The Death Ride

Catherine, Pat and I got an early start before sunup. We flew downhill the first two miles into Markleeville in the dark with an assumption that there was no one lying on the pavement to impede our descent. Since the town lies in a hollow, the air got colder as we rode. As we made the turnoff to Monitor, the CHP announced that the highway was officially closed to cars. You could have fooled us. There was an almost non-stop progression of "official" vehicles passing us as we rode up the mountain.

Tim Long rode past and told us that Kevin Main and Christie Cutter were up ahead. A minute later, so was Tim. We never saw him again.

We stopped for water and cookies midway into the climb. The Skeleton Crew told us it was 35 degrees in the shade.

As we approached the summit, we broke into sunlight. That made a significant difference in the air temperature. A member of the Davis Bike Club (DBC) rode with us a while and told us how many trophies DBC won at PBP. I told him that SLOBC had 100% finishers and DBC did not. He refused to be impressed and never stopped talking. If hot air were a tailwind....

At the summit we ran into Tom Reynolds and his wife Tina. Tom did the brevet series this year with Kevin and the gang. Tina volunteers every year to work the Monitor stop for Alta Alpina Cycling Club. Tom treats her to a week in Tahoe after the ride as compensation for all the Saturdays that he spends riding.

Catherine hit 52 mph on the descent to 395. She arrived well before I did. After a series of hairpins, there is a long, fast drop to the Walker River Valley. I saw that a lot of the young riders used their speed to bunnyhop over the cattle guard toward the bottom. I chose to clatter across and lost a water bottle. This gave me the opportunity to brake to a quick stop beside the road while being passed by hundreds of 50 mph riders and walk back and look for the bottle.

At the 395 stop, we found Liz Curren. She was giving the 2-pass stickers to the riders. She said Mike was on the road somewhere behind us.

We beat our way back up Monitor for the next two hours. The weather was cooler than normal. That was a blessing because this is usually the hottest part of the ride.

At the summit, Tina told us that Tom was 30 minutes ahead of us. We took a wild ride down the front side of Monitor to the junction with Highway 4. A CHP officer was stationed there to wave us through the stop sign. That is one of two stop signs on the course.

We wound up Highway 4 alongside Silver Creek. This is a lovely ride that is not so steep as you expect. Then you cross a cattle guard, turn left and you are confronted by A Wall. This is the first of several steep hairpins. The rest of the ascent to Ebbetts Pass is not as bad as Old Creek Road. It is longer, seven miles. It is not as steep as Nacimiento Ferguson Road. It rises 1700 feet in seven miles. But it does seem to go on forever.

At the top of Ebbetts was another food stop. We loaded up here on boiled potatoes, cookies and fruit. It was 12:30 and we were hungry. As we descended the other side to Hermit Valley, I saw Kevin coming up. I yelled Hello and he tried to figure out who I was. The highway on this stretch was bumpy. I dropped my water bottle again. As I dodged bicyclists looking for it, I gave silent thanks to the Caltrans maintenance crews.

At Hermit Valley, we listened to members of the Skeleton Crew hyping the next pass, Pacific Grade. This was the Y2K Grade, an optional climb intended for only the terminally masochistic. Pat and Catherine climbed it a couple of weeks ago so I had no choice but to give it a try. It turned out to be not so bad, about like Santa Rosa Creek Road only longer. We climbed 1000 feet in two miles to Mosquito Lake. The company was delightful. The only bicyclists on this stretch of highway were those who seriously love challenging rides. We all suffered together. Skeleton Crew members were at the top to give us Snickers bars and a Y2K Grade button and to take our pictures in front of the Pacific Grade Summit sign.

The descent back to Hermit Valley was terrifying. Lots of hairpins, curves and precipitous drops. We stopped at the bottom to refuel for the seven mile climb back to Ebbetts. The Skeleton Crew told us we needed to leave right away as the road would be opened to cars at 3:00.

This climb took a mental toll on all of us. Catherine doesn't like it because it is longer than she wants it to be, then it gets steeper toward the top. Pat and I were fighting cramps. We gobbled salt tablets and tried to maintain a fine line between drinking plenty of water but not so much that we would run out before the summit.

An hour after we started, a CHP vehicle led a caravan of motorists past us, officially re-opening the road. As we went over the summit, we elected to bypass the food stop and jet down to the lunch tent.

This was another descent that I did not like. Every oncoming motorist seemed to be astonished to see bicycles coming downhill at 40 mph. This was encouragement to stay on the right side of the highway. The road over Ebbetts is so narrow that there is no center line. I assure you that I stayed well on my side of the road and prayed that the RVs coming up did the same.

We passed Mike Curren on the way down. I yelled Hello as we passed him. He was descending even more slowly than me. We stopped at Silver Creek Campground and chatted with Kathi Main. She told us that Kevin and Christie were on their way to Carson Pass. She was going to meet them at Turtle Rock Park, the start and finish of the ride, at 6:00. Tim got sick going up Ebbetts so he and Shelly had gone home already.

We whizzed down Highway 4 to the lunch stop at Centreville. This is the best part of the ride, a nice downhill with lots of sweeping curves. There we found the Skeleton Crew starting to clean up and fold their tents. We ate the last of the turkey sandwiches sitting underneath a tree in Real Chairs. They were much wider than bicycle saddles.

After a decent interval, we remounted and rode the final ten miles to Turtle Rock Park. We were too late to attempt the final pass even if we had wanted to do it. We are saving it for next year.

There were still a few diehard Alpine County citizens waiting in front of the Markleeville Library to cheer for us as we passed through town. There were considerably more people in front of the Cutthroat Saloon, also cheering us. It looked as if they had been there a while fortifying themselves for our arrival.

We arrived at Turtle Rock about 5:00. We met Mike and Liz there. Mike had elected to bypass the lunch stop because he was in a groove when he went by Centreville.

Catherine, Pat and I bought what souvenirs were left for the slow riders. Then we got into Pat's truck and drove back to Dayton. We did 93 miles in nine hours on the bikes, twelve and a half total hours, five passes out of six, 13,000 vertical feet.

I rode from Silver Creek campground on highway 4 with Kevin Main. We started the ride at 5:00 AM and stayed together through both Monitor Pass climbs and on to the top of Ebbets Pass, then he continued on to Hermit Valley and the Pacific Grade.

I rested long enough at the top of Ebbets, Pacific Valley and Ebbets again to be only 5 minutes ahead of Kevin coming back to camp for lunch.

While descending the northeast side of Ebbets I did see one rider being put into an ambulance. As I got closer to the campground several emergency vehicles were climbing up. Later in the day atop Carson pass some other riders told me they had seen a rider go off the edge on the northeast descent of ebbets. All they could see was his crumpled bike, and the rescue crews needed ropes to access the rider.

Kevin continued on ahead when I stopped at Turdle Rock to use the bathroom AGAIN!. I really stayed well hydrated. Woodfords Canyon was a tough climb due to little shoulder, traffic and a headwind. This was where the hay truck came so close spewing diesel exhaust.

The ride through Hope Valley and up Carson Pass was pretty with plenty of shoulder. The last bit of the climb was gruelling because I could see the highway all laid out above me and it seemed to go on forever. The tiny trucks in the distance gave a perspective of the distance left to travel.

When I finally reached the summit I was out-of-it. They gave us an ice cream bar as our reward and it took me five minutes to open it. I decided caution was the better part of valor and sat and rested to regain my strength.

After about 45 minutes I felt up to continuing and began the most enjoyable part of the trip - the return DOWN from Carson Summit to Turtle Rock (with the wind now at my back).

I finished at 7:30, which was a half-hour off my goal - but I MADE IT through all 5 passes, climbing 16,000 feet and riding 129 miles).

Kevin did all 6 passes (including the Y2K climb of Pacific Grade). So did Ron Riddle who I believe he has done the ride since it's inception. Awesome!

The people who volunteer on this ride are outstanding, especially the Skeleton Crew who refill H2O bottles on the back side of Monitor and the masseuses giving 2 minute shoulder rubs at the top of Ebbets. Kevin was great to ride with (eternal positive attitude and words of encouragement). Also it was wonderful to get into camp for lunch and be catered to by our spouses, served lunch and a shoulder massage while relaxing in a comfy chair.

Originally Kevin had suggested we ride back to the campground (about 10 miles) after the finish. As I pulled into Rurtle Rock I was really happy to see our welcoming committee along with my dogs and the van to take us back to camp.