Where to start...
December 2008... Signed up for the 2009 Death Ride. Four months of 150 mile weeks on my standard 39/27 Ultegra drive train and steel Serotta, including two double-Diablos, with lots of "suck down water, you miserable flatlander" practice. Got new tires and bike tune-up two weeks before the ride. Arrived on Wednesday for some altitude acclimation, which seemed to help -- breathed easily by Friday afternoon, after two days hiking around the Pacific Crest Trail. Current theory is that three days is not enough acclimation, but it seemed to help me. YMMV.
2009 Ride... Started at 05:30. Weather cooperated for a warm beautiful day, to the point that I started in my standard long-sleeve kit and dropped my windbreaker before Monitor base. In the excitement, forgot everything I learned about sucking down water, and much of everything else. Monitor front was "easy", just another Diablo starting at 5500'. Stayed on top to refuel. Monitor back was "still ok". Ebbetts was "hard". Stayed at the top way too long, deciding whether to continue. Finally dropped down the back of Ebbetts. Ebbetts back was very hard, including stopping in the shade several times and walking parts of one the 10 percent grades. Took a 2 hour lunch to recuperate and think about the situation. Decided to press on and delay the harder decision. Made the Woodfords cutoff time (16:00) with a few minutes to spare, where my wife was kindly waiting with car and beer. Dehydrated, energy depleted, realized that climbing another 15 miles was not the smartest plan, if I still wanted to feel good at dinner. Compared with the headwind up Carson Pass, the car was too inviting. Easy call. Of course, I made reservations at Sorenson's (required a year in advance) to do it again. Result: 4 passes, 100 miles, 11000+ feet, 7:45 on the saddle, 12 hours clock time, a great deal of wishing either the Serotta or I had another gear, and thinking a lot about training and practice.
December 2009... Signed up for the 2010 Death Ride. Four months of 150-190 mile weeks, on the same machine. Rode every club date, pushing the climbs and endurance training at every opportunity, and lots of 2000' weekday climbs. Got new tires and bike tune-up two weeks before the ride. Arrived Wednesday for some altitude acclimation, which was pretty much like the previous year in terms of benefit.
2010 Ride... Started at 05:30. Weather again cooperated for a warm beautiful day. I started in a short-sleeve "Oakland" jersey kit, plus knee-warmers. Took a nice fast warm-up from the start to Monitor base, and settled into climbing. Monitor front was "easy", if you like 10-percent-too-often sort of climbing. Sucked down water. Skated over the top, collected a "1" sticker. The descent was straight and fast. Collected a "2" sticker, stopped for 20 minutes WIWO at the bottom, grabbed some potatoes and banana and fig bars, discarded the leg warmers, and got climbing again. Monitor back was "easy", sucking down water as the day got hotter. Ran over the top without stopping, made another fast descent, and wheeled across to Ebbetts base. Ebbetts front was reasonably sane, except for three gratuitous 15+ percent hairpins (sort of like the Pinehurst hairpin, but longer). Summited, collected a "3" sticker and kept moving, feeling good. The back of Ebbetts is the "short" leg, a quick descent to collect a "4" sticker, stop for WIWO and banana and fig bars. Found Chip and Jason Pierce (yes, I told him he was a idiot, but I meant it as a sort of compliment -- no way I could EVER do what he does on a fixie). Ebbetts back was hot and a constant slog, but never off the bike and still sucking water down like a fish. Ran over the top, negotiated the hairpins, and made a fast smooth descent of the bottom half. Lunch was a welcome rest; water, ham wrap, banana, Coke. Visited briefly with Amy, who was just leaving, 15-20 minutes ahead of me. Well rested, found a (small) pace line and charged across the valley to Woodfords cutoff at 14:40, 1:20 ahead of 2009 and feeling ever so much better. Looked into the headwind up Carson and said "let's do it" (and no wife or car to tempt me -- she was at the top of Carson photographing wildflowers). Sucked down water, coke, banana, fig bars (sense a pattern here?). Slogged up the first half of Carson, which has lots of 8 percent that feels like 10, followed by a relatively flat stretch in the middle to recover, then slogged up the last half. Off the bike once, so close to the top I could hear it. Made the top, to find several hundred of my closest friends already there. Collected a "5" sticker, 5-pass pin, ice cream, water, signed the poster, looked for wife (what? no pictures? she was already back at the cabin), and made the fast descent back to Woodfords and the finish. Too many gratuitous bumps at the end, but fitting for the course. Result: 5 passes, 125 miles, 15000+ feet, 10:11 in the saddle, 12 hours on the clock. Somewhere between 8000-10000 calories expended. I still think either the Serotta or I need another gear, but significant improvement over last year.
Congratulations to anyone who's ever attempted this kind of ride, and especially to those who've finished more than one. I doubt that I'll do it again—been there, done that.
Richard