Name Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Total Don Axtell 7 72 67 60 0 0 DR 0 206 Pam Downs 54 72 0 60 0 0 DR* 0 186 LeRoy Rodriguez - 0 50 60 0 0 DR 0 110 Miguel Aznar - - 0 15 50 14 DR 0 79 Jennie Phillips - - - 0 46 0 DR 0 46 Karl Schilling - - - 0 46 0 DR 0 46 Pete Klein - - - - 0 0 DR - 0 Paul Vlasveld - - - - - - DR 0 0
Each of these people managed to complete all 5 passes of the Death Ride. Pam Downs' Death Ride experience was most unusual, but more on that later.
Instead of bringing both my road bike and my mountain bike, I instead just brought some wider tires for my road bike. My new Softride road bike is actually a touring bike, and it came with a triple chainring and 700x32 tires (which I had immediately taken off). I also switched over to my touring shoes and toe-clip pedals, and added two water bottles behind the seat. My bike was now all set up for the campout part of the Death Ride Campout. To try my bike out, I took it around the lake on the dirt road with lots of rocks, bumps, and washboard. It was great! With my new setup, my bike really thought that it was now a mountain bike.
Pam drove up the day before and was staying at her friend's house in Gardnerville. I had mentioned to her that a good ride to do today would be Woodfords Canyon and Kingsbury Grade. So this morning Pam rode up Woodfords Canyon and stopped in at Sorenson's Resort in Hope Valley. Someone there told Pam that Carson Pass was just a few miles further, so she decided to do it also. Well, ten miles later, Pam was finally at the top of Carson Pass. Pam decided to skip Kingsbury Grade for the time being.
This was to be Pam's first Death Ride, so I was continuously (but hopefully not too much) giving Pam tips on what to expect and what to do.
I went over all of the basics, such as where the reststops were, what food they had, how long the lines for the porta-potties were, etc. My tip here was to avoid the reststops to save time, and instead carry your own food and find some nice bushes along side the road. I stressed that eating was very important, but that this didn't have to be done at the reststops.
Climbing each of the passes is as much mental as it is physical. Today's climb up the backside of Monitor is the longest pass on the Death Ride. My tip here was to try keep your mind distracted by 1) trying to enjoy the view, 2) watch the other riders as they come down the hill, 3) look down to see how high you have already come, 4) never look up to see how far you still have to go, and 5) try not to just look at your front tire as you climb.
After an ice-cream break in Markleeville I suggested to Pam that we pass through the camp, so that she could see where I was staying, as she planned to be joining us in camp in a few more days. We had been in camp only a few minutes when I noticed that LeRoy had just pulled in. What a coincidence. Great - now I can get LeRoy to secure that second campsite so we'll be all set and have enough room for everybody.
After taking the short-cut dirt road (Pam is such a trooper, as she'll do anything that's required) from camp over to Diamond Valley Road, we followed the Death Ride route out Foothill Road towards Kingsbury Grade, cutting over finally to get back to Gardnerville.
Pam was to be visiting friends on Tuesday, so I arranged to meet her again on Wednesday to go up Kingsbury Grade.
Back in camp that afternoon, it started to rain, as often happens in this area. I had just taken my shower, and was wearing my swimsuit, and the rain was not too cold, so I didn't really mind the rain. Luckily (and due to experience) I had brought along a beach umbrella that I put up over the stove, so I was able to cook dinner without the rain having too much effect. After dinner the rain soon stopped and things quickly dried out. Taking the hint, both LeRoy and I added trenches around our tents to make sure that any water did not go underneath them (as happened big-time last year).
I had a true adventure on my ride. I had been on the first half of it before, so I was working from memory (which worked ok this time). From Red Lake, just below Carson Pass, I found the dirt road right where I remembered it. I had been through this way once a few years ago, but it had been in the opposite direction. Luckily there were no choices, as there was only one road to choose from. My road took me all the way to 9000 ft elevation at the pass over the Pacific Crest. Much of this section was steep and I found that walking wasn't really much slower than trying to ride. I finally made it to the top, where the road leveled out and the going was now relatively easy. I dropped down to the Blue Lakes, where I stopped to take a swim (water wasn't too cold). The campground had good well water, which I needed as I had used up three of my four waterbottles.
Now was where the adventure began. I was now ready to strike out into new territory - to make it through to Hermit Valley behind Ebbetts Pass. I found the road that I wanted to take, but it didn't say that it went to Hermit Valley. I took the road anyway, figuring that even if I didn't get through to Hermit Valley, then where ever the road went was probably still worth seeing. Twelve miles later I was back at the same spot. No luck. No Hermit Valley. I ended up going to Sunset Lakes, which I later found on the map to be close but not close enough.
I followed the Blue Lakes Road back out to civilization, reaching pavement after 24 miles on the dirt. My bike did well in the dirt. The only problem that I had was in really deep sand, as the tires were not as wide as a true mountain bike. It was now almost all downhill to Hope Valley and Woodfords and then a final climb up to Turtle Rock with a final descent back into camp. I was a tired puppy when I finished. It turned out that the temperature was 100F in Minden that day, so it wasn't just the dirt that got me so tired.
LeRoy realized that his original plan had him doing over 10,000 ft of climbing for the day, so he scaled it back a bit. He left out Monitor Pass (both sides) and instead just rode to Ebbetts Pass plus a bit of the back side towards Hermit Valley. LeRoy found that a truck still had the back side of Ebbetts closed (from the day before) because it was a toxic spill. So I might not have been able to get through if I had reached Hermit Valley.
From Gardnerville it was 8 miles of flat to get to the start of Kingsbury Grade. Pam had just driven it in her car, so she informed me that the climb was 8 miles long, and not the 5.4 miles that I had listed on my Death Ride route sheet. It was still going to be a 2600 ft climb, going from 4700 to 7334 ft at Daggett Pass. Pam led us out, riding strongly. I was able to stay right on her wheel, while LeRoy always seemed to be a bit off the back. Could it be that we were already used to the high altitude but LeRoy wasn't?
The climb up Kingsbury Grade wasn't bad at all. It was a steady 6% grade with a few level places, and had a pretty good shoulder most of the way up. We passed the time by looking for possible shady places (there weren't many) and also for possible places for Pam to stop and pee during the Death Ride (not too many of these either). At the top we were hanging out while LeRoy tried adjusting his seat. Another rider came up the hill and joined us for awhile. After finding out our planned route, she informed us that Hwy 50 had just been oiled, but that it should be dry by now. We didn't really want to try going down the hill on an oily road, so I suggested that we change the route to take Pioneer Trail over to Luther Pass and then come down Woodfords Canyon.
On Pioneer Trail we happened upon two kids selling Koolaid. Pam said we had to stop and that it was her treat (she's a sucker for kids showing ambition). The Koolaid stand was set up about 50 yards from the road, in the shade under a tree. Whenever the kids saw a likely customer come by (like us bicyclists) then he would grab his sign and quickly run out to the road. They didn't really get too much business this way.
During the ride Pam showed us her set of hand signals that she uses when some car driver does something bad near her. A slap to the thigh means "bite me", an index finger pointing over her head and to her back means "kiss my ass", and four fingers to the forehead means "a hockey puck to the face". Pam figured that this was ok, because she knew what the signals meant even though a driver might not (and it might be safer that way, too). While climbing Luthor Pass from the Tahoe side, a large truck came flying by, not moving over an inch to leave room for us. The wind from the truck was so great that it knocked my eye-shades to the ground. I was busy trying to stop and go back for my shades, but I could see Pam up ahead. She was doing all three of her hand signals. The truck driver was a jerk, so he deserved all three.
After Woodfords we took Emigrant Trail. This road parallels Hwy 88, but has no traffic. After a short uphill, the road starts a long steady downhill. We happened to have a very strong tailwind. Pam was in front, I was just behind her, and LeRoy was off the back. We were going just as fast as we wanted to go, and before too long I braked a bit as I was basicly chicken. I don't know how fast I went because my cyclometer battery had died that morning. Near the road's end, LeRoy came rushing up, going much faster than I was. At the end I asked Pam how fast she went, and she said 57 mph. She had never gone that fast before, and couldn't hardly believe it when she saw it. My personal best was 53 mph a few years ago, so I might have been close to it also, but I don't know. 57 mph - Pam was elated! I told her that it must have been that great aerodynamic tuck. Then LeRoy joined up with us and told us that he just hit 58 mph. Beaten by one mile per hour - Bummer.
After dropping Pam back in Gardnerville, LeRoy and I went to the store. besides ice, etc, I also needed a new battery. Three stores and about an hour later, I finally found one.
Jennie and Karl drove into camp just after dinner time. They quickly set up their tents, then said that they wanted to go on the evening hike. Jennie knew that this was tradition, so off we went. Each of the past two evenings (and today makes three) we had taken the trail near camp that climbs up the hill to a scenic overlook. It's about a mile each direction. There we sit and try out our binoculars on the lights of Minden up close, Hwy 395, and Carson City in the far distance. We always manage to go back down just before it is too dark to see. LeRoy's dog, Lady, always came on the hike with us. She would run up ahead, then run back to us, then run up ahead again. Lady easily did twice the distance that we were doing. During the hike back down, Lady's light coloring made it easier for us to see the trail, as all we had to do was to follow Lady.
Back in camp, we started the campfire (which is also tradition). Miguel supplied the marshmallows, but the sun had gotten to them and had stuck them hopelessly together. We tried roasting them anyway, but it proved to be a very messy and tedious task. We finally put the whole bag into the fire and then just played with the melting/burning mess.
Nobody was trying for an early start today. Pam drove from Gardnerville and I helped put up her tent in our campsite. She was going to now join us in camp for the next few days. After Pam was all set up, we headed out for our hike. It was me, Pam, LeRoy, and Lady. Pam wanted to hike to the waterfalls which are behind Grover Hot Springs. She said that it was a good place to go on a hot day because she always jumped into the pools near the waterfalls. I liked that idea, as I liked to jump into pools also.
The waterfalls are not just one, but are many. Also there is not just one pool, but there are lots of pools. I wanted to (and mostly did) jump into each of them. Pam and LeRoy joined me for the first few times. Lady is afraid of the water, and so didn't go swimming at all. The water was great. We found some jacuzzi pools with lots of pounding water, and we found some sauna pools where we told each other that the water was warmer. After the hike and the pool jumping we had ice cream in Markleeville and then Giant Burgers at the store near Turtle Rock. Then it was back to camp.
Jennie and Karl were already back from their bike ride. Jennie told me that there were no mosquitos at Charity Valley this time, as there had been millions of them the last time. They had a good trip - just the right amount of miles and climbing.
Jennie drove us to the hike start in her car. It was to be at Woods Lake, just west of Carson Pass. The first road that we tried was dirt, with very deep gullies. Jennie wasn't too happy about putting her nice new car onto this road. We finally figured out that this road didn't go anywhere, and so decided to try and find the right road. The next road turned out to be paved and had a sign saying "Woods Lake". This must be the one. At the parking area we met three big trucks with lots of people packing them up. Turns out they had just finished filming a Benedryl commercial.
Everyone had their hiking boots and small backpacks on. Except me. I just had my touring shoes, a WWII canteen, and my fanny pack. We found the trailhead, and off we went. It was slow moving at first, as the place was just packed with different kinds of wild flowers, and Karl, Pete, and Jennie were really into wild flowers. I think that they managed to find about 20 different kinds within the first mile, which Pete said was pretty remarkable.
From Woods Lake, we climbed up to Winnemucca Lake on a good trail. Pete said that we were now going to climb up there, pointing to the top of Elephant's Back. It turns out that there was no trail, so it was quite adventurous, jumping from large rock to large rock.
I managed to be the first one to the top of Elephant's Back, but as soon as I got there a gust of wind blew my collector's item Death Ride cap off of my head and over the steep side of the summit. I could see it down below and thought that I could go down and get it, but I wisely decided that I would first wait for the others to finish coming up, so that they would at least know where to look for me if I disappeared. Once up, Jennie insisted that she should go for the cap, as she was lighter. Down she went. It was tricky for a bit, but Jennie managed to stay calm and take it slowly. All for my stupid hat, Jennie was risking her life! I'm now forever in her debt.
From the top of Elephant's Back, at elevation 9500 ft, the view is fantastic. Looking down one side is Carson Pass and Red Lake. Towards the front is Hope Valley, then over a bit is Faith Valley, and then Charity Valley. The cabin was just hidden in the trees, but the Blue Lakes Road could easily be seen. Over a bit more was the dirt jeep track that I took a few days before. We were now looking down on it, as its summit was only at 9000 ft. Off in the distance we could see the Blue Lakes. Behind us was Winnemucca Lake and further away was Caples Lake. We stopped here for our first lunch. I finished off the film in my one-use panoramic camera.
After coming back down from Elephant's Back, we passed by a small pool with a snow drift along the side, covering some of the lake and actually going down under the water. I knew that this water was COLD, but I couldn't resist. I jumped in, swam out about ten yards, turned and swam back, and then jumped back out. It was great - but it was also cold.
The rest of the trail went by numerous snow drifts. Everyone had a few snowballs tossed at them, with some good hits. And snow down your back gets a little cold. We were all tired by the end of the hike, and I was sure that I would be feeling its effects the next day. It wasn't quite the leisurely hike that was advertised, but it was well worth the trip.
Back in camp I worked on my bike; transforming it from a "mountain" bike back into a lean-mean-racing-machine. The tires were switched back to 700x25. The pedals and shoes returned to SDI. The two waterbottles behind the seat were removed, as well as the lock and cable. The time that my bike spent as a mountain/touring bike was well worth it.