The ride up was with Lisa; it felt like a continuation of Sierra to the Sea. At the top of Pacific Grade we all huddled together on the rocks to keep warm and for another bonding moment. Sue, Lisa, and Dan decided to head down, white the rest of us were going to go further on to the memorial for Bill Merrin. I was told Bill was found sitting next to his bike back in 1997; he had apparently died of a heart attack on the side of the road. There was a wooden cross that had fallen apart. So Don used his engineering abilities and put the cross back together again with support sticks and tie wraps. It had turned out to be only 2.5 miles further down the road and was mostly flat. I was glad for that. We arrived back in Markleeville at 3:00pm.
Everyone came over to the B,B&B after. Sue, Lisa, and Dan had already showered. Don went in the creek for a dip. I decided I would skip it since the creek was shallow and rocky and cold. (Yes, he did wear swim trunks this time.) Everyone else hung out on our private deck soaking up the sun and watching Don. Then Sue brought out the Yahtzee game again and much to my surprise I won both games, with 2 Yahtzees on the second round. We also were eating chips and salsa, and drinking beer or wine. A nice way to end a nice day.
We ended up having BBQ back at camp for dinner, which was fine by me. There was plenty left from Sunday and I didn't have to cook or buy dinner.
It was about 10:30 am when we got into Virginia City, so we had plenty of time to browse before the parade. Someone found souvenir garters for $1.50, what a deal. So we all got one. This is sort of becoming another tradition, since we had dressed up one day on Sierra to the Sea. (See Don’s ride report on Sierra to the Sea for more information on the girls' lingerie day.)
After having a sandwich in Pam’s secret sandwich shop and helping her eat 1/4 lb. of fudge, we found Sue, Dan and Lisa and found a good spot to watch the parade. Sue, Dan, and Lisa had opted to go the long way around for 50 miles round trip.
Lisa and I were entertaining ourselves with our Kazoos, humming "America the Beautiful", "Star Spangled Banner", "Yankee Doodle Dandy", "I Shot the Sheriff", and every other song we could think of. Dan, Pam, Deb, and Chris also attempted to join in on occasion. The parade came by at 1:00 pm. It was pretty hokey. The highlight for me was the girls drill team from Oregon, marching and dancing to "I feel like a woman".
Everyone went their separate ways once we got back to Carson City. Sue, Lisa, Chris, and Debbie were heading back to the Bay Area, and Dan was making a detour before heading back to camp. Pam and I joked with him later that he was stopping by the "Moonlight Bunny Ranch" or the "Kitty Kat Farm", since we passed these places on the way home. Dinner was pizza-to-go after we stopped by Pam’s friend’s house in Minden and got Sue’s sunglasses, and directions to the best pizza joint.
I moved into camp this evening. Everyone helped me unload all the firewood and gear that I had brought. Fireworks that night around 10 pm. I could have gotten into big trouble for this... Luckily the camp host was not around. The grand finale included a loud screeching whistle and pops.
Pam refused to follow Don down the Carson River Road instead of Hwy 88, which was her loss, since there were no cars, less head wind and little climbing on this road.
Ken Kennedy and Susan Orth came into camp this night around 9:30pm.
Don said he would go mountain biking with me, so Ken dropped us off at the top of Carson Pass around 2pm, to ride out to Blue Lakes. It turned out to be about 18 miles of dirt and 18 miles of paved road, with a technical descent along Red Lake including stream crossings, log jumping and lots of rocks to maneuver over or around. Then it was a steep and rocky climb of about 1000 feet. I don’t know how Don does it; he had his road bike with 32 cm tires; lots of walking and slow descents for him, and hopping on and off the bike for me. That’s the last thing I wanted to do was an endo! crash. The weather was cold with patches of snow still on the ground. Didn’t have any motivation to start a snowball fight, but the thought did cross my mind.
I was glad to see the pavement and the downhill. The ride back into camp was warmer and nice. Diamond Valley Road and a nice rocky single track across the dam into camp. Finally into camp around 6pm.
Ken and I took another trip to the hot springs to actually get in this time. The price of the hot springs had gone down, thanks to the governor. It was only $2.00! The hot pool was 102 degrees... just right. And the cold pool was 81 degrees... just right. Only problem was 1) I didn’t bring my swim goggles 2) there were lots of kids in the cold pool and 3) I couldn’t see the wall without the black line on the bottom of the pool. So I didn’t swim much. But the hot tub was great.
At camp I was a little bit antsy, so I took off on my mountain bike for a ride around the lake, up to the summit on Airport Road and down the hiking trail to camp. The single track was rocky and technical but fun... I’d do it again.
Debbie’s watermelon got donated to the squirrels and chipmunks. They made it into a house with 4 windows. They were having a good time.
I left the intersection of Ebbetts and Monitor around 10am, drove to Markleeville to kill time and have a Mocha. What to do? I parked by the Sheriff’s station, so I could see Ken come by. He came by at 11:30, stopped for a second to unload clothes and was off again. I couldn’t even give him a soda or anything.
I then decided instead of meeting Pam at Woodfords, I’d meet her at her car. (I had her time schedule, compliments of Don.) So I drove my car back to camp, and left from there on my bike. Luckily I left early enough as I knew Pam was ahead of schedule. It was really cool. She was just leaving as I got there around 2:20.
Pat, Mylo and Troy Stenstrom were also there. Pat came across the street and told me how well Ken had done. He was the second death rider to finish. The first one to do all 6 passes! Pat had been asking everyone who went by how many passes they had done. I knew Ken was doing well; I hadn’t seen anyone else that looked fast going thru Markleeville.
Pat said Mylo was going to ride up Carson Pass also, so I yelled at him across the street to see if he was ready to go. Then I took off to catch Pam. She was pretty tired by now.
I didn’t see the Woodfords city limit sign, so neither Pam nor I went for it. It was a tie.
I was happy to finally be riding, and with my friends. Mylo and Troy caught up to Pam and I; We had a nice chat and visit. I hadn’t seen either of them for several months. I was surprised that Troy was just heading up Carson also. I ended up riding 3/4 of the way up Carson with them until Troy finally pulled ahead, and Mylo dropped back. I guess Pat and Nancy were a bit worried about Mylo (or they had nothing better to do) because they kept "leapfrogging". They would drive ahead of us, then stop on the side of the road. I wasn’t the only "BAD" one over the weekend, Mylo was also poaching the ride. Also, didn’t they read the instructions saying no private SAG?
Up at the top of Carson Pass the weather was perfect again. The pavement felt really good (HOT), but the wind was cold. We all sat around eating popsicles and ice cream. It was a regular party. Paul Vlasveld was there too, along with Troy and his wife, Nancy and kids, and Mylo and Pat. Pam and Don showed up shortly. No one was in a hurry to leave. That pavement was nice and toasty. I thought the ride down Carson might be cold. Mistaken again. That turned out to be perfect also. Top speed only 49 mph.
Don, Pam, and I regrouped in Woodford, where Don stopped to call his wife to tell her all went well, then we rode in to Turtle Rock Park together. We then had a fajita (or 2), and Ken found us. I had a feeling no one was going to feel like cooking tonite in camp. Don and I rode back to camp over the last hill, after he picked up his 5 pass pin.
A campfire, a bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine, and the last of the fireworks topped off the last night. It had been a great day and a great week. Again, I was the last one to bed at 10:30. (Well, OK, Don did kept me company.)
Maybe I’ll do the Death Ride next year... or maybe not.