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

[NadiaMac]

I did four passes of the DR (my goal, yay!) and was caught in the torrential rain and hail as I descended Ebbetts. Talk about cold! I descended at a snail's pace and it felt like forever. Near the bottom, another rider turned to me and said "that f**ing sucked". Well put.

The ride back to Markleeville was very hot and I dried off in a few minutes. This allowed me to finish feeling very strong. The rain swept through the finish area (and on up to Carson) a bit later.

Hey, congrats to the TNT riders! I saw some of the north bay group as I as descended after the fourth pass and the SF group as I descended after the third pass. Everyone looked strong!

[maillotpois]

Congrats to NadiaMac and Parity. (I'm finally back at a real computer after being on the road too long - dropping the kid off at camp, etc.) Parity you must have been relatively close to me as we descended Ebbetts. Funny. I was in the solid purple TNT jersey on a red/blue Eddy Merckx with a bearded skinny-ish guy in same on the carbon Bianchi. He got to "lunch" before me, and as soon as I got there I made him haul out ASAP to make the cutoffs with some cushion.

That was by far the wildest DR in terms of weather variation I have experienced. Good job to those who met their goals!

So who's doing it next year?

(I will eventually do a report. Gotta unload my Garmin data and that may not happen for a while as we are headed to bendemonium tomorrow....)

[jobob]

MP, I have 3 words:

Rooster Cream Ale.

Bubba will understand.

[NadiaMac]

Malletpois, I think you passed me during the Ebbetts descent. I was in a chianti rooster jersey on a silver serotta, descending very slowly because I was extremely cold.

[maillotpois]

Hm. quite possibly. I really didn't look at people I was passing - mostly trying to keep upright and not drown. Glad we both made it down safe!

[velogirl]

yeah, epic.

we hit the beginning of the hail on the way down ebbetts and the rain/hail/lightening/flooding/wind/blech on the ascent from Woodfords.

it was my 3rd DR, but the first time I completed all five passes. it was not a pretty ride for me -- probably the worst of all three times I've done the ride (ironically). I had terrible altitude sickness right from the start -- super-elevated HR, shallow breathing, dizziness, sick stomach, and no power in my legs. I couldn't believe how slow I was riding. I just couldn't turn the pedals over. within the first 30 minutes I had decided I was done but my riding partner wouldn't let me stop.

with 10 miles to go, and the heavens opening up, I almost cried because I didn't think we'd make it after coming so far. but I'm a stubborn old biddy.....

[maillotpois]

congrats velogirl!!!

and it was nice to meet you on Ebbetts. (I think we met on Spooner many years ago when I was coaching a TNT Tahoe team.)

glad you got your pin!