Name Death 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 # Campout
Ride F S S M T W T F S S nights Miles
1 Don Axtell yes 15 60 50 48 45 55 10 0 0 0 9 283
2 Stuart Wallace yes 0 60 50 48 82 45 16 0 0 0 9 301
3 Jimmy Baker yes 0 60 50 30 30 52 20 0 0 0 9 242
4 Teri Duffy yes 0 60 50 30 30 52 20 0 0 0 9 242
5 Dan Pappone no 0 60 50 48 82 45 5 285
6 Saul Kinderis no 80 60 50 80 3 270
7 Judy Myers no 0 60 50 0 3 110
8 Deborah Lefferts no 0 60 50 0 3 110
9 Lisa Curran no 0 60 50 2 110
10 Sue Kayser no 0 55 50 2 105
11 Pam Downs yes 60 50 48 26 0 16 0 0 0 6 200
12 LeRoy Rodriguez yes 0 45 45 0 0 0 0 6 90
13 Jenn Corliss yes 0 0 45 0 0 0 0 6 45
14 Patti Hartinian no 48 45 55 0 3 148
15 Kim Carr no 0 0 0 0 10 0 5 10
16 Richard Holtermann no 0 30 30 20 33 0 5 113
17 Mylo Stenstrom yes 0 20 16 0 0 0 5 36
18 Pat Stenstrom no 0 0 16 0 0 0 5 16
19 Diana Axtell no 0 0 10 0 0 4 10
20 Richard Brunner no 0 0 12 0 3 12
21 Margaret Barnes no 0 0 12 0 3 12
22 Linda Haston no 0 0 0 0 3 0
23 Frank Correira yes 0 0 0 0 3 0
24 Cathy Switzer yes 0 0 0 2 0
25 Jennie Phillips yes 0 0 0 2 0
26 Karl Schilling yes 0 0 0 2 0
27 Ken Kennedy yes 0 0 0 2 0
28 Guy Neenan yes 0 0 0 2 0
29 Paul Vlasveld yes 0 0 1 0
29 people 15 122 2750
Death person- rider-
Rides nights miles
After I had finished securing and paying for the 3 campsites, and then brought down enough of my camping stuff to make it livable for that night, I went for a swim in the lake. It happened to be almost a full moon, so there was plenty of light for a swim. It was a good ending to a long day.
I next took my bike and took the dirt road across the lake, coming out on Diamond Valley Road, then over to Woodfords, up the hill, then back down to camp. 15 miles total.
I had found that Pam Downs enjoyed doing jigsaw puzzles, and so did I, so I brought along 3 puzzles to do at the campout. I had nothing else planned for this day except to hang out and wait for people to arrive, so I started up one of the puzzles. First to arrive was Deborah Lefferts, followed soon by Pam. Pam was just stopping by on her way to Minden to stay with friends, but once she got going on the puzzle, she ended up staying a few extra hours.
That afternoon and evening the others arrived. Judy Myers came next, followed by Lisa Curran and Sue Kayser, then Dan Pappone and Stuart Wallace, then finally Jimmy Baker and Teri Duffy.
Our last arrival for the day was to be Saul Kinderis, who was riding in from the Reno Airport. If I did not see him by 7:00 pm, I was supposed to call his cell phone to check up on him. Since there was no phone in camp, I took Lisa and together we were going to backtrack on the route until we either found Saul or got to a phone to make the call. We had gotten no more than a quarter mile down the road when we found Saul, very tired looking, but happy to have finally arrived.
This day was very windy all day long. Uncommonly windy. The wind at camp had been known to be strong at times in the past campouts, but it never kept up all day long. And, much to Saul's grief, it was a wind blowing directly out of the south, so that he ended up having to deal with a very strong, unrelenting headwind all day long. That was why Saul was late in arriving.
That evening we all went for a hike up the hill. This hike had been tradition for most of the campsites, but this was the only time we went this year. Instead of being satisfied with the stop at the Register Box, we all decided to go on up to the small lake at the top of the hill. Then it was quickly back down to camp, as we were pushing the daylight envelope. It was very dark by the time we got back down, but we all made it ok. We then finished the day with a campfire.
We all carpooled over to Minden, to Phil and Dawn's house where Pam was staying. This was our starting place for today. From there we all rode up Kingsbury Grade, down to South Shore at Lake Tahoe, then across on Pioneer Trail, and up over Luthor Pass. On the downhill into Woodford's we had a strong tailwind, and so I was able to hit 55 mph, topping my all-time highest speed of 53 mph, also set at this same location a few years ago.
In Woodfords, we all regrouped and I found that this strong wind was too much for some of our riders. Many had felt that they were very close to having crashed on that downhill, because the wind had sometimes hit them from the side, either pushing them sideways or even causing the bike to shimmy. A very scary experience. I think that I had no similar experience this time because my bike was currently set up for touring/camping. I had on my wider/heavier touring tires, plus also had a rack, pack and extra water bottles, all which helped to weighdown and to stablize the bike.
From Woodfords it was tailwinds all of the way back to Minden. 60 miles for the day.
Back in camp that afternoon, we found that it was still very windy, maybe even stronger than the day before. It had even stayed windy all of the previous night. I had never seen it this windy for this long before. Our first-time campers were thinking that this was how it was all of the time.
Sue started calling our campsites "The windtunnel", and had managed to find a campsite over in the other part of camp, tucked in under the trees and protected from the wind. Sue moved her tent over there, to get out of the "windtunnel". Lisa and Saul followed her, so our little group was being split apart due to the wind.
That evening it was too windy for our usual campfire, so instead, I invited everyone into my tent for the evening, to play Yhatzee, which Sue had brought up. My tent was a 10 ft wide dome tent, big because i was expecting Diana to come up later in the week. We ended up having 8 people in it, all sitting around my puzzle board, which we were now using as a Yhatzee board. The team of Lisa and Sue ended up winning both games. They said that they majored in Yhatzee during college.
We decided to go clockwise, going north on Highway 395, circling around Washoe Lake, then climb up Gieger Grade. Expecting a tailwind going north, we were sometimes surprised to find what felt like a headwind. Could this wind finally be changing?
Climbing up Gieger Grade, we were pleased to find that they had been doing some construction, so that now there was a guardrail all along the way, and that they had also added what looked like a bike lane next to the guardrail, so that we had an extra 3 feet or so. This was nice, as this road gets alot of traffic.
Climbing the hill, we began to realize that it would be hard to get to Virginia City in time for the start of the parade (12 noon), but it was going to be close, so we hurried as best we could. At Gieger Pass, I sent the others on ahead with Pam, while I waited for the tail end. Pam had been looking forward to this parade for such a long time, so I did not want for her to be disappointed. A 10 minute wait, the others arrived, and we all headed on in to Virginia City. The parade was already under way, but we were able to see most of it, even though we were now 20 minutes late.
After the parade, we all went and had lunch on the back balcony of this restaurant, then spent an hour checking out the shops in town. Finally it was continue out of town, drop down to Hwy 50, then back west into Carson City. 50 miles for the day.
Sue and Lisa had packed up that morning so that they could leave directly after the ride, one day earlier than originally planned, due to the wind. So we said our goodbyes in Carson City and headed back into camp.
Back in camp, we were pleased to find that there was absolutely no wind. It was a dead calm. But would it last? We did not want to bring up the subject, for fear that this would cause the wind to come up again. But it never did. For the rest of the campout, strong winds would no longer be a problem.
Everybody except me decided to drive over to Lake Tahoe to view the fireworks that evening. I was a bit tired, and so was very satisfied to just hang around camp. Besides, I started up another one of my jigsaw puzzles, so I was happy. I got to bed by 10:00, while the others all got back at 1:30. I think I made the right choice.
Jimmy and Teri decided to sleep in today and then go ride their bikes on some shorter ride. They ended up riding over to Grover Hot Springs and back for 30 miles.
That left me, Dan, and Stuart to drive over to Markleeville for today's ride. There we met Pam and Patti Hartinian, so the 5 of us rode up to Ebbetts Pass, down to Hermit Valley, and then back again. 48 miles total.
Patti had driven up from Folsom this morning, and was going to join the campout for the next 4 days. So, after the ride, we all went back to camp. Pam came with us to set up her own tent, even though she was not actually going to move in for another day.
Kim Carr and Richard Holtermann arrived later that afternoon. Richard was going to do some mountain biking. Kim was just coming up for the campout, as it was just 2 weeks since she had broken her collar bone on the Sierra To The Sea tour. Kim was also planning to drive over to Truckee and Tahoe City to possibly help her brother buy a condo, so she wouldn't just be hanging around camp.
That evening LeRoy Rodriguez and Jenn Corliss arrived, as well as their dogs, Lady and Cora. I had managed to get the last of the original 3 campsites, so we put LeRoy, Jenn, Kim, and Richard in this one. We now had 4 campsites occupied.
Patti did not have a triple chainring on her bike, so I decided to find an easier ride for her, and I would ride with Patti. We decided to again go to Virginia City, but to go in the opposite direction this time. I did not mind going there a second time. Both Patti and LeRoy were new so this would be their first time. Dan and Stuart were going to add in Mt.Rose and Spooner Summit this time. Jenn was going to stay in camp and relax with the dogs. Teri and Jimmy were going to go with Richard to do the Flume Trail. Kim was going to drive up to Truckee to do some house hunting. Pam was up in Incline Village to ride with a friend of hers.
The 5 of us going to Virginia City took 2 cars up to Carson City. Then it was east on Hwy 50, with me slightly off the back. I just managed to catch up in time to keep the others from missing the turn to Virginia City. I had mentioned that we were going to take the RV route, and so they thought that this RV route came in somewhere further up the road.
Virginia City was much quieter now than it was on the 4th of July. Dan and Stuart kept going, while Patti, LeRoy, and I went and found lunch. Then it was off to take the train ride. After a bit more looking around town we finally left at about 1:30.
My plan was for us to finish the ride, then drive over to Reno and pick up Diana, who would be flying in that morning. I figured that we would be done by 3:00 or so. It turned out I was a bit off on my schedule.
Riding up over Gieger Pass, it was a bit windy on the descent, and so Patti was not too disappointed when we had to stop for some construction. Since it was not a holiday or weekend, they were doing road construction today, and so it was required for all bikes to be shuttled up or down the hill. Luckily, Dan and Stuart had already gone on ahead, and the 3 bikes that we now had were all that the van could hold. We were also lucky to find the van waiting at this end, so it wasn't too much delay. But it was a delay. My schedule was slipping.
Back down off the hill, we had to go south on Hwy 395, and then around Washoe Lake. This now ended up being almost all headwind, so my schedule slipped further. Then we found more construction on East Lake Blvd, so we had more delay. Finally, hurring as best we could, we got back to Carson City at 4:30. I was supposed to meet Diana at 5:00, so we would be a bit late, but not too much. 45 miles for today.
Heading north on Hwy 395, we went past where we had been just a few hours ago. After some confusion on my part, we finally found Diana and made the long ride back to camp.
Pat and Mylo Stenstrom had arrived that afternoon, but found nobody in camp, and so had set up over in the other section along with Margaret Barnes and Richard Brunner. I had saved them all a campsite, but they had no way of knowing when they arrived. They would later move compsites the next morning.
Patti and I then took off towards Genoa, for a nice ride with just the 2 of us. We had ridden 27 miles by the time we got to Genoa, so this would be just the right amount. We hung out in Genoa for almost an hour, having sodas and ice cream and relaxing in the shade. We thought that if the others came, and we rode with them, then they could give us a ride back to camp. But if we had to ride back, then we already had enough of a trip ahead of us, and so we better finally get going. 4 miles out of Genoa we finally met the others driving past. Patti and I considered going back to join them, but then decided to just keep going back to camp. Totals were 54 miles.
We later learned that the Genoa group never did get around to riding after all. By the time they got to Genoa it was time for lunch. Then after lunch, they decided to check out the antique shops. Then they finally decided that it was too hot to ride. During this time, Diana had got tired of waiting to ride, and so drove off to Carson City. Soon after, she won a jackpot of 1080 quarters, so she left the casino and came back to camp, glad that she had missed the ride.
New to the campout today was Cathy Switzer. Kim camp back that afternoon. She said they checked out about 7 places, and then settled on a condo in Tahoe City.
Then it was over to Grover Hot Springs to meet the others for a hike out to the waterfall. We got there a few minutes late, but found Pam's car, so we knew they must be just ahead. Just before we got to the waterfalls, Kim and I caught the others, so we were now 9 total. The waterfalls isn't really a waterfall, but is just a series of cascades with little pools. We go to this place because there is a nice pool to get a bit of swimming and some good rocks to hang out on. The water was cold but it wasn't too cold. I stayed in more than the others, as usual.
Because of Kim's broken collar bone, she couldn't do any bike riding. So instead, I said that I would give her credit for 10 miles just for doing the hike, and also for driving Richard to his ride start. Kim said that seemed fair.
We stopped by Death Ride Registration on the way back to camp. Then a few hours in the afternoon were spent with turning my bicycle from a heavy-laden touring bike into a lean-mean racing machine. I took off the rack, changed the pedals, changed the tires, oiled the chain, and just basicly cleaned it up.
Richard and Margaret had left that morning. They were replaced by Jennie Phillips and Karl Schilling, along with Ken Kennedy. Also new to the campout were Linda Haston and Frank Correira. Guy Neenan came by in the evening, and as always, Paul Vlasveld arrived very late that night.
I was up a few minutes early and so decided to have a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Then I started, about 7 minutes ahead of my schedule. I stopped for a half PBJ at the top of the hill, then cruised down past Turtle Rock and through Markleeville, and on towards Monitor Pass. We had a stiff headwind going along the river. I passed by Cathy, LeRoy and Jenn, with Cathy jokingly asking for the bungee cord. After another half PBJ at the junction, I started up Monitor.
Climbing Monitor, I seemed to be passed by more riders this year, but I felt fine, so I didn't worry about it. I wasn't racing and we had lots of climbing left to do. I passed Mylo towards the top. Mylo said that he managed to get his front wheel stuck on a cattle guard, and ended up going over his handlebars, but both he and his bike were ok.
At the top, I went on by the reststop and stopped at the official Monitor Pass sign to eat my 2nd PBJ. Then it was off down the backside. Going down I kept an eye out for Pam's monument, and was glad when I found it. I took the time to stop, cross over the road, then fix up the monument with the moving of a few stones. The board was a bit fainter now, the the words "The Bull Lady" could still be read. I then piled a few stones just at the edge of the roadway so that it would be easier to notice. I then continued on down the hill, passing Pam a few minutes later as she was climbing back up. It was good that I had a chance to fix up the marker before Pam got there.
I saw Jennie and Karl at the bottom, as well as Teri and Jimmy. I climbed with Jennie and Karl for awhile, but they were soon off the front.
I got my first water at the running waterstop half way up the backside. You hand off your waterbottle, they run up ahead, fill it up, then hand it back, all while you just keep riding.
Once again at the top of Monitor, I had stopped for my 3rd PBJ, then it was off down the frontside. Pat and Kim had mentioned that they might be waiting at the junction, so I looked for them there. Linda was with them also, having decided at the last minute that she didn't really want to ride the Death Ride. Instead, she would just hang out and take a few pictures. Kim was leaving in a few hours, so this would be the last that I see her, so I gave her a big hug and said my goodbyes.
Then I was off towards Ebbetts Pass. They said Pam was 5 to 10 minutes ahead. At the lower reststop, I had to stop in for water, as both bottles were now empty. I met Pam there, just getting ready to leave. I figure she had 6 minutes on me when I got going again. I kept thinking I might catch Pam somewhere along the climb, but I never did see her until the top. Pam was climbing good.
Pam suggested that we just ride along together for the rest of the ride. I had no problem with that, as that would have been my idea too. As it turned out, I could have gone a bit faster, but Pam was going good enough to almost keep to my schedule, and so that was good enough for me. Also, riding a bit easier probably kept me from getting tired, and so I ended up feeling strong for the rest of the ride.
I would let Pam lead out on the downhills, and then I would pace her up the uphills, making sure I kept her in my rearview mirror. Coming up the back of Ebbetts, one guy saw her and asked if she was Pam Downs, the Bull Lady. He said that her story was required reading for his group of people that planned to do the Death Ride. Then at the top of Ebbetts, another guy wanted to get his picture taken with the Bull Lady. It seems Pam is well known in Death Ride lore.
We stopped in at the official lunch stop. There were no lines, so we decided to stop, as I was now down to just a half PBJ remaining, out of 6 that I had at the start. I had a turkey and cheese sandwich and a soda. Then we stopped in at the secret restrooms in Markleeville, then again at Pam's car at the corner of Airport Rd across from Turtle Rock park. There we met Pat, who helped us out, giving us water and food and making sure we had more sun screen.
We had passed Teri and Jimmy just as we were leaving Ebbetts Pass. Mylo was not too far behind them. We told Pat they we were now probably a good 2 hours ahead of them, as they still had to go down the back of Ebbetts and back up again. We couldn't really figure how they could be that far behind us, but they were. Pam was amazed at how fast we were doing this ride. We left Pam's car just before 2:00.
Then it was down the hill towards Woodfords. On the downhill, we happened to be riding next to 4 Harley Davidson motorcycles, all going about the same speed. Pam was bent down over her handlebars, her butt in the air, with her "No Bull Downs" sign at the back. The lead motorcycle pulled in behind Pam, pulled out a camera, and took a picture of Pam from the back. He seemed to enjoy what he saw.
Then it was up Woodfords Canyon at the hot part of the day. Pam wanted me to climb at my own pace, so I went off the front until I found the small stream that I used last year. I then stopped, took off my tanktop, dipped it in the water, then put it back on again. The ice cold water really helps to keep you cool, so the rest of my climb wasn't too bad. I caught Pam again and then just paced her on up to the next reststop.
It was now on towards Carson Pass. We were lucky here, as a cloud had formed and so we got some shade for the climb. It was now much cooler, maybe 75 degrees instead of 100. Near the top we compared watches, and pam's was a few minutes faster than mine. We decided to use my watch, as I was predicting a 4:00 pm summit. We just made it. I was only 11 minutes behind my schedule and Pam was 1 hour 38 minutes ahead of hers. Not too bad!
We hung out at Carson Pass for 20 minutes. Then it was back down the hill. We looked for Teri and Jimmy along the way, as well as anyone else we might know, but there was no one. We passed by the Hope Valley reststop and still no one we knew. Lots of people still coming up and only 15 minutes before the cutoff. Then we saw Teri and Jimmy. It looks like they would just make the cutoff.
Then it was on down to Woodfords and then up the final short climbs to Turtle Rock. We had a 5:20 finish. After signing in and getting our 5-pass pins, we decided to stay for the dinner, as there was no line. We ran into Paul Vlasveld, Debra Mcgee, and Connie and Eric Jorgensen at the finish.
After the after-ride dinner it was back to camp to shower and to eat again, as Pat had prepared dinner for everyone.
Then we all sat around the campfire, making sure that we used up all of the remaining firewood, as this was our last night.
Don Axtell Pam Downs
Predict Actual Predict Actual
Total Miles 150.0 130.1 124.6 124.0
Total Climbing 17656 15783 15133 15133
Average Speed 12.59 13.00 10.62 12.06
Hilly Ratio 118 121 121 122
Travel Time 715 601 704 617
Rest Time 120 116 105 93
Total Time 835 717 809 710
Ride Factor 0.856 0.838 0.870 0.869
Average Pace MB MB+ M MB-