The Death Ride

Yesterday, at 2:15am, the alarm clock went off. It was D Day. Josh and I got up, got into our lycra, and slathered on the sunscreen even though it was dark and cold outside. We ate yogurt and granola and weak coffee (which left me with a caffeine withdrawal headache later in the morning). By 4:10 am, we had started the ride. It was dark and cold, but most of the team was out and cheery.
 

By sunrise, we had made it up part of the first of five passes. It would be a very long day, but we were all excited and doing great. I reached the top of Monitor Pass by 6:10 am and got my first sticker of the day.

There was a fun fast descent down the backside of Monitor, which I had never done before. I was passed by a bunch of people going up Monitor, but now got to fly past some of them. I love descending and so it didn't take me long to reach the bottom. Though Josh and I separated within the first 15 minutes of the ride, I ran into him at the rest stop on the backside of Monitor. We got rid of some of our warm clothes and started back up Monitor. This was only the second climb of the day, but I was already feeling tired and weak. I didn't train smart throughout the season by riding too hard and not building my base, and it was starting to show. I couldn't believe that I was feeling bad so early in the day. The Death Ride was the worst day I've ever had on the bike. It's not just that it was hard, it's that it was hard almost from the start. I made it back to the top of Monitor by 8:10am. I was feeling nauseas and had a headache (altitude sickness and a caffeine headache), so I got my sticker and quickly got off the mountain.

The next climb was Ebbett's, which is a monster of a mountain. I suffered most of the way up it, but was helped by both Coach Kim and Coach Mike who kept me moving. It was a circus at the top with free massages and bicycles everywhere, so I got my sticker and headed to the bottom of the back of Ebbett's. I saw Josh climbing up the backside as I was descending. I thought the front side of Ebbett's was bad, but climbing the backside was worse. I had a hard time not stopping with pain in my shoulders, back, butt, and legs. It was a death march and I was just hoping to make it back up to the top and to my car where I could quit.

When I went into The Death Ride, I was never sure I could do it, but pretty confident that I had trained enough to make it. By the top of the second pass, I was just hoping to make four passes. So when I got to the top of Ebbett's Pass for the second time, I was so happy to see my teammate Jonathan. He was having back pain and we decided to descend together and paceline back to the cars. I followed his line for as long as possible, but he's an amazing descender and quickly lost me. I was energized by the fast fun descent and was feeling better by the time I got to the bottom where Jonathan was waiting for me.

We pacelined back to the cars where we had lunch and coolers full of ice. It was about 87 degrees and I was feeling just awful. My heart rate had been high all day (between 150 and 170 for all of the climbs) and my legs felt like lead. I was done! I wrapped my feet in a cold towel and lay down in my car (photo coming). I hadn't been able to eat much all day and was still not hungry. I usually struggle with getting in enough calories even when I'm hungry. I wasn't hungry all day and was just forcing myself to swallow the food I put in my mouth. Every climb felt like one big bonk. I was drinking a lot, but must have been dehydrated because every sip left me feeling thirsty.

Part of my team took off for the last climb. I couldn't bring myself to get up out of my car to join them. My mentor, Amy, said she'd be leaving in a few minutes. I really didn't want to get back on my bike, but I knew if all of the team left, I might never leave myself. So I put on dry socks and told myself I would just try to make it to the next rest stop. As we started climbing to Pickett's Junction, I saw some of the team descending down to the cars since they were finished with the ride already. It was so hot that I actually didn't mind when it started to rain, but the hail that followed was another story. Luckily I arrived at Pickett's Junction just before it started pouring. To my surprise and delight, Josh was waiting for me. He ran out of the tent and into the rain to greet me.

At that point, I knew I'd have to do the last and final climb of the day since Josh must have been waiting a long time for me to arrive. We huddled in the tent with dozens of other riders until the rain lightened up a bit. Then we went for it. We had wind jackets, but not much else to protect us from the rain. We didn't actually mind all that much since it distracted us from the soreness that had already started to set in. It rained on and off all the way up Carson Pass. There were still people lining the roads cheering us on.

I have never been so excited to receive a sticker, but that fifth sticker represented so much hard work. The ice cream at the top was nice, but hot chocolate would have been more fitting. The rain had stopped, so Josh and I hung out for a little while and enjoyed the celebration.

To prepare as well as possible for the cold descent that awaited us, we shoved napkins in our shorts, jerseys, and helmets. If you look closely in the picture below you can see the insulating napkins and the mud that was kicked up from drafting behind Josh all the way back down to the car. It ended up being a surprisingly warm descent since the rain had stopped and I hit 47 mph, but tried not to smile since the grit would get in my mouth.

number of passes:  5 passes
total elevation gain:  15,000 ft
lowest elevation:  5,531 ft (Markleeville, CA)
highest elevation:  8,730 ft (Ebbett's Pass)
total miles:  129 miles
weather:  57 - 87 degrees, with hail and rain in the afternoon

start time:  4am
end time:  7pm
pedaling time:  12.5 hours

average speed:  9.7 mph
max. speed:  47 mph

average heart rate:  151 bpm