Monthly Archives: October 2012

Willy’s version of stage one, which actually discusses the ride, can be found here on Nancy Yu’s blog.

California City

“California City has been good to me,” explained a man, the local gas station character, to the many people hanging out at the gas station in California City.

California City is about 80 miles from Valencia, a city I had been completely unaware of other than as the name of an orange.  I had never heard of California City either, but the Furnace Creek 508 uses it as a time station and Jason and I hung out in this fine town for about two and a half hours waiting to take the baton from Willy and Deb.

The gas station was a hub of activity, not for the Furnace Creek people, but for the California City folks.  At the edge of the parking lot in the gas station, someone had placed four umbrella-shaded tables.  This area also was slightly shaded by some trees.  This gas station picnic area may have been the only pleasant outside place in California City.  The sun shown brightly in this desert town and while it was hot in the sun it was still tolerably cool in the shade and these tables were full.  I had never thought of a gas station as a place to hang out, but that was what people were doing.

The guy to our right had a dirt bike and was wearing motorbike leathers.  He had a stereo and played his music for all to hear.  At first he played music that I found offensive, but like a disc jockey reading the preferences of the crowd, he soon changed the music to 60s and 70s era rock.  I liked sitting in the shade listening to his music.  He was at the station when we arrived and he did not leave until just before we started our stage, about 2.5 hours later.

When we arrived, the men sitting at the table to our left, were watching a movie on a laptop computer.

At one point a young man showed up and started chatting at length to the local gas station character, who had stationed himself at the table closest to the gas station.  This rather in depth conversation concerned the local scene of skydiving.  I am pretty sure that the young man had not planned on talking to the local gas station character, but he seemed happy enough to have this long conversation about wind conditions (very important in skydiving) and hideous ways to die jumping out of a plane.  I was not as happy about this conversation and was pleased when some other characters showed up to distract the local gas station character.  One guy had a new scooter, not the two-wheeled type of scooter, but the three-wheeled type that people use in lieu of a wheelchair.  He seemed pretty happy about it and he showed off his scooter handling skills by spinning the scooter around and maneuvering it around tight corners.

When we had arrived at this station, the local character was having a loud conversation on his phone that was so one-sided that I was not altogether convinced that there was someone else at the other end of the line.  His main concern was his nephew, who he feared might come under the evil influence of some woman.  His main advice reagrding women was that “you’d better be careful; those things have minds of their own.”  I found his view of women as conniving men-catchers slightly annoying.

He, however, seemed to really enjoy the arrival and departure of each of the women who worked at the gas station.  They talked reluctantly to him, seeming to have long ago grown weary of older men who chatted at them slightly teasingly and tried to put them down.

He was still at the station when we started our stage over 2.5 hours later.

The scene reminded me of my local cafe, where people hang out for hours sitting outside at the umbrella-shaded tables.  The biggest difference was that no one at this gas station was crazy or clearly high.  A number of people with mental illnesses hang out at my local coffee shop.  I had never considered that sitting outside at a gas station for hours would be something I would purposely do, though I have done just that at cafes on many occasions.

WINDY!

Jason and I had originally been slated to do stage one, but Deb had wanted to switch her stages.  She had had a rather adventurous trip this past summer, which involved civil unrest and being holed up in a hotel listening to sniper fire.  However, stage one turned out to be rather headwindy and was harder than expected.

Jason lunges to catch a thrown water bottle, Deb yells out her request, Steve hands off a fresh bottle.

We should not have been surprised that the section containing windmill hill might be windy, but it was even windier than usual.

Windmills for as far as we could see. I like that we still call them windmills even though they have no current association with millstones.

LONG LIVE THE KING!!!

Ken. I like this picture.

Ken, for those who do not know him, is referred to as the king.  He is a rather superlative person.  Super nice, super strong, and super fast.  Invincible. He had had a hard Devil Mountain Double this year.  I have never done this double; it scares me.  However, Ken had had a hard ride, which was unusual for him.  He is the king; he never has a hard time.  He conquers all rides, usually on his fixed gear.  He decided to skip his next scheduled ride, the SF 600k, because he was not feeling well and his left arm was having some numbness issues.  He instead went on a shorter ride from his house, went into full cardiac arrest on the ride, and was found by an off-duty ER nurse, who started CPR.  The paramedics shocked him back to life and took him to the hospital.  He eventually had bypass surgery and was released back into the world.  These events all occurred this past spring.  Seeing him back in action at Furnace Creek was great.  Trading places back and forth with Ken and Steve was the best part of the whole race.  This picture makes me happy.

Team Spotted Ass van. Defibrillator on-board. Does this ass make my jersey look big?

Nancy Yu also has a write up of stage two on her blog.

Closely following Jason. Stage two Furnace Creek 508. California City to Trona, city of bike paths.

Jason and I rode stage two and five on our Furnace Creek tandem relay race. These stages are considered the easiest stages and are often given to the rookies on a relay team.  Nancy and Tim were initially assigned these stages, but Tim is so outrageously strong that we simply had to give them Townes, so he would have something to sink his teeth into, even if he had only been on a tandem 3 times before our “race.”

TAILWIND!

We had a tailwind the entire 72 miles on this stage. Actually we had a bit of a sidewind/downhill at first, but let’s just call it a tailwind.  The stage was ridden faster than the riders.  Riding with a tailwind is lovely.  We had no business riding that stage that fast and we were pleased by our performance, even if we knew it was wind driven. I spend far more time riding into a headwind than I will ever spend riding with a tailwind, so I might as well bask in its glory.

The problem with a tailwind in the desert is eventually you will climb and you will be hot.  Tailwinds are hard on hot climbs.  Neither Jason nor I are good in the heat.  We both insisted on wearing camelbacks, even with a support vehicle, because we wanted iced water available at all times and camelbacks are very good at keeping water cool.  Despite the camelback Jason and I faded fast on the gentle climb on our stage.  Our heart rates plummeted when we hit the climb; we were just suffering from the effects of the heat.  Jason’s heart rate hovered around 125.    Eventually, Jason ran out of water, so we stopped to get more iced water in our camelbacks.  Stopping was so lovely.  We knew we had a tailwind, but we had no idea that the wind would be so pleasant.  On the bike, the air was still, with the wind matching our speed, but when we stopped the breeze seemed cool and Jason and I felt better instantly.  We were able to cool down quickly and then restart.  We felt much better after our little break and were able to put out a more reasonable effort with higher heart rates.  We had just overheated and the break made all the difference.

Bike shadows

We stopped in Randsburg to use the porta-johns.  Luckily we arrived right before a bunch of confused and road-dazed tourists .  They seemed to be having difficulty understanding that other people were using the port-johns, too, and, in general, seemed flummoxed by the whole porta-john system.   A helpful man stood by and tried to explain the situation to them.  Since the situation did not seem to warrant explaining, he was having difficulty figuring out exactly why they were confused and what exactly needed clarification.  When we left they still seemed flummoxed, but we had places to go, so off we went to Trona.

We were required to have a follow car from 6pm until 7am and, since we reached Trona in complete darkness, Jason and I did the last section of our stage with a follow car.  I had been worried about riding with a follow car.  I was worried that its presence would bother me.  I feared I would be overly aware of having an audience and feel nervous.  The car did not bother me at all.  I might have been working a little harder, because I knew it was there, but it never made me anxious.

At one point the car pulled up while we were starting a slight climb to ask if we needed anything.  Jason was distracted by the car, so he backed off pedaling and he did not downshift.  I think that Steve was the one asking us if we were ok and Jason was sort of answering and I forgot how to say the words “downshift” and became very annoyed.  “Something is wrong,” I yelled and then I finally came out with the word downshift.  Poor Steve thought I was angry with them, when I was mostly frustrated at myself for not being able to remember the word “downshift.”  I felt bad for Steve.  I just needed a lower gear and Jason was distracted and not shifting or pedaling as hard.

We arrived in Trona and Nancy and Tim were waiting on the side of the road astride his tandem, ready to leave.  They were not able to leave until the follow car went with them, so they had to wait.  Willy was in no hurry.  He was hyped up and chatting and Jason was not exactly hyped up, but he seemed willing to talk.  Tim and Nancy meanwhile, stood on the side of the road waiting.  I eventually told Jason to stop talking back to Willy, so that he would get in the follow car and go.

My legs straight up hurt after this stage.  We had put out a good steady effort and the wind had been very inspirational.  We had felt good and strong because of the wind and the downhill start and we felt even more inspired to throw down more effort on the road.  We had a good ride and we were both pleased.

Stage 2 profile. Stolen form AdventureCORP site.

Julie’s version of her ride as stoker in this stage is found on Nancy Yu’s blog.

Julie and Steve rode the hardest set of stages.  On paper, Nancy and Tim’s stage 3 ride would seem to be the hardest, since it is the longest and has the most climbing.  The hardest stage, however, is not the century that contains the 2-hour climb and that ends in Furnace creek at 0125; the hardest stage is the 73 mile leg that contains the three hour climb and that starts at 0125 and ends at 0733.

Stage 4. Stolen from the AdeventureCORP site. By Doug Dog Sloan

Humans are not made to drive or ride between 3 am and 6 am.  They are the witching hours.   We did pass a few riders who stopped to sleep in their support vehicles.  508 miles is a long time to go without sleep and a number of the solo riders do bed down along this stage during the witching hours.

Their stage started out very strong as they rode along the valley floor into a slight headwind, picking off half-bikes.  They would see a bike ahead of them and, I swear, double their speed, sprinting past their competition and almost dropping the van.  Julie said that Steve was like a dog, always wanting to be out front.

At Jubilee Pass and Salisbury Pass our joy was terminated. We spent three hours slowly driving behind the tandem and trying not to fall asleep.  Jason drank 3 of those Starbucks coffee caffeine bombs as he slowly drove the van in complete darkness following the climbing tandem, but finally succumbed and had to pull over.  Tim took over the driving and I continued as shot-gun.  Tim had gotten a small amount of sleep in the back while Jason drove, but he hadn’t really slept much.  I thought that someone should be awake other than the driver and tried valiantly to stay awke, but completely failed.  I could not stop myself from nodding off over and over again.  I drank a coke and felt quite buzzed from the coke, but the buzziness did not prevent me from nodding off.  Jason, sensing that the whole car was being overwhelmed by a fog of drowsiness, also tried not to sleep in the back seat.  Tim did a good job.  He stayed pretty far back from the tandem, so that if he did fall asleep or zone out, he would not actually hit our riders.  He never nodded or even really appeared to be sleepy and his driving was steady, but he did seem a little zoned out.  We were going 4 mph, so we would not get very far or get there very quickly if he actually fell asleep, but still, I was a little nervous.  -but not nervous enough to actually prevent me from continuing to nod off.  I spent 3 hours going 4-5 mph following a tandem in the dark feeling buzzed, tired, sleepy, and nervous all at once.

I remarked to the four of us in the van that the only people actually awake were the two on the tandem.

That supposition turned out to be an error.  Julie spent much of that climb trying to keep Steve awake.  Steve said he just wanted to get off the bike and sleep for a little bit.  Julie talked to him, badgered him, and sang to him in order to keep him awake.  Steve had not gotten much sleep on Friday night before the race and really did not need another sleepless night, especially one that involved climbing Jubilee and Salisbury passes by bike.  His stomach was not giving him any pleasure either, so all in all Steve was a really good sport.

I had been wrong, of the six of us, Julie, the stoker, was the only person awake that night and her handlebars do not actually control anything.

Dawn broke and everyone woke up.  Julie called us up to the tandem to yell at us that this hill needed to end already.  Their descent was not much of a descent and they ended up pedaling into the next time station.

Steve and Julie did a fabulous job riding a psychologically difficult stage into daybreak.

Picture of Steve and Julie near the top of Salisbury after dawn. This picture is very over-exposed to be able to see them.

Stage 4: Furance Creek to Shoshone. Stolen from the AdventureCORP site. Map made by Doug Dog Sloan.

Nancy Yu’s blog has a first person ride report for this stage.

Stage 3, with the Trona bump and Towne’s pass, is the actual queen stage, topping out with an elevation of 5000 feet on Townes Pass.  Nancy and Tim rode this stage and were outrageously strong on Townes pass, a 3800 feet climb with some stiff bits.  Per the 508 webpage this 100 mile stage has 7538 feet of climbing and Nancy and Tim cranked out this century in 6 hrs and 15 minutes.

Since this stage was ridden in complete darkness, we were required by 508 rules to do a direct follow of our riders with the follow car.  During the day, we are allowed to provide leap frog support with the car.  New national regulations have now made direct-follow support cars for bicycles illegal in national parks without a special permit, a permit which involves a 3 month study/review period.  The law is new and AdventureCORPS was not given enough time to request a special permit and make a study regarding impact of the follow cars, so we were grandfathered in for this year and this year only.  (My version of this story lacks any firsthand knowledge, is likely to contain some errors, and is definitely not the entire story.)  However, the Death Valley National Park was concerned about the dangers of having slow-moving follow cars going up Townes Pass and expressed their concern to Kostman.  As a result, this year, the follow cars were given permission to leap frog their riders on the climb up Townes in order to find a spot to pull over and allow other traffic to more easily pass. I am not sure why the park was more concerned this year than on previous years, but they were.  We directly followed Tim and Nancy the entire climb, except for one quick stop near the top.  The only cars were saw on the climb were other follow cars and the one ranger who was monitoring the event.

Last year a rider crashed on the descent down Townes and needed to be transported out by ambulance.  In the end she was ok, but the ambulance had to come from far away and involved a lot of coordination.  As part of this year’s permit, Kostman was required to hire an ambulance and have it stationed in Stovepipe Wells, near the base of Townes.  This ambulance would be able to help any rider on Townes pass or in Death Valley.  I am not sure how Kostman feels about the extra ambulance, but I was glad of its presence.  Death Valley always feels so isolated.

The tandem 4x teams are the only teams allowed 2 vehicles, since we are basically a traveling circus with 8 riders and 4 silly long bikes.  Jason and I were in the extra vehicle for the start of this stage.  We jumped ahead to before the climb up Townes and waited for the crew.  I liked this part of the race.  The start of Townes pass was in the distance and we could see a string of red lights, all other 508 people slowly climbing the pass in complete darkness. I tried to get pictures of the string of lights in the distance going up Townes, but the pictures, taken with my pocket camera did not capture the situation’s coolness.    We were able to stand around and discuss stars, the milky way, and the Pleiades, and why are rods only on the side of the retina?

We did a vehicle swap and Jason and I ended up in Willy’s van, the follow vehicle, with Willy driving.  Driving behind Nancy and Tim was great; they just went up Townes like it was nothing.  They conquered that hill and just being there to see them and witness their ride was a treat.

Nancy and Tim as they would have looked on Townes Pass, had they done it during the day and had the pass been flatter

The run into Furnace Creek from the Scottie’s Castle turn-off has always seemed disappointingly long.  It should be flat and easy, but instead I feel like that particular leg is interminable.  I have done it a few times as part of the AdventureCORPS Death Valley events.  However, it doesn’t seem long at all when done in an air-conditioned car, even when done at bike speed (or at least at Tim and Nancy bike speed).

We got to Furnace Creek.  Tim and Nancy dismounted, Julie and Steve mounted, Tim forgot to strap down the back tandem wheel onto the truck, Tim lost his helmet, and we were OFF to the next stage.

Stage 3, Trona to Furnace Creek. Stolen from the AdventureCORPS site. Map by Doug Dog Sloan.

Why?

Totems!!!

Who wouldn’t want to do a race where you get to pick a totem that’s then yours for life?  I think that Chris Kostman is simply a brilliant man.

The Furnace Creek 508 is a five hundred and eight mile bicycle race across the desert, through Death Valley.  The race is very popular.  (Popular, not in a Levi Leipheimer-Gran Fondo sort of way, but in a 508 mile race across the desert sort of way.)  It is also quite expensive, not just because of the race fees, but because of gas, lodging etc in such a remote location.  I am not complaining about the costs, just pointing out the costs of a race that has been going on for over twenty years, is very popular (this year’s race had 234 racers and a sundry crew) and involves riding five hundred and eight miles across the desert.

Totems.

Who cares how expensive it is?  You get a freaking totem. Who cares if it involves driving a car at cycling speed for five hundred and eight miles across the desert?  Totems are cool.

The other brilliant part of the 508 is that you can do it as a relay.  Signing up for a five hundred and eight mile race across the desert as a soloist is something that only really strong and fast people do.  Regular cyclists don’t do things like that.  However, most cyclists can do 1/4 of five hundred and eight miles.  The relays are a hook.  A bit of a taste and then people want to try for the whole shebang.

Not only do you get your own totem that you can keep for life, you can also be inducted into the 508 hall of fame after 5 events.  Willy just completed his 4th 508: once as a soloist, once as a two man relay, once as a two tandem relay, and now once as a 4 tandem relay.  He is definitely going to do one more event just to get into the Hall of Fame.  In order to be inducted into the California Triple Crown (CTC) Hall of Fame, one needs to complete 50 doubles.  50.  At my rate of double riding, for me to get into the CTC, I am going to need to find me some strapping young man to pull me around on a tandem as I pedal into my dotage.  5 events is awfully tempting and who on earth would want to do all 5 events as a soloist?  (There is an answer for this question.  You can look it up.)  You would want to do some of the events as a relay and then you would be looking for fresh blood and hooking a whole new set of cyclist into the 508 web.

Which is how Jason and I got involved in the 508.

I love riding in the desert.  Jason and I have done the Death Valley century/double a few times and I love riding there.  I ride along and can see forever.  The roads warp and warble and disappear into points on the horizon.  The land is vast and open.  Geology is on display like a textbook.  Mountain ranges miles and miles away seem close enough to touch.  It feels surreal and other-worldly.   I sign up for the Chris Kostman’s Death Valley double every few years, after the terribleness of the 9 hour drive has been forgotten, but the memory of the desert’s beauty still lingers.

I love these views of the road disappearing into the horizon.

When Willy mentioned the tandem relay, it sounded like a great idea.  We would be involved in this cool race in the desert with a lot of people we know.  It would be pretty and it would not be that hard, since 508 divided by 4 is not that much.  Not until much closer to the race did I actually think out the situation.  While the cycling would be fun, most of the ride would be done in a car, traveling at bike speed across the desert and while I like cycling in the desert, I cannot say, in all honesty, that I like driving across the desert.  And where would I get to pee?

When I told MarkN about my plans to do the 508 as a relay, his reply was:

I have to admit the 508 sounds awful but that is just me. Not my cup of tea at all. I have heard that some people like that sort of thing though.  … I think it would be fun to get 4 tandem teams together in Death Valley and ride 60 to 80 miles in the daytime together. Then go to the hotel for drinks and dinner. Maybe a hot tub soak. Repeat the next day. I’m just saying.

Mark is awfully fond of hot tubs, but I still think that he might be onto something.

The driving turned out to be fine.  Driving wasn’t as nice as riding, but it was sort of fun to drive along slowly across the desert and stare at the horizon.

Lodging

Willy wrote to us in March and told us to get hotel reservations at the start and finish sites.  He warned that the rooms would be hard to come by as the event approached.   Jason and I got a room at the start host hotel, but were unable to get a room at the finish host hotel and so got a room at the Motel 6, which Willy had mentioned in his email.  Nancy was really on the ball and managed to snag a room at the finish hotel.

On August 30th, having completely forgotten about his March email, Willy wrote to us again and suggested that we should all get rooms.  He hadn’t looked into getting rooms yet, and was hoping that rooms were still available.  Nancy and Jason replied that we had already reserved rooms. Willy, Steve and Tim were unable to get rooms at the start hotel, but they decided to get rooms at the Motel 6 for the finish since Jason and I were booked there (on Willy’s suggestion).

That motel 6 was pretty much a dump.  When we got to the motel, Willy told us that he would never have stayed there, except that we had already gotten rooms there and he decided to be a team player and book his room there, too.  We had only stayed there on his suggestion, of course, but that was from an email he had long forgotten.  The Motel 6 wasn’t really that bad.  It didn’t have bed bugs, roaches or obvious scurrying rodentia and it was really, really cheap.  I haven’t stayed in a room this cheap in over 15 years.  Our room was dinky and smelled faintly of urine and cigarette smoke, but only faintly.  All in all the room was great; it was cheap, it had no bed bugs or roaches and you acclimated to the smell in a matter of minutes.

Nancy showed up at the finish hotel, to discover that her reservation was for a different day. After a few calls, Deb was able to find a room in town for them.  Their room, apparently, did not smell of smoke and urine, but it was more expensive.

The start host hotel, the Hyatt Regency in Valencia, was fantastic.  The rooms were reasonably priced and very, very nice.

Who?

• Me and Jason
• Tim and Nancy
• Steve and Julie
• Deb and Willy

Jason, Me, Julie, Steve, Deb, Willy, Nancy, Tim. Photo by Ron Jones from the AdventureCORPS site

We rode under the totem Gray Goose, which is a great totem, since it is a combination of Julie’s and Steve’s last names and they are interested in doing the ride as a solo tandem team or a 2-man relay.

Floyd Landis had been signed up as part of a 2-man team and people were somewhat relieved that he was not able to come, so that the attention would be back on us regular folks.

Deb and Willy have ridden the tandem together quite a bit and they did last year’s 508 as a 2 tandem relay with Steve and Julie.  They were our honored veterans.  Jason, Tim, Nancy and I were the clueless rookies.  Jason and I have ridden quite a bit together, though we don’t ride as much as we used to do.  Nancy has ridden tandems on numerous occasions with various captains, though she, herself, does not own a tandem.  Tim was the odd duck.  The two stages of the 508 were his 4th and 5th rides on a tandem.  He signed up for this event, having never ridden a tandem at all.  He signed up to this event with the understanding that he would buy a tandem in order to do it.  I know couples who have been married for years, but are unwilling to get a tandem, so worried that they might not like it and he bought one, because he was riding with Willy on a brevet one lovely day and Willy told him about the tandem relay idea and Tim thought it sounded fun.  He agreed on the spot to sign up, buy a tandem and ride with Nancy.  Who does that?

I really liked Tim.

Nancy’s willingness to ride a tandem with someone she did not really know is remarkable, too.  All in all, the team was great, except for me, who has a slight tendency for baseline crankiness (especially when hungry and I missed a couple of meals on this weekend due to ride timing).  No one got upset or seemed stressed out and everything went smoothly.

Steve made a rack so he could carry three tandems on his truck.  Willy has a van decked out from previous 508 events for supporting this type of event.  Willy was on one of the support teams that crewed for Joan Deitchman this year in RAAM.  Willy is of the opinion that you can only plan so much for these events.  His main plan is to be flexible, because you never really know what is going to happen.

Willy drove Tim, Deb, and Nancy down to Valencia, but between the four of them, they failed to adequately clamp down the skewer on Tim’s brand-new tandem and the tandem fell over on the roof as they drove down Interstate 5.  Fortunately, it did not fall off the roof or into some other unsuspecting driver’s window.  They stopped, put the tandem back into place, and everything was fine.

Pre Race

Jason and I arrived at the start hotel on Thursday evening, got nice and settled and then went for a nice ride on Friday morning.  We wanted to get there early, so we would be all settled and comfortable before registration on Friday, which started at 11 am and ended at 4 pm.  Willy, Nancy, Deb and Tim arrived in time to finish registration 3 minutes before 4.

Steve designed and made a rack for his pick-up truck to carry the three extra tandems. Steve and Tim on the right

Julie and Steve to the left and me, sitting on Steve and Julie’s truck dressed as a yellowjacket

Nancy and Willy

Jason and I did get a very nice ride in on Friday morning and I was very happy that we had arrived early.  Valencia was a bit odd, but we were able to ride the first bit of stage one, going through San Francisquito Canyon, which was very pretty and interesting.

San Francisquito canyon ride before the ride

See Nancy Yu’s blog for the full Gray Goose Tandem 4x race report.

Click here for Nancy Yu’s video of the weekend.