watts doing it.  Welcome to crackville.

And we finally finish.  Day two was around 6:25.  I was tenth.  Also tenth on GC, good for $20 and a finishers t-shirt as well as a little medal.  I plan to mount the medal.

Here's day one's ride

Day two

and the descent from the finish back to Big Pine valley (where it was 104˚)

A fun descent,  I managed to get pretty high on the leaderboard for that one, even taking it easy!

Denouement

It's hard to find excitement in the ensuing week after such an event.  I wanted to see Yosemite, but only had half a day, so I drove around there and did not take any pictures.  (next time!)

Then a marathon drive to Utah, followed by a ride on a beautiful island on Salt Lake...

Where you can ride with Buffalo who come right out into the road!   Watch for chips though.

After that, things got different.  Driving over the Great Divide was weird.  The temperature dropped to nearly freezing and the wind (where I stopped in Cheyenne) was such that my car was getting blown around even while parked!

It never warmed up much again as I continued Eastward, until finally returning to cloudy rainy New York, but appreciating the fall colors here.  (They don't have them like we do, anywhere!)

Will I do this again?  The short answer is yes.  The long answer is:  It depends on how many people buy furniture or how many commercials I can do. 

I am glad I did it though.

Thanks for stopping by.

Great Western Trip: part four, Everest Challenge day two

Day two.  I slept well.  Mentally recovered from yesterday's loss.  Physically....well...let's just say that my legs were quite aware of what they had done the day prior.

But we were mainly in good spirits, for it being 40 degrees or so!

Steve is on the right, me in the middle, and the guy in red is one of the hammers who was ripping my legs off the day before.  I expected more of the same today!

We roll out:

at this point, a percentage of the field have already given up after day one, and only 11 of us remain.

After what had happened yesterday, I made the decision that if Steve were to drop back from this group for any reason, I would sit up and wait.  There was no way I was going to be competitive at this point, and even if I were able to hang with the leaders on the first climb, the likelihood that I would crack badly later on in the race was high.  I felt it would be best for us to stick together, and I figured his endurance was also going to exceed mine once the hours piled up.

So, we did the rest of climb one together:

And the descent.  My only real chance to stuff my face with food!  Eating at 40mph.

He looks like a bike racer, and I look like a bike eater.

I did actually finish eating and get back to going fast at some point!

(TBC)

Great Western Trip: part three, Everest Challenge day one

So, another 5 hours in the car and I arrive in Bishop, California.

the view out of the car window on the way

Bishop is situated in a valley between the eastern slope of the Sierras (which we climb on day one) and the White Mountain range (day two,) forming a wall between us and Death Valley (yes, the real one.)

I met up with Kim and Steve on the way, and we formed a two-vehicle caravan for the trip, as we were going to share a hotel room, and I needed the help in avoiding getting lost!

Kim was essentially the most important person to me that weekend, as, in addition to being one of the official photographers for the event, was driving support for Steve and I (this is another reason why I raced in the cat 3 as opposed to the Masters.)

You cannot do this race without support.  I would start the day loaded with bottles and food, and then take two feeds of full musette bags as well as two or three additional water feeds for each stage.  Kim would drive to various good locations to take pictures, and then be there when we needed her for feeds!

THANK YOU KIM

(All of the following photos taken of us at the actual event are ©Kim Weixel, 2012)

Stage One

This thing starts early!  We had to get up at 5:30 in order to make the 7:20 start time.  Riding from the hotel to the start made sense, since we were going to catch a ride back in Kim's car after the stage was over.  Unfortunately, Steve flatted on the way to the start, and we had to make an emergency call!

Sometimes you cut things close.  This one went down to the SECOND, as just about the time Steve tightened the skewer on his replacement wheel, they blew the whistle and we were off..

I tried to lead the first climb as much as I could, mainly to keep the pace DOWN.  There were some awfully strong guys in this small field, and I didn't want them to push it too hard, at least for as long as I could.

It's a long climb, and this is probably almost and hour into it.  Steve has dropped off, and there are only ten of us left.  We are high enough that things are getting cold again.  The pace was tough, but I kept up with these guys until almost the top.

But, as we approach 10,000 feet, we hit a steep ramp of 15% or so, and the leaders punch it.  I have to relent and drop off the pace, losing maybe a minute or so by the time I reach the top.  Kim is camped out almost at the summit taking pics, and I ask her how far back Steve is.  The decision is made to keep pushing rather than sit up as I think I have a decent shot at catching them on the long descent and ensuing flat section.  I take the descent as fast as possible...

Every now and then, on this very long descent, I can see the little group in the distance.  I put my head down and keep going for more speed.  Speed!  Speed! Speed!

whoops..

(I think I was supposed to turn left back there)

(yeah)

(I am way off course)

So I stop.  I get out the phone and call Steve.  Turns out I went 3.5 miles past the turn and have to climb all the way back in order to get back on course.  So much for being in contention.

I lost 25 minutes or so from my detour and went to nearly last man on the road in our field.  Steve was now way ahead of me so there was no chance of me catching up to him.  I ride the rest of the day alone, dejected.  It's amazing how this sort of thing can affect your power output as well.  From that point on, I stopped at every feed to rest a minute rather than just taking quick feeds.  I just wanted to finish and think about tomorrow.  Final time: 7:16, for 12th place.  meh.

They had a nice spread of hot food up there.  I took my shoes off and let my aching feet get a breather, had about as much soup as I could, and then we packed ourselves into the Mini and drove back to the hotel.  Tomorrow's a new day, even if I am "out" of the running now.

(TBC)

Great Western Trip: Part two

I had about five days to hang out in Cali before the race would begin.  Some of it would be spent training, but most of it would be spent just "vacationing" and dilly-dallying.  If I had thought to take more pictures, you'd be able to see them here, so just imagine that I did.

Tell you what, I will just steal some and pretend I took them...

I did take this one:  Ever wonder where those panoramic shots on Google Maps come from?  At some point (when it is updated) you'll see my car in one of them!

That's the Westlake Blvd exit in Thousand Oaks.

The first day, I decided to hit a few of the known favorite climbs in the T.O. area, including the famous Rock Store climb they had in the Tour of California a few years back.  It's not ultra-steep or ultra-long, but you definitely feel it!

That wasn't quite enough, so I went on to descend and then climb Decker Canyon:

here is that ride.

On the second day, I drove up to Santa Barbara to meet Steve Weixel..

He and I are planning to ride EC together in the cat 3 so we met up for some mountain training near his place.  Of course he's ridden these mountains (in his back yard) 300 times or something, and I have only done them once!

Here's what one of them looks like on the way down:

and the complete ride, La Cumbre Peak 2x

I followed these two climbing days with a couple of days of easy riding to complete the taper for the weekend.  Next stop, Bishop, California and Everest Challenge!

(TBC)

Great Western trip, part one

As some of you may know, I spent most of the past three weeks on the road.

It was iffy whether I was going to be able to do it.  The trip cost too much.  Finding the time wasn't easy,  although possible.  The main focus, however, was the Everest Challenge Stage Race which I had been hemming and hawing over earlier in the season.

I tested my "long days of climbing" ability back in mid summer with my Tour De Stupid Part One, One and a half,  and Two.  Success at those rides would mean Everest was a possibility.  Otherwise I might as well forget it, since it represents just about the toughest thing one can do on a bike, short of something like RAAM or a Grand Tour.

They were tough, but I finished, and in so doing managed to be first American to finish the Rapha Rising Challenge on Strava.

Everest Challenge would be far more difficult because A: it's a race, B: you climb considerably more, C: those climbs take place on gigantic mountain passes and D: it reaches elevations exceeding 10,000 feet!

So I knew that I would have to drive instead of fly, needing to spend some time at elevation and find some hard mountains to climb first.  My sister lives in California anyway so I might just find a way to have a little vacation in this as well!

The first two days were driving, driving, and some more driving.  I live in the car.  I drive the car.  I sleep in the car.  I eat in the car.  I see dogs driving cars.

And I see, for a few seconds, the Mississippi River

wow.

well, not wow, but at least I am making good time for the West.  By the end of day two (and 31 hours of driving) I am close to my first destination, Grand Mesa Colorado.  This is a little-known place in the Western Rockies that features two things I need.  First off, a campground to stay at which is above 10,000' (It ended up being 10,300) and secondly, a road that climbs all the way up to it.

It really did.  All THIRTY miles of it.  A 30 mile climb, for those of you who have never done one (hah!) took me nearly 3 hours to complete.  The descent took over an hour!  Check it out here.

and a few shots of what it looks like looking down from the Mesa:

And here's the summit, with my bike in the view:

Elevation: 10,839


After a couple of days in this wonderland, I hit the road again, making a beeline for the California coast.


On the way, in Utah, some beautiful rock formations making me wish I had a real camera:

and a dust storm near Death Valley which obscured the entire mountain range in the distance:

But I made it through, finally arriving at my sister's place in California after some 15 hours in the car!

Next up, final prep for the big race!

(TBC)