I decided to try camping up at Shaver Lake this year, as a replacement for the Death Ride Campout. I stayed at Dorabelle Campground, and this worked out very well. The first day I was on my own, then Kim Carr joined me for a few days, and then Christine Kennedy joined me at the end.

On Friday, Christine and I rode over to Big Creek and back on Friday. Somewhere on the downhill I noticed that my back wheel was wobbly, so I stopped to check the spokes. None were broken, but when I started to true the wheel I noticed that one spoke was trying to pull the rim apart, as there was a big split on both sides. I needed a new rim. I decided that I could finish the ride, so we continued on to Big Creek. We had a good chat with the new owner of the general store, then we went back and sat in the creek for a bit while we ate our snacks. It was a tough climb back up to Shaver Lake but we just took it easy and cruised along, getting back to camp about 12:30.

We then went down to the lake for one last session, before making lunch and finally packing up to leave. We were out of camp at 2:30 and at the motel at 3:30. We found Pam Downs, Art Cruz, and Ken Koach already there.

After checking in, Christine went with me to get my wheel fixed. After 3 bike shops, I was finally able to buy a rim and new spokes. Nobody had a complete wheel at a reasonable price, and I was willing to rebuild my old one. I now had my wheel parts, and I also happened to bring along my tools for removing the rear cassette, so I was all set. Nothing left to do but to build the new wheel now.

It was now 6:00 PM and we were both hungry and a half hour late for our group dinner. After dinner I went straight to the pool, but no swimming for me until all of my work was done. I sat on the ground and proceeded to take apart the old wheel and to move things over to the new wheel, taking time to make sure that I wasn't screwing things up. By 10:00 PM my wheel was finished, and so I then was able to get in the pool for a few warm-down laps before going up to bed.

We set the alarm for 4:30 AM. By 5:30 Christine and I and Dennis Uyeno were just about ready but missed the mass start by a few minutes. I think it was good for us to start behind the pack as there was now less stress. We just cruised along. Paul Vlasveld came by and hooked up with us, but the pace picked up a bit then as Paul and Dennis were riding at the front.

Luckily, Christine was smart enough not to try to hang on, so we let Paul and Dennis dissapear off the front and we just did our own pace. I was thinking that this was going to be a very long day and so I didn't want to over do it early in the ride. I was glad that Christine hung back with me.

We passed Ken Koach early on, then on the long climb up Watts Valley Rd we passed Art Cruz, Paul Greene, and Ray Low. Just as we arrived at the first reststop we caught Chris Miller (Sue Kayser's friend). There was already one guy walking and Christine and wondered how he was going to expect to do the Climb to Kaiser if he was already walking. Guy Neenan got a later start than we did and came up to the reststop while we were still there.

Christine and I left, joined by Art. Together we cruised along, then when the uphills got longer we dropped Art off the back and continued on to the 2nd stop at Tollhouse. They moved this stop about one mile earlier, to the Sierra Elementary School.

Next up was the Tollhouse grade. It was much cooler than a few days before when I rode up it with Kim, as it was a few hours earlier in the day and there was more shade on the road. We made it up to the fire station with no problems. I wasn't really that hot, but decided to soak myself down just because. Christine did the same. It was better to keep cool than to overheat on the next steep section.

At the Shaver Lake reststop, again at Christ Church, we met Deb Lefferts, Paul, and Dennis all still there. I didn't think that we'd be seeing them again, but I knew that Chrisitne had been riding strong and steady, so I wasn't too surprised.

Next up was the ride over to Big Creek which we did yesterday. Somehow, this section seemed to go easier today, even though I had 50 miles and lots of feet of climbing already this morning. On the downhill to Big Creek, I knew to take it easy on the curves, and was happy to see that Christine was content to stay behind me, and that also a few other riders were following along also.

Before reaching Big Creek I stopped for a quick jump in the stream. In town we bought ice cream at the store and then came over to hang out at the water stop. The workers thought that we were doing the ride right, as we looked nice and cool eatting our ice cream.

When we got to the town of Big Creek the staff was talking about a rider who had just fallen. This would have happened about 10 minutes behind us, as we saw an emergency vehicle going the other way as we were coming into town. We would later hear that this rider died.

Guy caught up with us in Big Creek so he started up the long steep climb with us. We soon dropped Guy though, as Christine was setting a strong pace. I told Christine that this was a "happy to be doing 4 mph" grade, but really we were mostly doing 5 mph. I stopped at the stream at Deb's detour while Christine kept going. My soaking down in Big Creek was already dried off so I needed this next one, even though it was only 2 miles up the road. Still 3 more miles to Huntington Lake, so the new soaking was worth it. I passed lots of very tired looking riders before I was finally able to catch up with a still-strong Christine.

Arriving at Huntington Lake we again found Deb and Dennis and Paul. I got my lunch but then went for a quick swim before eatting it. All very refreshing. After lunch we were both ready to go again. I felt fine, and Christine seemed to be good also. We made quick work of the Huntington Lake rollers and then headed up the Kaiser Pass Rd.

Climbing Kaiser Pass, I kept an eye on the riders coming down. We saw Stuart Wallace, Fred Klinger, Joe Atherton, Pete Klein. We figured, correctly, that Jennie Phillips and David Hoag were already up and down again before we got there. We were surprised to pass Paul about half way up, and surprised again to pass up Dennis sitting in the shade. Christine and I were both still feeling good so we made good time. I knew that there was a little stream a half mile from the top, so I stopped in for a quick soaking. I was just able to catch back up to Christine by the time we got to the pass.

We met Deb just ready to start back down. We hung out at the top for quite a bit. I found some good chocolate chip cookies and a soda. Dennis and Paul soon arrived, so we got a few pictures of us standing at the Kaiser Pass summit sign.

On the downhill we passed Guy at 2 miles from the top, then passed Paul, Ray, Art, and Ken all further down the hill. Each of them seemed to be still riding OK, and they all made the cutoff for climbing to the pass.

Climbing towards Tamarack Ridge, we again passed Paul and Dennis, but this time it was because Paul had a flat tire. At the water stop they caught back up. I offered them some cookies and they were glad to have some.

On the long downhill back to Shaver Lake Christine said that she would stay behind me but soon after we started there she was going off ahead. I then stayed behind Christine and we seemed to be doing a steady 37 mph all of the way down. Back at Shaver Lake, Christine agreed to a short swim stop, but then it was just me in the water. Back again at the reststop we met Paul and Dennis just leaving.

Christine and I were still both feeling good, so I knew we'd be able to finish ok. We still had about 48 miles left to go though. and it was now a bit after 5:00 PM, so we needed to get moving. I had a few more cookies and Christine had a half sandwich and we were then ready to go again.

I had told Christine about the big roller coaster hill at the start of Auberry Grade, so we were prepared. We rushed down Hwy 168 and then just flew up Auberry Rd. But then I found that I was still in high gear and forgot all about having to shift until it was too late. I had to stop, fix my gears, and then start riding again. Christine again took the lead on the 12 mile downhill into Auberry. Going down the hill we could feel the temperature climb. At the bottom it was now hot, but at least it was now late enough to be cooling down.

We had a good pace going from Auberry to the next reststop at Millerton Store. Instead of an 8:00 to 8:30 finish, it was now maybe even a 7:30 finish possibility. Christine was feeling extra spunky so would sometimes go off the front and I'd have to chase her down. When we got to Millerton I was now sufficiently tired that I was grateful for the chance to rest. I skipped the popsicle but did enjoy a soda and the wet towel. I also took my last swim for the day in the little pool.

Only 17 miles left to go, and just enought energy left to do them. I told Christine that it would just be a steady pace back in from there and she agreed. We were in officially at 14:22, or 7:52 Pm. Last year it was 8:05 and the first year it was about 8:30, so this is now my fastest Climb to Kaiser, but who's counting. Totals for the day were 155 miles with 13500 ft of climbing. 13.3 mph average. 81% riding factor.

I count success as being able to complete the whole ride without overdoing it too much. I think that both Christine and I were able to enjoy every mile of this ride, both uphill and down. I also managed to take about 20 pictures along the way with Christine's camera, so hopefully some of them will come out good.

-Donny