Conference noted::bicycle

                  <<< Note 1510.0 by VERVE::BUCHANAN "Bat" >>>
                              -< The Death Ride >-


Yeah, but are there any primes?  Free lap rule in effect?

    I was interested in the "No Pass" ride where you can drive all the
    passes and still get a patch, I think they had that last year (I am
    serious!!).  I am thinking of doing the ride this year (on my bike not
    in my car) my friends have done it several years in a row and think its
    a great ride.
    
    mike

    
    An intriguing ride, to be sure.  :-)
    
    It is so tempting!  What are the grades like?
    
    -j
    

re: .2  No No don't drive the passes.  At least not during the ride.  Don't
    need a lot of slow moving cars on winding mountain roads.

    The No Pass option is just kind of a joke.  It's intended for family of
    riders.  It's listed as 1/4 mile, 10 feet of climbing.  It's basically the
    walk from the starting point to the picnic area.

re: .3  This will be my first Death Ride so I'm not sure of the grades.  The
    entry form claims that there are a few very tough stretches of 10-15%. 
    Most mountain highways have pretty gentel grades so the big trucks can get
    up them.  However these are not main roads.  In fact a couple of the roads 
    are closed during the winter months.


John Lee, there are a couple other Bay Area killer rides.  There's one called
the Terrible Two and it's vital stats are 208 miles, 15,000 feet of climbing. 
Another is the Bay Area Triple Century.  It circles the whole Bay area, 300
miles with a 24 hour time limit I think.  Both of these are out of my league. 
I'm doing the Davis Double in two weeks, the Death Ride in July and then I'm
going to drink more beer and watch more ball games on the weekends!

    The Markleeville Death Ride was the past Saturday.  I'm back, alive and
    in one piece to report on it.

    I was a little nervous because the weather had been very hot last week.
    I drove up on Friday afternoon and the temperatures were up over 100
    degrees.  In a town in the Sierra foothills the time/temp sign at the
    local bank said it was 108 at 4:30!  By the time we got to Markleeville
    it was much cooler with cloud cover.  However the cloud cover contained
    thunder, lighting and rain.  It rained pretty hard for a while Friday
    night but was clear at 6 AM for the start.  It clouded up a bit and
    threatened most of the day which kept the temperature down.  I was
    fortunate and only hit a few sprinkles and had pretty dry roads for the
    descents.

    I had never ridden at altitude before and was concerned about how I'd
    feel.  The lowest spot on the ride was 5500' and the highest was 8700'.
    I was surprised at how little effect I felt.  I was tired sure, but I'd
    be tired if we started at sea level.  My theory is that there is so
    much pollution here in the Bay Area at although the air is thicker here
    there probably isn't much more oxygen, there the air is thin but clean
    and clear.

    I was also expecting wicked hard climbs.  They were tough in spots but
    the hills in this area are just a tough, maybe even tougher.  The main
    differences are the length and the altitude.  Some of those climbs just
    seemed to go on forever.  An unrelenting climb of 6-7% for 10 miles can
    be very demoralizing.

    It almost literally became a "death ride" for me when coming down the
    second pass (the CA side of Monitor) at a speed of just over 40 MPH my
    tire blew off the rim!  Fortunately it was in a straight stretch of
    road.  I used the front brake, kicked my feet out and got it stopped.
    If you've never experienced it, I'll tell you the sound and feel of a
    metal rim on the road is not a good one.  I got it fixed and a sag
    wagon stopped and I used their floor pump to pump it up hard again
    (dumb!).  About 10 miles later it blew off again.  When I got back to
    the start/finish I put a new tire on (the same kind) and used a lower
    pressure.  No more problems.  The tire was a Michelin Hi-Lite.  They
    have good traction and ride nice but I was always concerned about how
    easy they went on.  Maybe there was more altitude effect on my tire
    than on me, who knows.

    I took the aero bars off for this ride.  Of the 144 miles I'd guess
    that not more than 20 were flat enough to use them.  The rest you were
    either climbing or screaming down a hill.  I also put on the lowest
    gearing I could, 39x26, and don't regret it for a second.  There were a
    lot of "stud" out there trying to push a low gear of something like
    42x22, more power to them but I'm not embarrassed in the least.

    For those who choose to make the final climb up Ebbets pass (8700') you
    are presented with a nice lapel pin.  Due to the cloud cover keeping
    the temperatures down and low winds a much higher number of riders did
    the full ride this year.  Last year only about 150 rider did it but
    when I got to the top they said that nearly 500 had been there (throw
    out a few of those because they choose to skip one of the earlier
    passes).

    My total time was 12 hours and 40 minutes.  I stopped at most of the
    rest/food stops and lost at least 45 minutes due to the three tire
    changes, so I'm guessing that I was actually on the bike for about 10
    to 10.5 hours.
    
    I'm going next year.  Start making your vacation plans now and I'll see
    you there.

    Congrats Bat, sounds like a real tough ride!  I agree with the lower
    gearing, I wonder what Lemond, Delgado, et all use in the Alps and
    Pyrennes for gearing?
    
    That's the first time I've heard of a clincher coming off of a rim!
    I thought tubulars were the only tire at risk of rolling off? Maybe 
    struggling with mounting Specialized Turbo's is worth it (I couldn't 
    imagine a Turbo blowing off a rim).  
    
    

>                      <<< Note 1510.6 by IAMOK::WESTER >>>
>
>    Congrats Bat, sounds like a real tough ride!  I agree with the lower
>    gearing, I wonder what Lemond, Delgado, et all use in the Alps and
>    Pyrennes for gearing?
    
    I think pro gearing tends towards a 39 or 40 inner and 23 or 24 on the
    back. I've just come back from a holiday in the Pyrennees and I'm not
    ashamed to say that my lowest was 36x28, and what's more I used it a
    lot on the big climbs. Like Bat says, what gets you about the biggies
    is that they go on for so *long*.
    
    
    Rod

    Rod,
    
    Do you mind chronicling your Pyrennees holiday?
    
    I've wanted to go there for years, specifically when I lived
    closer to the Pyrennees, and have never made it.
    
    -john

    No I don't mind at all, but I haven't done it yet. I'll write something
    soon.
    
    
    Rod