So, what are my thoughts on the Death Ride?
First and foremost, I’m proud of my performance. It was hard, and four passes is not at all bad for a first-time rider. Going up Ebbetts took tremendous courage, and I managed it. One pedal stroke at a time.
It was fun, in a sick sort of way. It definitely tested my limits, and I came out OK. I wasn’t fast enough to make the time cuts, but I was strong enough to make it up the mountains, and (given that Carson Pass isn’t any steeper than Ebbetts) I think I could have finished the ride, given more time.
I’m not sure if I’ll ever be a five-pass rider. At my current level of training, there was simply no way for me to make the time cutoff at Woodfords (or the time cutoff at Pickett’s if I’d made it to Woodfords) – I left about as early as possible and still missed the cutoff by a good hour or so. If I left at 3am instead of 3:30am and didn’t blow up on the way up Ebbetts, I might possibly make it to Woodfords, but it’s unlikely I’d make it to Pickett’s in time to go up the fifth pass. In order to make the time cuts, I’d either have to be in significantly better shape, or drop about fifteen pounds. Either one is achievable, but I’m not sure I want it desperately enough to put in the efforts.
The altitude definitely affected me. Going up a 7% grade felt like going up a 10% grade, and a 12% grade felt like an 18% grade. My average speed was only 8.6 mph, vs. an average speed of about 10 mph at sea level (and with much slower downhills!). I’m guessing I lost about 30% of my power just from the altitude. Less than I’d expected (given my prior experience with altitude sickness at 7,000 feet), but still substantial.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do next year. I may very well do the Death Ride again, but this time more for fun than as a focus of my training. As I said, I’m not sure if I’ll ever (given my motivation level) be a five-pass rider, but I did enjoy my time, and it was a nice getaway. On the other hand, if I manage a Triple Crown next year, and AIDS Lifecycle, I’ll be in much better condition, so who knows….? Perhaps I’ll collect that jersey after all.
Way to go Tien! I’ve been rooting for you, and 4 passes is a great accomplishment for a first time rider…
… here’s to that Triple Crown!
Going from a ride like the Aids Life Cycle to the Deathride is a huge leap. 4 passes is a great accomplishment.
Congrats 🙂 Just think, about 12 months or so ago you were having difficulties just climbing Page Mill Rd(or Page Hill.. or whatever it’s called 🙂 ) Now put that into perspective with the ride you’ve just done. HUGE! There’s no reason to doubt that similar improvements could be had again before next year begins.
Isn’t Ebbetts fun? 😉
You weren’t all that far off from making the cut for the final climb – and given that once you reach Turtle Rock it’s mostly downhill it only takes about 15 minutes. You can freewheel most of the way from Turtle Rock if you should so desire.
If you keep training you will get it next year. If anything, just pacing a little better early on and finding a nutritional plan for the ride that works may well do it – something as simple as maybe just changing that inner chainring to something smaller and changing your drinks.
Reading your blog about your training has been interesting – especially the last entry about the ride itself. Your experience pretty much mirrored my first Deathride in 2005. Even last year I forgot last year how hard the first half of monitor pass upto the water stop is on the first climb – there’s a couple of miles of 10% – and there a good few sections of the back side of Monitor that are 8 to 10% on the lower slopes – you weren’t deceiving yourself. Doesn’t the Garmin have audible alarms for the HR to help with your “riding in the dark and can’t see” woes?
I suffered last year from bloating and gastro-intenstial distress and I should be the first to appologize to other Deathriders last year for “killing” the porta-potties at both the lunch stop and the water stop on the front side of Ebbetts. This year I took my own “drinks” – I pre-made “2 scoop” snack bags of Hammer Perpetuem powder and some of their Hammer Gel – the two work well together and I found out through training that one 24oz bottle per 60 to 75 minutes, topped off with 1 gel every 90 minutes to two hours worked well for me. If I do 1 gel per hour I start getting “gassy” and a little uncomfortable. This way the rest stops become a quick in-and-out affair, just pouring the powder in the bottle, topping off with water and chomping on a quick watermelon or orange just to “freshen the mouth up” as it were. That volume of liquid may seem a little excesive, but you get more dehydrated at altitude due to the “drier air” and the fact that you’re also climbing at a slow speed for hours on end you tend to sweat more too due to the lack of cooling from passing air as you’re doing 5 to 7mph rather than 14+mph. Judging that I only went pee twice in over 13 hours I don’t think that I was drinking too much, probably not enough actually.
I don’t do well with products with too much sucrose or fructose – so the Hammer suppliments (mostly maltodextrin) work well for me. Your milage may vary…
I took Monitor very easy this year and Ebbetts was way easier than I remembered. In 2005 I was riding at walking speed for the last few miles feeling dizzy, nausious and generally not the happiest camper. Last year I was 10 lbs lighter than the year before and a little to eager on the first climb – something that cost me very dearly on Ebbetts. I lost another 25lbs this past year just by cutting out excessive carbo drinks on the bike and needless junk food off it. The sad thing is that I still have 30lbs to lose to get back to my old racing weight from a decade ago! 🙁 Hahaha. The next 3 to 4 months for me will be spent just doing that – 4 steady rides of about 1.5hrs each per week and I’ll be back to losing a pound or so per week again….
But the ride is over and done for another year – this was my third attempt and I finally finished. I probably would have finished last year too if it wasn’t for the misconsumed Cytomax and gel that I sucked down after the last climb of Monitor – I won’t tell you what my coach said after I told him about that… there may be children reading this blog. LOL I love his brutal honesty – it’s a Scottish thing (I think they love to chastise the English whenever possible.)
Hi Tien,
I saw you at the top of Monitor. I am not sure which way you were going as you were holding your bike at the rest stop but I assumed west. I was headed west at about 8:30 am and didn’t stop as once I get rolling I just hate stopping.
In any case I was glad to see you out there and congrats on the ground covered. 4 or 5 passes, either case is a great accomplishment. There were a lot bodies along the roadside headed up Carson. Ambulance took a few away from heat stroke. I saw a couple at Pickett’s who were under EMT care for the same problem. The temperatures at 2 – 3 pm were in the low 90’s on the road between Woodford’s and Pickett. Point being, you didn’t miss much (well maybe a chocolate crunch bar at the top of Carson, but $1.25 and vending machine could fill that need).
If I were the organizers the name should be changed to, “The Death Ride, a Pass Too Far”. That last climb is always just gutting it out and everything is in pain.
I even had a new pain besides the usual list, my riding shoes have a black strip of canvas on top. Going up Carson in that relentless sun and still air in the bottom 1/2, my left foot was absolutely on fire. I had to dump 1/2 a bottle of cydomax on my foot when it just felt like it was sitting on a griddle. The gal at the aid station would nt pour ice water on my foot ! So I took the pitcher from her and just poured it into my shoe…….she found that pretty amusing.
I guess what I always learn from that ride are new techniques to deal with long periods in the saddle, and heat. This time it was the value of Endurolytes – the salt tabs from Hammer. They really worked to stop cramping. Also the value of a really cool jersey, that cost too much, but made a big difference on Carson pass.
How about you ? Any techniques you found that help out.
Regards,
Brian
This could become the “lets use Hammer.. ” thread 😉 I’m keeping things simple from now on and using products from one company and not suffering the “consequenses” of mix-and-match….
I “think” I saw Tein coming back up the other side of Monitor around 7am-ish, stopped taking of her jacket or something about 2 miles before the water stop midway up the climb – on the long exposed straightish section. That said, people look a little different than they do in their casual photos when they’re half way up a mountain 🙂 … so I could be mistaken.
I have (maybe soon to be “had” given that experience) solid black shoes – I felt your pain Brian… and then some. Of the things that were different for me this year that “worked”:
Specialized Body Geometry products work surprisingly well. Their shoes are the comfiest things I’ve ever had on my feet – period, even casual shoes… (now if they didn’t become the most effective heat-soak in the history of man they’d be even better!) … and the little vents on the bottom do help somewhat. Even after 12 hours the minimalist Toupe 170gram racing saddle is very comfy – even more so than my old San Marco Regal and Rolls saddles. The Decible helmet has lots of ventilation, more so than the old Airforce 2 from the 90’s. Awesome stuff. Last year I drowned in sweat going up Ebbetts so the airforce 2 had to go….
Rotor q-rings. Grinding up that last couple of miles of Carson made the cost of these rings worth it. Never has 30×19 been “so grueling, yet so easy” – running on empty with a lack of feeling would sum it up nicely. 55rpm for the last climb whether it was in anything between 27 or the 19 sprocket… The only downside was that the lack of co-ordination on the way down making the “top” and “bottom” of the pedal strokes a little jerky.
Did anyone try the Powercranks at their display/booth on Friday? I’ve read lots of good things about them and my legs were on fire after 4 minutes… sheesh! LOL They should fit these as standard on bikes – it’ll surely stop people from trying to ride their bikes after a few drinks! 🙂 Either that or they’ll get home really quickly after a few months of use…
Swampy,
So here is my complete list of postive changes that really helped:
Fizik Arione Saddle. Bought two weeks ago based on raving statements by friends who ride 800km bravets. I had my doubts but the varying seating positions and flex edges made the $140 worth it.
IP ultrasensor light colored jersey. I stay away from IP but for this long range stuff what works works. The material sucked moisture away.
A head band !
Endurolytes. Downing them at a rate of one every 15 min on Carson pass. V8 vegetable juice has the same impact.
Hammer Gel in a squeeze bottle allowing easy injection. Maybe next year I will just hook up an I.V. injection system and cut out the entire digestive track to speed the process up.
Thanks for the suggestions! and Swampy, you’re right about the “you’ve come a long way, baby” part. If I make as much progress next year as I have this year, the Death Ride should be achievable.
Where do you get the Hammer Perpetuem? I haven’t seen it at my local bike shops. I’ve been using Cytomax and GU.
I have the feeling I’ll be back for the DR next year…
Tien,
Hammer products are sold at several shops. Sun bikes, some Performance stores, and most running stores I have been in carry it. REI might have it, worth a phone call.
Tien,
It’s “WILL be acheivable” not “should be”… 🙂 It could have been that taking it a little easier on the first climb of Monitor would have allowed you to get over Ebbetts easier. Now that you have the Garmin you should be able to take all that data (it records doesn’t it?) and compare against future long training rides in the hills.
I buy direct from Hammer. It normally arrives in a couple of days even on regular ground post.
From your first order you get a “sample” package similar to the following!
P32 Perpetuem Orange-Vanilla (32 Serv)
NCP KIT: New Customer Packet – MAG, PUM
HPR Hammer Gel Raspberry Pouch
HPE Hammer Gel Espresso Pouch
HPB Hammer Gel Banana Pouch
RR1 Recoverite (1 Serving)
HO1 HEED Mandarin-Orange (1 Serving)
ELS Endurolyte Samples (6 Capsules)
FBA Food Bar Hammer Almond/Raisin
60DAY 60-Day Postcard Notice
Of course I bought the 32 Serving containers of Perpetuem (top line). They have a list of dealers on their website too. Maybe get your first order in on-line to get the freebies and then buy from the local store! That Almond/Raisin bar is just yummy! (where is the “drool” emoticon when you need it?)
Brian,
I almost bought the Fizik Arione – it’s a very nice saddle, but I’ve had such good experiences with Specialized equipment over the years (apart from the 1st gen Trispoke wheels) that buying anything else other than Specialized is getting a little difficult. LOL Even their “perishable” equipment like the Airforce 2 helmet is aging better than my old Campag Super Record chainset – and that’s from back in the days when Campag equipment was the stuff of legends! I’d buy one of their frames if the geometry was a little different…
… but changing your saddle two weeks before a “12 hour-ish” ride – some may call it a “brave move”. I remember putting on a Selle Italia Turbo on the bike years ago just before a big event and I swear that being hit in the crotch with a medievil torture device would have been less painful after 30 miles…. Half the pro-peloton used those saddles as the time, no wonder the pros push so hard on the pedals 😉
I saw a rather nice white Assos jersey for sale in “almost” my size. Unfortunately the reminants my beer belly and man-boobs (although they’re almost gone, well kinda) would have cause the hairy patches to show through…. but I think all strains of vanity were long gone by the time I’d descended Ebbetts.
So who’s up for another 12 hours in the saddle this weekend? LOL