Death Valley Ultra Century

[ivorygorgon]

On Saturday DH and I rode our first Ultra-Century - 144 miles with about 8k feet of climbing, in Death Valley. It took us about 13 hours and 22 minutes elapsed time (including rest stops, 2 flats, and lunch.) This was actually a little longer than projected, but we lost some time with the flats and I lost some time climbing Hell's Gate! LOL.

Death Valley is an incredibly beautiful place to ride. We had an awesome time. We climbed to Ubehebe Crater and Hells Gate (7 miles at 6%) and bombed down a 9 mile descent in the dark - where the stars were the brightest we have seen in years. We estimated we could see at least 5x as many stars as we can see in San Diego. It was absolutely stunning. The moon was an orange sliver and we were both treated to a shooting star!

Next up? We want to do a double.

[maillotpois]

I have friends who did the double this weekend - was it all part of the same event? (I don't typically travel too far for doubles. I prefer to stay closer to home).

Well done! That's a great distance to do in prep for a double. Which one are you thinking of doing?

[ivorygorgon]

Yes, it was part of the same event. We have no particular plans for a double yet, but we do have a 4 person team put together for the Furnace Creek 508 for next year.

[maillotpois]

Fun! The 508 is a great event.

Well if you have any questions about pros and cons of any specific northern or central CA doubles, let me know. Veronica has done some as well. I am sure we have plenty of suggestions to go around.

For next year I am planning DMD, Davis, (maybe) central coast, TT, Tam and Knoxville. It would be fun to see you at one!

[zoom-zoom]

Very cool! It's been 16 days since my JDRF Ride to Cure ride in DV. Because of excessive heat (for mid-Oct.) they changed the route so that people could do it out-and-back twice for a century. I ended up doing 72 miles, since I wasn't quite sure how my body would tolerate the increasing heat and since they removed the Jubilee Pass option from the course there was no longer that bucket list incentive (I'd already hit my 3 goal centuries for the year, too). We hope to be back to DV for the same ride in 2 years (next year our team plans to ride in Tahoe).

I would love to ride DV in the dark. We had a full or almost full moon while we were there. I can't even begin to imagine how amazing it would be to ride in the dark like that.

Where did you guys stay for this...Furnace Creek Ranch? I love that place. We spent a lot of time in that amazing bathwater-warm pool while there. It's officially on my list of favorite places.

[ivorygorgon]

MP: I don't know if you remember, but it was my DH who contacted you a couple years ago about the Death Ride. He completed 5 passes this year. He is a stud.

I will definitely let you know what we decide about a double. I don't think I am ready yet - although physically I think I could have completed the double the other day, I just would have been very slow. I am a pretty slow climber and we need to get our speed up through the SAG. I don't know why it is taking us so long as we don't sit around and hang out, but we are losing time while stopped.

Zoom- we stayed at Furnace Creek Ranch. Our century went out the other way - Scotty's Castle was the turnaround. I am not sure how hot it was, I don't think it got that hot, maybe up to 90 at the most, but for most of the day it was really pretty nice. I was nervous about riding in the dark, but it was pretty incredible, particularly since part of it was a big downhill. We bought some really good lights so I had no trouble seeing and again, the stars were just incredible.

[Veronica]

The schedule for 2012 hasn't been announced yet, has it?

I guess this is as good a time as any...

This year will be our tenth anniversary of supporting DMD. We've decided that to celebrate it, we'll ride it instead of doing SAG. I've already got the jersey - I ordered it in 2006 and then DNF'ed. Scott (the organizer) said he was tired of seeing it in his garage. I can't wear it until I actually do the freakin' ride! He says I can wear it because I've completed the double metric version - twice! That just doesn't count in my book.

Veronica

[maillotpois]

Ivory - yes, I definitely remember. Good for your DH!! That's great that he did DR. Now it's your turn!! And you have honed in on one of the keys - stopped time. Training yourself to keep your stops short is really just as important as keeping your riding speed fast. And it's something that's easier to improve upon than riding speed.

V: Excellent. I've got my brevet training plan all mapped out for DMD. Maybe we should start another thread...

And no the schedule has not been announced, but you can figure it out fairly easily from the last year's.

[zoom-zoom]

Zoom- we stayed at Furnace Creek Ranch. Our century went out the other way - Scotty's Castle was the turnaround. I am not sure how hot it was, I don't think it got that hot, maybe up to 90 at the most, but for most of the day it was really pretty nice. I was nervous about riding in the dark, but it was pretty incredible, particularly since part of it was a big downhill. We bought some really good lights so I had no trouble seeing and again, the stars were just incredible.

Oh, 90 with that low humidity would be heavenly. 90 even with our high humidity in the Summer makes for a tolerable ride. Our ride day ended up with temps in the 110º neighborhood. Last year they had similar conditions and a third of the field ended up sagged back to the start. This year almost half of the riders were first-timers in DV, so they didn't want to risk that again. I think they had only a couple of riders requiring SAG back to the start with the modified route, so it was a smart plan.

I would love to see the stars out there without the full moon. Our first night there we went up to Zabriskie Point to look at stars (has become team tradition), but the moon was too bright. I still thought the moonlight was amazing. It surely gives the desert an extra-surreal look.