But we are talking about The Eastern Sierra Double. The most beautiful double century anywhere. So off we went over Carson Pass, then over Monitor Pass. Finally on Highway 395 south, we journeyed onward. 375 miles later, there we were, Bishop California.
We checked into our motel. Motel 6 that is, and a newly remodeled one too! We did the usual shop around for a while, glad to not be sitting in the car anymore. The ride starts at the fairgrounds. Basically one block from where we stayed. So we parked the truck and didn't get back in it until time to leave on Sunday morning.
We walked over to check in and saw our buddy John Robbins. This guy's a monster! He did 7 double centuries last year. Plus The Devil Mountain Double and The Climb to Kaiser. We said our hellos and chatted about until the hunger could be held off no more. They decided to give you an all you can eat pasta dinner and continental breakfast for your price of admission. We passed on both. Bishop has a great pasta place, and we looked forward to eating there. It was not a disappointment. Fully carbed up and wallowing in our fat bellies, we returned to our stately motel to relax.
I checked outside at 4:00am. No stars visable. Not good! We packed all our Gore-Tex. Soxes, pants, jacket, and gloves. No chances taken here. We were going to spend most of the day above 7000 feet. Nothing worse then being wet and cold at altitude. We rode around the block to the start. We were briefed on what to expect. They told us that due to the weather only 90% of the route was marked. So that meant we had to pay attention to the route sheet. They also said it was snowing yesterday at Mammoth Ski area and we should expect adverse conditions. I was glad we packed our stuff. That comment caused quite a last minute stir.
The police escort did not happen as in years past. But at 5:15 am there aren't a whole lot of people up and moving around. You do this quick back street tour of Bishop before heading out of town.
The plan as always is to finish the ride and still be speaking at the end. So we played it mellow while the hardcore hammerheads blasted off the front. We quickly found our rhythm and we cruised onward. The sunrise was awesome! I don't know if it was worth getting up at 3:45 to get organized to see it, but it was sure nice.
There is virtually no traffic on this ride, so that makes one less worry. We skipped the first reststop, being well stuffed from breakfast and having plenty of water. 33 miles into the ride you start to climb and it basically goes on gradually for the next 50 miles. The Old Sherwin grade has a false summit on it that is a big surprise /disappointment if you're not familiar with the route. This first climb takes you to over 7000 feet, and there you stay. There are a few descents here and there, but for the most it just grinds on mile after mile. The scenery diverts your attention from the slow pace, and it is some of the most picturesque around.
At mile 65 we started onto the Mammoth Scenic loop. There was fresh snow right along the side of the road. We did a little climb and then a very nice descent to 395 north. The next stop was at a highway reststop so it even had flush toilets! What a treat!
8 miles northward on 395 and we were at the June Lake loop turn off. If you ever get down that way I would highly recommend this road. Very scenic, good quality pavement, all around great riding. The recent snows plus the ample snow pack melting had many waterfalls flowing. You're riding right up against the mountains to the left side and the view of the lakes if off the the right. I personally don't think this is the best scenery of the ride. My favorite comes later. We rode our way back to Highway 395 north for a short stretch to the lunch stop. We got a few sprinkles about now. The sky wasn't consolidated enough to look like a serious downpour. I was a little worried, thinking we were as far north as we are going to go ang its going to dump on us. All we got was a sprinkle, thankfully.
Lunch is at mile 107 and it felt like it took us forever to get there. We had accumulated 7000 of climbing to here so we had done a bit of work. We fuel up and relax a spell. Our buddy John Robbins pulls in smiling and happy as a clam, glad to be out doing yet another double. All too soon it was time to go. We remounted and headed south. The bad thing about lunch is it is at the bottom of a hill, so you have to climb out to get going. This makes your legs feel real good!
We rode the 10 miles south smoothly, anticipating what was waiting for us. The route turns east on Highway 120 and heads out to the boondocks. You wind your way along Mono Lake's south shore, with the Mono Craters off to our right. So the scenery is good. This is leading us to my most favorite and least favorite part. The climb to Sagehen Summit being the least, and the Sagehen reststop being the most. The climb to Sagehen is about 2000-2500 feet in 12 miles; not real steep just real, real annoying.Today was no exception!
What makes it all worthwhile is the vista that greets you at the reststop. Grand does not do it justice. Go there and see for yourself. We sat and ate and enjoyed the view knowing most all the climbing was done. The wind was blowing slightly, making me think about the awesome downhill to come. We were fueled and ready for launch. Last year the wind was very strong and gusty making the descent anything but fun. It was totally different this time! The pavement is very smooth because it gets buried in winter and doesn't get all broken up by the freeze/thaw cycle. I usually don't look to see how fast we're going, but the front wheel was sounding like a fan! After a quick glance at the speedo it said why: 55 miles per hour! We were really flying! The descent was a total blast. The farther we went the more we turned right, the more the wind came around behind us. Dare I say tailwind. Yes sir! A tailwind. More like a Tailblast. We were headed dead south and the wind was directly behind us. Big, big fun ahead. There are some painful rollers on the section to Benton, a bustling town of about 13 people. Today the rollers didn't even slow us down that much. We flew right over them. The road flattens a bit before the last hill. We blitzed this section at 30+ with virtually no effort.
We arrived at the Benton stop smiling so much our faces hurt. 35 miles to go and the tailwind was howling. Yee-Haa! The soup of the day was potato so we had some. Good stuff and more fuel for the engines. Ready to get it done, we prepared for lift off. Launch doesn't fit for this next section. It's slightly downhill, 1 or 2%, with a tailwind. We finally just quit pedaling and we coasted at 40 miles per hour for a good 2-3 miles. No joke! We could not go less than 35 mph! What a ride. I kept waiting for it to slow down but it didn't. We were getting close to the last stop, 14 miles from the end, when Judy said "let's not stop, this is too much fun." The folks screamed and cheered as we flew by. We were 186 miles into the ride and I could not believe we were going this fast. The miles quickly ticked off. With a quick glance at the odometer and watch we figured we had just eclipsed the last 35 miles in 1 hour 25 minutes. That would be a 24.7 mph average! This was after 165 miles and 10,000' of climbing. Talk about packing the mail!
It was truly a great ride. I'm sitting here writing this, wishing we could go back and do the last 35 miles again!
We finished happy and still speaking so we accomplished our main objective. We also finished ahead of our time from last year so that was an extra bonus.
The ride was hard no doubt. It was also very enjoyable. I enjoy the rides we do on the tandem. Judy is an extra special person that I enjoy riding with very much. So, as always, I Thank her for the wonderful day. I couldn't have had anywhere near as much fun without you.