Death Ride 2010 Report

Oh, man. Where to start?

Randy and I left for the Death Ride on Friday. We got

to Turtle Rock park where I got my number. After that, we went to the campsite (Hope Valley RV) and got ourselves situated into the trainer (Randy's parents let us use their trailer. How nice is that!?). Found a card that Randy's parents wrote for me on the table! We checked out the campground and then headed into Tahoe, where we had dinner. I decided that I wanted to see what Carson Pass was like, so we drove up the summit. Now, the grades don't seem bad, but it's pass #5, after 100 miles of riding, and lots of wind. I knew it was going to suck, but I didn't think it was going to be TOO sucky. Haha...

Went to the trailer and decided to get some shut-eye. I had set up my alarm, but we were in a canyon with NO cell phone service, so I thought that my phone's battery was going to drain due to it searching for some service. So, I set up my heart rate monitor's watch, my phone, and Randy's phone. 4AM was my wake-up time. I kept waking up but felt like I was getting enough rest. We wake up to Randy's alarm at 4:15AM. Wtf? Turns out my watch's alarm didn't sound, I forgot to take my phone off of vibrate (wtf? Really, now?), and Randy's alarm decided that 4AM was too early, so it decided to go off to the 4:15AM one. Holy hell.. At least I woke up!

I got ready. This time, I didn't forget to Chamois my chamois (this is relevant later), We got to the start, where parking was already hell (at 5AM!) and got my bike ready.I then went to the Turtle Park entrance, where I saw a bunch of Team Revolutions guys there. They started right at 5:30AM. I was waiting for some other teammates, and I waited until 5:45AM, but I decided to start. Randy rode with me until the rider check-in before Monitor/Ebbett's. He said "good luck" to me and off I went.

Passed Markleeville. Oh, Markleeville. A small town at about 5,500 feet of elevation with a population of 200 people. Road closure. Yup.. the passes were closed to traffic and ready for us. Cut-off times were posted. This was going to be work!

I started Monitor very nice and easy. My HR was high, but it's always like that at the beginning of a ride and I didn't feel like I was over-doing it. I felt like I was going snail-slow, but it didn't matter; my goal was to finish, and this was pass #1. A mile into the climb, I saw people already taking their layers off. Good thing I only took arm-warmers as extra clothing! Going up the climb, I saw a Team Revolutions teammate, doing the same "slow and steady" pace.

The summit of Monitor. Great! One down. Got my sticker, some food and water and went down. Unfortunately, a lot of people have poor bike-handling skills. Braking too hard, swerving, etc. But, I'm confident with my skills, so I went down. 47mph. 20-ish minutes to go down 8 or so miles. I got down, my second sticker, got some food and water, and took pictures. A lady saw me take pictures, so she asked me if I would take a picture of her. I gladly did and then she offered to take my picture, but I didn't need to take pictures of how I went from "looking fresh" to looking like crap, so I declined. I then decided to head up the second pass.

The back side of Monitor sucks. It's longer and it screws with you. I got to the mid-rest stop and I got some water. Headed up and I was taking pictures while riding, and one guy rode next to me and said, "Here, give me your camera" and took pictures of me! How nice of him. I then rode away from him and got up to the summit again. Stopped for a bit and got some water and decided that I needed to pee since I haven't in about 3-1/2 hours. Um, ouch! The stop of Monitor is pancake flat and it's where the helicopter is parked. A helicopter, you say? That's how gnarly the crashes get.

Mmkay, down I went. People were cheering at the bottom and I took a left to go to Ebbett's. There was a water stop a bit past Wolf Creek, where the volunteers were dressed as pirates! So much fun.

Ebbett's. Pass #3. This side of Ebbett's SUCKS. I went up at an easy pace. Took some pictures, ran into some Teammates. Then, the tough grades started, and that's when I said, "Shit... when will this END?" when I knew exactly when it was going to end due to the pre-ride two weeks before the ride. At the time of the pre-ride, there was a lot of snow at the summit. Not this time! Only two weeks and most of it had melted. Took some pictures of the lake and headed all of the way up to the summit. I sat a bit and I guess spaced out because a gentleman asked me if I was feeling okay. I said that of course, I was just spacing out. I remember thinking, "I'm up here... two to go. I can do it." I then bumped into a bunch of teammates, said hi, and went down to Hermit Valley.

Got my fourth sticker. Rested, drank a Sprite, ate a little, and decided to

pee again because I hadn't in a while. I started talking to Team Revs' big boss, Mike, about the CycloCross team and then decided to go up. The back side of Ebbett's is much easier. It's a steady climb and shorter, so I was able to get into a rhythm. I took some pictures again and went up to the summit. Bumped into my teammates. Went down and another rider who wasn't too skilled at descending pushed me into a pot hole. The good thing is that I never felt out of control and I was able to get out of it just fine. The bad thing is that, dammit, she pushed me into a pot hole!

The lunch stop was at Wolf Creek, but I didn't stop and eat because my stomach was feeling weird. So, a teammate and I went off to Turtle Rock. We passed Markleeviile, where its residents were on the sides and cheering us on! How awesome is that!? It was encouraging. Up Turtle Rock and I saw Randy and my parents cheering me on. I stopped to get fresh water bottles, where I found out that one of my cages broke. Lame. I was able to hole a bottle, though, so I just put a new bottle in, chatted, and headed off before I decided that 4 passes was enough.

At the junction of HWY 88 and 89, there was a rest stop, where I bumped into even more teammates and chatted with them. I got hosed off, which felt GREAT after 90 miles. Cold, but great. I started up the grade...

What a painful section. I started to feel it, though I don't think my body was feeling it much, it was my mind. It was all games from here, and I wanted to give up. My legs felt fine, my hear rate was low, but for some reason, my brain was telling me, "This is too much. It's over."

But I kept going. I stopped once, had to sit down because I got dizzy, and two gentlemen talked to me. One of them had done this ride before; this was his friend's first time. He said that Carson is the pass where people break down and give up. He then asked me if I wanted them to hang out with me for a while and if I had GUs. I told them that I was just going to take it easy and that I had enough GUs. Up I went again up the Pickett's junction rest stop. I had a Sprite due to feeling as if I was going to bonk and I think that that saved me. I sat, chatted a bit, and decided to start back up.

Nine miles to go.

It was relatively flat for 5 or 6 miles. Then, the last 3 miles. Holy. Hell. Again, mind playing tricks. I felt fine. The only part of me that hurt was my ass, but that's expected. I stopped. My water bottle cage broke. Damn. At least I was close to the top.. or so everyone said. I kept going. Stopped about a mile and a half (without knowing) from the top. I walked about a tenth of a mile, and I'm not ashamed to say it. I got back on and started to play games again. Every landmark I saw was my next goal. Tree, got

it. Rock. Got it. Sign. Got it! And kept on going.

People kept coming down. I was pacing a guy behind me, when another guy coming down said, "Just around the corner, guys! You're almost there!" When I heard the guy I was pacing say, "Just around the corner, just around the corner. What corner? There's been five fucking corners!" I had to laugh. Another guy comes down, "Quarter of a mile!" It wasn't. It was about a mile. I cramped. I've never cramped before, so it was a "WTF!?" moment. But I decided to spin it out. It helped. Hah.

I got to the summit. Oh gods. I got there. I went to the sno-park, which

was a few feet descend from the actual summit. I got my fifth stic

ker, my pin, and a bunch of congrats. I did it.

I walked around for a little and nearly cried because dammit, I got to the top of the fifth pass even though I wanted to give up. But I didn't. I was officially a five-pass Death Rider. I walked to get some water and some watermelon, and one of the gentlemen who had been encouraging me on on the whole ride saw me and said, "There she is! Well done, young lady. You did your team proud." I smiled, said thank you. Sat with some

gentlemen and chatted a bit. Signed the board and took their picture (They bashfully said, "I know we just met, but could you take our picture?" I, of course, did!).

I decided to go down. I had 20 or so miles to go (though mostly downhill) and I had 55 minutes to the cut-off of 8PM. Down I went. Got behind a woman who SLAMMED on her brakes on a completely straight part of the road, so I had to slam mine. Good thing I sat behind my seat because I would have gone over my handle bars at the speed I was going. That was fine. Passed her as soon as I could and started the fun downhill. Passed a few more people. Reached a good speed. Got to a relatively flat area; had to pedal. Boo. Got to another steep part. Saw the entrance of the campground. Tempting. Very tempting, but went on due to not being able to tell my parents or Randy where I was. Down, down, down. Turned right to head to Turtle Rock. Up. Yup... after riding 120+ miles, you had to go UP! Spun the uphill. The very last part before a rider heads to the entrance of Turtle Rock is a good little hill, though by the end, it felt like I was going up all five passes again. I spun it out. I kept thinking, "Oh, maybe Randy parked at the bottom since this is where I started!" Nah. A guy behind me said, "Ugh.. more up." To which I replied, "Well, there wasn't enough before." We laughed. I saw the entrance, sped away, and saw Randy, who took a picture of me.

I was done.

I asked Randy if my parents were still here. The answer was yes, but my mom had apparently been freaking out. Why? This ride was absolute carnage. Going up the passes there was ambulance after ambulance. Cops speeding away to crashed. The helicopter got good use. A report that said, "Rider down in critical condition, but recognizable." His bike was in pieces. A girl went down coming down Carson. No apparent explanation, so it was assumed that she was just too tired and probably hit something and unable to control her bike. Another rider with IV's. A lot of reports being radio'ed in saying "Rider down." Yup... a good reason for a mom to be freaked out. I rode over to them. She saw me. I took my helmet off. Nearly cried because HOLY SHIT I FINISHED!!!

I started cramping. Another WTF!? This is the first time I've ever cramped! Then again, it IS the Death Ride. Randy pulled a chair out for me and I sat. I couldn't take off my shoes, so my parents tried. They've never taken cycling shoes off and were tightening them. Randy took over. My feet were free. I cramped again. Chilled for a bit, then decided that I wanted to get the form for my Five-Pass Jersey. Got it. Got some food. Couldn't eat it all. You'd think that after burning 8,012 calories I'd want to eat. Nah. We decided to go back to the campground. I started to get light headed due to my glucose levels hitting the ground. I laid down while Randy got his car. Mom helped me out, told me that I was finally able to beat my mind games. Got in the car and we went to the campground.

I took a shower, drank some orange juice to get my glucose levels up, and rested. My body was never felt just exhaustion. Randy then went on a drive to get some cellphone reception to call his parents and I fell asleep.

This ride is the hardest, most humbling experience I've ever had. It was amazing to get to the top. The best part? I was able to beat my mind games. My body can take it all. Hell, my body would have been able to take another 2 passes, but my mind has always played games with me. But, I gave it the bird and decided to keep going, because if I didn't, I would have kicked myself so hard. My mind games are slowly going away. Two victories in one ride.

Death Ride 2010. What an experience. No bees stung me, my bike fit, and I had good training for it. I'm happy I didn't listen to those, "You're over-traning!" comments and I'm glad I took rest when I needed it. I think I did the right thing.

I finished. On my 22.2 pound bike, an EpiPen, and a bunch of nerves. I was done after 13 or so hours of riding. And I'm damn proud. I couldn't have done it without Randy and his parents. His parents let us borrow the trailer and gave me a lot of encouragement. My parents for being there for me the whole way, for picking me up when I needed support, when I felt like my world was going to fall apart, and for being the best parents a girl could ask for. Randy, for showing me how a good team works, for training with me, helping me with my bike handling skills, all of the encouragement, for being with me on every single step, and for being my personal mechanic of the ride. My whole TEAM! Without them, this would have never happened.

It may be a, "So... you finished a ride. A not-so-special ride. So what?" I tried this ride last year when I was in absolute hell. I wasn't able to finish last year due a bee sting and my bike being bran new at that time. My mind was tortured. This year, being able to defeat ALL of that was an accomplishment. Not only was I able to finish a ride that I wasn't able to the year before, it marked the fact that I was able to get out of that bad time in my life and that I didn't break me. In fact, it made me stronger and more knowledgeable. I defeated ALL of that.

Do I want to do this ride again? I said, "Hell no!" going up Carson, but looking back, I think my time could improve. Death Ride 2011, here I come! But before then it's the Winters Road Race on August 28th!