My San Diego Tour Guide put on a support crew hat today. We left San Diego at 3:30 AM and headed north towards Trona,CA. At 8:30 AM I was straddling my bike at mile 200 of the Furnace Creek 508 route, on the edge of Panamint Valley, checking last minute details and looking straight ahead at the rather daunting looking Townes Pass in the very near distance.
The temperature was 78. I said my goodbyes to the SD Tour Guide who headed off to do some hiking....
....and I began to pedal eastward towards the most fabled climb of the Furnace Creek 508.
I began pedaling with a light tailwind and was able to hold 18-19 mph even as the road began to tilt upward gently. My speed soon dropped as the gradient increased, at times to 13%. With the wind at my back I missed out on it's cooling effect. At times I was riding in a dead pocket of hot air. I settle into my lower gears and worked my way up the road. There weren't many cars, but those there were friendly and I guess appreciative of my effort. Most waved or gave a thumbs up. A startlingly different feeling than I get from most autos in the San Diego area.
I kept a reasonable pace on the climb, never dropping below 5 mph and was usually in the 5.2-6.3 range. I had my full "Rando load" on the bike, tubes, tire, food, water, repair kit, yada, yada, yada but the climb was tolerable. However, I kept reminding myself that today I began this climb with fresh legs, in October I'll be starting with 200 miles already completed...at endurance race pace. I was quite warm and gravitated towards the shadows cast by the high banks when they were available. Soon reached the summit (4956 ft)and began the 17 mile descent. What a fun roll! I held 40 mph or more for so long it almost became boring......almost! The last 5 miles or so the road began to flatten out with an average gradient of 4%. At that point I began to use my big gear (56-11) to keep the speed up. It was fun to just be turning pedals and flying.
I was doing my best to enjoy the scenery while at the same time keeping my attention on the road that was slipping by quickly under me. The SD Tour Guide was meeting me in Furnace Creek, 50 miles into the ride to resupply me with water. The Tour Guide came up behind me and passed at mile 38. The Tour Guide pulled to the side and handed me a chocolate bar and a fruit smoothie type thing before heading on to Furnace Creek. In short order I arrived at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center (-178 ft)and refilled water and took a very brief look around. The Tour Guide was going to take a more complete look then meet me at Badwater. The Tour Guide came up behind me again just as I reached Artist Drive. It was 107 degrees and I was pedaling against a stiff wind and going through a water bottle every 7-10 miles. I guess it would be fair to say that I probably looked like hell.
The Tour Guide was concerned for my health. I had ridden Townes Pass, my priority. I would have liked to have ridden Jubilee and Salsbury Passes and finish today's ride at Shoshone with 126 miles but I honestly wasn't looking forward to those climbs in these temperatures. It didn't take a lot of coercion on the Tour Guide's part to have me load my bike and become just a tourist. I pretty sure I could have ridden the exit passes. I was tired and hot but not broken. I was a little disappointed that I could not ride faster. I've been riding a lot of miles but only had a 13.7 mph average today. My work is cut out for me.
We did take a little drive through Artist's Drive then followed the Furnace Creek Route all the way to it's terminus in 29 Palms. It was nice to see the section of the route that I will be riding in the dark in October. It is stupendous country.
I ended up with 63 miles, just half of what I had hoped for, but enough to become the talk of the tourists. (did you see that crazy guy on a bike?)
We got back to San Diego at midnight, a long day but a good time.
Total Gain: 4910 ft
Total Loss: 6612 ft
Net Change: -1702 ft
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...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............63...............0.................63
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......901.....+.........0........=.......901
June total......466.....+.........0........=.......466
Year to date...4183.....+.........30.......=......4213
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Wow. I did my first mountain ride yesterday, and just blogged about it. I think it was the hardest thing I've ever done. I climbed about 1600 feet over 7 miles, with a 10% grade. But then I read your piece, and I'm humbled. I can only imagine what that was like.
ReplyDeleteWell done!
Good Job Kevin!
ReplyDeleteKnow that the temp will be much lower in October. It will even be cold on top of Towns Pass.
In my 508 in 2006, it was so cold at the start of the descent, that I kept my speed down. But, 17 miles later, it was 80 degrees and I was hot!
When I crewed for Siberian Husky last October it was raining and cold at the top. The rain lasted through Furnace Creek! Siberian Husky stopped at the top for warmer clothes and stopped again in about 1 mile for more clothes. I thought about bringing arm warmers along today but decided not to. I chilled a bit the first mile or so until I dried off.
ReplyDelete