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.

[Bike Goddess]

Sarah- Looking forward to your story! Glad I wasn't there!

[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!

[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.