Death Ride Passes

[Veronica]

Which of the 5 are the prettiest?

We're going to camp at Grover after school gets out. I doubt Thom will be back in shape to do all of them, so put them in order of prettiness please.

V.

[maillotpois]

Ebbets without a doubt.

What dates will you be up there?

[Veronica]

And which others? I'd like to do all 5 naturally. But two or three is more realistic I think.

June 17 and 18th. I was going to try to be there when you are, but the end of the school year is always stressful. I didn't need to be planning a camping trip too.

V.

[maillotpois]

Ebbetts is 2 passes (1 each side). So is Monitor. Do both sides of Ebbetts. If you are feeling ambitious continue beyond the Ebbetts turnaround (the level part at the bottom of the back side of the pass) to Pacific Grade. 24%

Carson will be the most heavily trafficked pass - but it is also the widest. Monitor is nice. Dropping down to 395 on the backside is the lowest elevation (which means it is the longest sustained climb on the way back up.)

ETA: I just looked back at my journal. Ebbetts out and back from Grover Hot Spirings is 55 miles. About 5500 feet of climbing - but it has the nice long rolly/flat stretch by the river.

[yellow]

V, I loooooooooooooove Monitor. Expect some serious speed on the east side! MP, all the cattle guards are gone now on Monitor, yes?

Another nice ride in the area that isn't a "Death Ride Pass" is up Blue Lakes Road off of 88 near Hope Valley. They just paved it for the first time about 3-4 years ago.

[maillotpois]

Yellow - I recall no cattle guards on Monitor.

Monitor's a lot drier. More the type of terrain you'll get at ESDC (eastern Sierra like). The view from Monitor can be amazing. Ebbets is pine foresty and just beautiful. Ebbett's is the hardest of the passes in terms of steepness, but done on its own it's a fun ride. Carson's easy, flattish (except at the bottom and top), meadow with lakes.

[smilingcat]

yeah I vote for Ebetts pass.

So now its Monitor-Monitor-Ebetts-Ebetts-Carson? hmmm Haven't been down the back side.
Monitor just seem just too open for me. Luther is gone... Well it is a very beautiful ride.

No cattle guards!!! The real cattle guards have been replaced with white lines painted across the road.

wondeful memories...
smilingcat

[maillotpois]

Yep, that's been the route/order for at least the last 7 - 8 years. (One of those years they threw in Pacific Grade as a bonus 6th; I think that was 2001.) They haven't done Luther in a while. Did they also do Luther as an out and back? Daggett pass out of South Lake is fun - much like Monitor but a faster descent with wider roads.

You gotta love how cows are just as petrified by LINES painted in the road as they are by grates. I wish people had figured that out a long time ago!!!

[smilingcat]

My memory is bit fading. It used to be monitor front and back then up to ebbets then into town for lunch. Then up carson, back down part way then up Luther and back to turtlerock (the big park). or was it Luther then Carson... and no it didn't have back side.

Daggets... Oh my! they haven't gone that route since '89/'88 or so. Or was it even before then.

Do you still get to sign a poster if you finished all 5 passes? and do they have the wake up call on the morning of ride at the park? I used to camp at the camp ground. I think most of us woke up before the sound of Jimmy Hendrix rendition of national anthem, the sound of train and the rooster crowing.

[maillotpois]

You do get to sign a poster!

Nowadays, they're waking people to "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Aaron Copeland. In the mountains, with the cold morning air and a starry night above it is VERY moving. Worth getting up at 3:00 to drive over from South Lake just to hear that!

[smilingcat]

maybe I should try next year and hope I get lucky with the lottery. Its been like 16 years since I last did that ride. '91?? When I was young, some what cute... Atleast, I'll have ample time to be ready for it.

Fond memories of camping out. The guy I was with pitched the tent over an ant hill. so it was an interesing night I couldn't really blame him cause we got there tad late and the sun was setting so we really couldn't see the ground too well.

smilingcat

[maillotpois]

You can almost always get a slot if you go the afternoon before and wait in line. You should give it a try. It would be great to meet you. It sounds like we've ridden a lot of the same roads, you just got an earlier start at it than I did.

[spokewench]

V, I loooooooooooooove Monitor. Expect some serious speed on the east side! MP, all the cattle guards are gone now on Monitor, yes?

Another nice ride in the area that isn't a "Death Ride Pass" is up Blue Lakes Road off of 88 near Hope Valley. They just paved it for the first time about 3-4 years ago.

YAHOO - The serious speed is the best part! said by Crazy woman who still hasn't learned she is getting old!

[maillotpois]

Yup.

I hit 59 mph coming down Carson in 2005. Still a personal land speed record (on a bike ). Not likely to go any faster than that, either....

[maillotpois]

Back from a great weekend in Markleeville!

(I did bring home a nasty head/chest cold, which started Friday night and led to some less than perfect riding performances.... but snot's better than clots, right?? I actually did think a bit on Ebbetts about my terrible ride up it last year, when I could NOT get any oxygen and was at the point of hyperventilating - not knowing why. I could barely stay with our slowest rider last year. I beat myself up afterward for doing so poorly as if there was something I had done that had led to me not being able to breathe. This year was definitely better than that, snot and all! )

In addition to the SF Bay TNT Death Ride team (we're "Redwood Wine Country" - basically Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties), I saw a couple of friends, Susie and Barb who were also training on Ebbetts and who introduced me to a very nice Luna Chix woman whose name I forgot (blame the head cold).

Friday we arrived and set up camp at Grover's. Dinner in town, which was nice. I love that little restaurant on the corner - and the General Store folks. Pretty much all the businesses in Markleeville are terrific. One of our team had never been camping before, and the woman he carpooled with told him quite seriously that you have to cover your tent with aluminum foil in order to ward off bears (they don't like the feel of the foil in their teeth, don't'cha know) and so he dutifully went around the campground offering to help ithers wrap their tents.... We finally broke the news to him Saturday night. He missed out on the snipe hunt, though...

Saturday was a ride up Ebbetts'. This is my favorite of the passes (both sides). We were riding on our own, letting our participants feel out their own paces. I went hard on the front side, and paid for it on the back, but that was fine. The ride was only 55 miles. One of our stronger participants had a VERY bad time with altitude. It can really affect people in ways they might not expect - this weekend is designed for experimenting with the effects of altitude and familiarizing our folks with the passes, and not as "training" per se. So they learned a lot.

Saturday afternoon we cleaned up at Grover's Hot Springs, a pair of pools, one natural and one man made - well, I guess they're both man made, but one pool has hot water flowing directly from the hot spring. Saturday night was group dinner, honoree moment (leukemia patients who are part of the team either as participants or inspiration) and the coaches discussion about the Death Ride. (It's a fine line between giving them enough information and info overload. I think we did okay.)

Sunday we broke camp and then rode up Carson pass. I love love love the descent off Carson and the climb's no big thing, though we had some nasty winds. I have seen my best downhill speed here. This weekend any attempt at besting that time was ruined by a camper who decided he HAD to pass me and then only went 50. ARGH!!! But it was all good. One of our participants (an honoree who has survived non-hodgkins lymphoma and has "chemo brain" - a recognized condition where you can be a little forgetful) missed the turn back to Markleeville and ended up ion Minden Nevada. Oops. Fortunately, our wonderful SAG crew retrieved her....

All in all a great weekend. Except for the cold.

Notes for anyone planning to go up there (V): They have torn apart one side of Crystal Spring campground so I am not 100% sure the campground still has water, but I expect it does. The one bathroom that was there is not there for sure. This is about 1/2 way up the front of Ebbetts and is one of the only places for water you will get after leaving Markleeville. The campground at the base of Ebbetts (name escapes me but it is where the DR has the lunch stop) MAY have water but I don't know for sure.