Yikes! The Death Ride must have been epic ...

[jobob]

... and not necessarily in a good way.

This was posted by a friend on the Nor Cal BikeForums list who rode the DR today:

The other guys can describe it better probably but there was a hail storm up on Carson Pass. On the lower sections thunder kept clapping and in the last 5 miles it started to hail. Then after the last little climb to turn into the parking lot it went skitzo and was pelting everything. Every cyclist soaking wet.

Hail & thunder & pouring rain, oh my!

Looking forward to maillotpois' report.

[parity]

I completed all 5 passes just before the rain and hail on Carson. I got some sprinkles on the road towards Turtle Rock. I saw Lorri on the way up Monitor and sitting at the side of the road on Ebbets as I was coming down. I don't know what maillotpois looks like but I saw a lot of TNT riders, so its possible I saw her. We were staying at Sorensen's and drove some freezing soul back to Turtle Rock to his car.

[jobob]

Congratulations! Was this your first DR, or are you a veteran?

[parity]

I did it last year for the first time and completed all five passes as well. So I guess I am a veteran.

[TahoeDirtGirl]

Wow sounds like a fun time had by all! I have volunteered on these for a couple of different non profits, but not this year. I guess I picked the right year! At least it wasn't snow

[maillotpois]

we had hail and torrential rain from top of ebbetts (pass 4) to scossa's and AGAIN climbing woodfords to picketts. crazy! DH who fininshed 1-2 hrs before me was in terrible heat most of the day. my group was borderline hypothermic. in sane.

of our group we had 13 or 14 finish 5 passes (including me) and 2 finish 4. all in all a success. more later.

I also had a nice chat w/lorri while waiting for one of my guys on backside of ebbetts. as she was ahead, I hope she missed the apocalyptic descent.

[maillotpois]

oh by the way - if anyone saw the 12 year old blonde girl under the HUGE green umbrella cheering up Carson, that was my daughter. I am so proud of her - apparently she had some pathetic shivering cyclist take shelter from the downpour under the umbrella with her for quite some time. by the end of the day she was quite hoarse from cheering.

[velogirl]

Sarah, I called out to your daughter twice on the ride -- asking her if she was Sarah Burke's daughter. I recognized her from her photos. Tell her thank you for cheering -- she's a doll.

[NadiaMac]

Lorri,
What time did you guys start?? Congrats on finishing under challenging conditions!

[velogirl]

we started around 5:30, but got a slow start because the "un-boyfriend" was having some issues. total ride time was just under 11 hours. total elapsed time was just under 12 hours.

[tprevost]

we started around 5:30, but got a slow start because the "un-boyfriend" was having some issues. total ride time was just under 11 hours. total elapsed time was just under 12 hours.

Great job to all!!!! ... and Lorri... I'm getting a kick out of the "un-boyfriend" reference