Bike Goddess....

[tprevost]

Hi BG,

How difficult was the Death Valley Century? I was thinking of attempting the one (100 miler) in the fall but am a bit nervous based on the BJ Board thread (although a lot of those guys/gals did the double so I may be worrying over nothing???)

Any input would be appreciated Thanks!

Tracy

[SadieKate]

Veronica has done the northern route.

[Veronica]

I've only done the southern route - they used to do the southern in the fall. I've driven the northern route. It has much nicer pavement and I think is more scenic.

V.

[tprevost]

what are your opinions of difficulty for someone who doesn't have recent years' of riding experience? I will have done 2-3 centuries by then but keep hearing horror stories about it (not horror as in awful, but more like obstacles). I have to say, one of the reasons I'm even thinking of trying it is that I did hear the roads are better on the 'northern route'. Thank you for confirming!

I know BikeGoddess was just there; that's why I asked her... should've known there'd be lots of people w/good info!

Is anyone else thinking of this ride? I'm trying to find out when registration opens - didn't see it on the website so I e-mailed them so I can calendar the date!

Tracy

[Bike Goddess]

"Is anyone else thinking of this ride? I'm trying to find out when registration opens - didn't see it on the website so I e-mailed them so I can calendar the date! "-tprevost

I am thinking about doing the northern route as well. I've been to DV many times as you might have seen from my posts to the Canuks on the BJ. I have to figure out a way to get there. It is a 10 hour drive from Pleasanton, 11 hours from my house. Long ways to go for a century!

I would say the roads are much better going up to Scotty's Castle.
I've driven that route many times. The main part is the heat as it can get quite hot in the fall.

[tprevost]

BG,

Its pretty hot (not as hot as DV though) where I live so I can probably get acclimated to a certain extent prior to the ride. I know what you mean about the drive thing; I'm going to do the LRRH (12 hours) and Healdsburg (8ish) so I can definately sympathise (sp?). My poor DH keeps getting these notes to mark of entire weekends (fri-sun) so I can do a Saturday ride just because of the travel time. Too bad I'm on the opposite end of the state or obviously you could ride w/me!

I hope you go; it would be really great to have someone there who is familiar with the issues etc!

Tracy

[Veronica]

We've done the Fall DV century twice, it was the southern route both times. The first year it was the end of October, like it will be this year, and it was very pleasant. The temp maybe topped out at 78.

The second year it was in the middle of October and it was 102 when we finished. A lot of people had hydration issues that year. We saw one guy with only one water bottle. Idiot. The stops are kind of far apart. The National Park dictates where they are. We had 5 bottle cages on the tandem and I insisted on carrying more water in the banana bag.

I'd love to do it again, but it's hard with my schedule. We use to be a year round school and I was off in Oct., Feb. and June. I miss those days!

V.

[tprevost]

Thanks Veronica, maybe its not as scary as I thought! Its regularly over 100 here in the summer so I can probably work on getting acclimated (I usually go out of my way to do my workouts early or late - maybe a few in the heat will go a long way in case it is 102!)

Thank you everyone for the info - every little bit helps!

Tracy