Planet Ultra Death Valley Century

As I rode the Mulholland Challenge earlier in the year I was on the Planet Ultra mailing list. When the email came though during the summer about the Death Valley Century I was all over it, signing Becca and I up and booking our room at Furnace Creek within the hour!

In 2013 the Superintendent of the Death Valley National Park suspended all events in the park. To be honest I have not kept up with this situation recently but it impacted the Badwater 135 and the Furnace Creek 508. The latter moved to Reno in 2014 and became the Silver State 508 and has stayed that way ever since. The point of all this is that this was the first organized ride in the park in several years and as such it was a great opportunity to not be missed!

Additionally Becca had never been to Death Valley, my last visit was years ago and it’s more fun than is legal having joint adventures so long story short we were in!

We left LA on Friday. The only real plan was to get to the hotel before it got dark. The drive out was uneventful and driving across the Mojave Desert set the tone of the scenery for the weekend.

Our final gas stop was in Olanche and that left us 100 miles to go. DVNP encompasses a much larger area than the valley where Badwater sits and you first descend down through Panamint Valley, from there you climb back up some 4000’ before dropping back in to Death Valley itself.

Becca was amazed at the size of the place!

Unless you plan on camping Furnace Creek is the only joint in town to stay and we had decided that a good night’s sleep would be nice the night before and have delayed our camping adventures to later this month!

We checked in, went to packet pick up, had an ok pizza and a couple of beers and hit the hay!

Earlyish to bed it was coffee pot coffee and instant oatmeal in the morning, a quick shower and we were off.

Due to the location there were some unusual restrictions;

• No all black jerseys
• No timing chip
• No dawdling, with strict AS cutoffs
• No stopping on the side of the road
• No two abreast
• Red blinky, actually solid red lights were mandatory
• Staggered start to avoid mass pelotons

None of these rules were onerous and were easily followed!

We got to the start line a few minutes after the 7:00am start to find that most people had rolled out, so we did too. We caught up with a group within the first mile but with the red lights visible ahead it was clear to see that some people had started early and weren’t hanging about.

The route was two clear halves, the first an out and back to an AS about 10 miles past Badwater and back to the start. The second half was a triangle shape with the third and final AS at the top of the only climb. From there you rode down and back to the start. No real need for route cards or GPS and the 3-4 Event signs were more than enough.

The ride to the first AS was mostly in the shadow of mountain range to the East. We finally broke out of the shadows about 90 minutes into the ride.

The AS was about 28 miles in. The majority of this ride was into the wind, needless to say this sucked but it sucked for everyone. Other than the wind the elements were fine, not too hot or cold and surprisingly there wasn’t any dust or sand blowing around. I waited for Becca at the AS and she rolled in with her usual smile beaming despite a somewhat uncomfortable ride with an unfamiliar saddle; she had her road bike and not her tri bike.

We didn’t loiter and with the wind at our backs I made great timing back to the AS (at the Start/Finish) in quick time. It had taken me 2:06 to ride out and it was only 3:32 for the round trip so a 1:26 return journey!

I refilled my bottles and grabbed some food from the usual buffet of goodies that were on offer. I had a fair supply of my own supplies including the staple Lara Bar as well as RX and Picky bars. For hydration I was using a mix of Skratch and Base Amino which has become my go-to.

The next section was described as 10 miles out, 10 miles up, 10 miles down and 10 miles back and with a little rounding of the numbers this was a fair description. The 10 miles out was pretty non-descript I was picking off riders as I went and would see someone ahead and slowly wind them in. This took me to the base of the climb which in total was 11 miles the first 4 were fairly shallow.

The meat of the climb was just over 6.5 miles with an average grade of 6% but with ramps up to 9%. I sat in and span. Passing lots of folks on the way, the joys of running a 34 up front and a 32 at the back! The climb was more relentless than impossible and as with most of the roads in the valley you were presented with long straight lines rather than switchbacks etc. Eventually I reached the AS and the next turn. I fueled up again and waited for Becca who wasn’t that far behind. We restocked her and set off. The 10 mile descent was our reward and I went for it going down eventually spinning out. I covered the 10 miles in just over 22 minutes and had a grin like I had fallen asleep with a coat hanger in my mouth all the way down.

I waited a minute for Becca and we rode that last 10 miles back to Furnace Creek together crossing the Finish Line with 101 miles accumulated. She had a 30 minute run so I “guarded” the bikes and stuffed my face while waiting for her. We picked up our souvenir pint glasses!

She got back and we got changed, loaded the car grabbed and ice cream and high tailed it out of there! We headed to Badwater itself for a quick pic and then set off home!

We were treated to this awesome sunset!

We got back home around 9:00pm and I put my pint glass to good use!

So another century in the bank and a unique one at that. Death Valley is an amazing place, the scenery is breathtaking and even though I live in LA it is totally alien to what I am used to,it’s more like the moon!

I felt my riding was pretty strong, while I was wind assisted on the return for the first section I rode it sensibly hard and my times on certain sections reflected that. I also felt good enough to get back on the bike the next day.

Planet Ultra does a great job of laying on a well-run event that has a low key and friendly environment. They had capped this event at 300 riders and also had a 55 mile option, this was proving popular after 28 miles of headwind as it seemed a fair number of people dropped down. It was hard to judge the final headcount but I think there were around 50-60 folks who rode the Century.

Hopefully this event will be repeated next year, if it is it’s well worth signing up for! 

Here’s the Strava data.

I have the Mike Nosco ride later this week, so time to find my climbing legs!

The Mulholland Challenge

The rain during the week and on the Saturday prevented me from riding both days over the weekend and killed off my High Rouleurs attempt for that weekend. The climbs we not the issue and the actual rain during the ride would not be either it was the descents. Some of the roads are pretty rough, throw in the mix, mud and rocks being washed onto the road it was just too sketchy for me. It was decision that was proved right as I was standing on the edge of the road watching the rain come in sideways as hardier souls than me climbed up one of the many ascents into the Santa Monica Mountains. I was happy to be out there for the riders and did my best to provide physical and mental support for them. No doubt it was a tough day.

So on Sunday I loaded my bike into the car along with various layers that I had purchased last minute from Pactimo, including the Ultra-Lite rain jacket and the Evergreen Vest. The day was all about layers. The host hotel in Agoura was bustling was cyclists and I was forced to park at the back of beyond. I finished off readying my bike and headed to the front of the hotel where the official start line was I realized, as is my method operandi, I had missed the start of the event. I wasn’t the only one though and so I rolled out.

You would think that by now I would have covered all the roads in the Santa Monica Mountains but the truth is there are a lot of roads that I have yet to ride up or down and there still is with this ride I was able to cross off a few more. As we rode into the mountains we disappeared into the low cloud and mist. I was glad I was wearing the water proof jacket as the water accumulated on my body and rolled down my glasses! The ride was broken up in my mind as four loops. The first two would take me through and around Topanga Canyon State Park at the southern end of the Santa Monica Mountain and the second would be at the other end of the range with loops around Decker and Mulholland and Yerba Buena and Deer Creek. Some the climbs I had ridden up and down and others I had ridden up and would be descending this time around Yerba Buena and Deer Creek specifically fell into this bucket.

The Topanga section went by without too many problems and I would put and remove my layers when climbing and descending respectively. The first loop was all very familiar from living in the area a few years ago. As I had missed the start I was essentially at the back of the ride but slowly I started to catch up with people and pass them. After the first climb and descent we hit the first Aid Station.

I was pretty self-sufficient with a pocket full of Lara Bars and I had drunk that much. Maybe half a bottle in a couple of hours. I pushed on through after a short connecting section on Mulholland I started the second loop which was up Stunt. I have heard mention of it in the past but never ridden up it. It’s a typical SMM climb with switchbacks to a saddle followed by a descent. It has a total gain of around 1200’ over 4 miles and averages 6% going up to around 9% in parts. Once again I just sat in and pushed on passing some more folks and then being passed by a small bunch that were climbing like a freight train! There’s always a bigger fish!

The temperature was great, cool and cloudy and I just rode within myself making sure to eat a bar every hour or so. At the top there was the second Aid Station and I stopped to take advantage of the potta-john and refill a bottle. With little fuss I back in the saddle and heading back down Piuma. I took things nice and steady and while I was often passed on the rides down, there were few if any people who it didn’t repass on the climbs back up. Back onto Mulholland making sure not to miss the turn we were then directed by way of the third Aid Station up Rock Store and into the northern section. A quick descent down Mulholland all the way to the coast. It was a right hand turn onto PCH for a short section and we were onto the penultimate climb up Yerba Buena, 3 miles 1050’ at 6% maxing at 14%. It’s a pretty shitty road and the rain had washed a fair amount of dirt onto it too. At the top of the road there was another Aid Station, the one I had worked the prior day so I knew what to expect. I had ridden most of this loop but the other way round and the next mile would be the worst. 450’ of gain at an average of 8% maxing at 18%. Sit down, stand up, just keep pedaling. I passed people walking and I passed people riding. I was very grateful for my gearing choice of a 34/32 on my bike and I just span and span and span!

At the top there were a few rollers and then the nail biting descent down Deer Creek which is 11% and twisty! At the bottom a left hand turn and a quick jet south on PCH for the last climb up Decker; 4 miles, 1509’ of gain at 8%. Once again just sit in and keep moving forward. It had warmed up as much as it was going to at this point and people were struggling. 36 minutes later I was almost at the top but I was at the last Aid Station. One more bottle refill, a short down a sharp up and it was basically a 10 mile roll back to the start/finish and a couple of laps around the parking lot to hit 106 miles!

On the clock 8:14 moving time. 9:02 in total, even though I thought I had been pretty quick. 12,933’ of gain. Garmin tells me I was climbing for 4:56 so well over half the time and of that I was standing 1:17…I love my Vector pedals!

There is a bunch of other crazy data on Garmin Connect and Strava if you want to check it.

At the end there were 180 finishers of which I was 80 th, and 31/96 for my Age Group. I really am never going to be at the fast point end but like a diesel I can just keep going!

Overall it was a great day. The course is challenging and would make a great High Rouleurs course. No doubt riding it twice on consecutive days and then adding another 4000’ of gain and 26 miles would really be a big bite to take but that’s the joy of having a flip top head!

Overall the race is well organized. Aid Stations are frequent enough and they made a great call on moving the event due to the weather. Had it been hot it would have been a very different day! I would say that they are very strict with their rules about on road support etc but as long as you play nice they play nice with you. For me I just turn up and ride.

Onwards to the L’etape at the end of the month!

100 Miles of Nowhere

The premise was pretty simple, ride 100 miles and go nowhere. I missed the initial Fat Cyclist announcement and as a result I was about a month late to the party. That said I got my registration packet and DNA Cycling were happy enough to swap in a too small jersey for a too large T shirt. Timing wise it tied in nicely with Becca’s volunteering duties at Ironman Arizona. So we packed my Bike and Trainer in the car and we headed out to Tempe. Our schedule was pretty tight, we left home midafternoon Saturday and arrived early evening. Checked in, unpacked and basically flaked out.

Becca was up bright and early to get to her Volunteer station (T1 Changing Tent), I had a slightly slower start but after some Skratch Rice Porridge and couple of cups of coffee I was good to go.

I had packed a couple of Laptops and a Fan, I knew the room would have AC but a fan in the face works very well. There were two laptops; one would run TrainerRoad and Netflix and the other was running Zwift. I am playing with Zwift right now and have a couple of months free from being a Strava Premium user. For now the jury is out if I will keep it post free period.

TrainerRoad had prepared a 5 hour ride profile. Finishing in five hours was going to be a stretch for me, obviously that’s 20mph for 5 hours! I guestimated that I would be around 5:45 which was 17.3 mph. That seemed more realistic. The ride they had created was a mix of Sweet Spot, Tempo, Endurance and Active Recovery. After a warm up it was a rinse and repeat of a 60 minute cycle with a cool down. I added my usual 15 minute warm up and they added a 10 minute cool down twice and another 20 minutes of Free Ride on the tail end to close it out.

 

For fueling I had Lara Bars, they’re simple and whole food. I also had a couple of bananas. For hydration I used Skratch Labs Raspberry with a half scoop of BASE Amino. I have been using the Amino supplement when riding indoors for a while and I think it’s really been working with my recovery.

So with all that preparation complete it was time to get on with it! So I did. After 2:20 I stopped to pee and refill my bottle. I worked my way through my food, essentially eating 3 things every two hours, a Lara Bar is 210 calories and a banana 100 so my consumption was a bit light but I have been fat burning for quite some time and I am used to exercising in a pretty fasted state. Becca came back around noon and then headed out. I was still plugging away.

Eventually the TrainerRoad ride ran out and the second or third movie ended. I had around 93-94 miles completed per my Edge 810 but was around 87 miles per Zwift, I had joked with Becca that if I made it to 110 I would have a 250 mile week. So when 100 miles rolled I kept going. By 105 I was done, a couple more miles and I rolled the Zwift Century, seriously the things we do for a freaking badge!

So with 107 (Edge 810) miles I stepped off. 6:06 and 17.5 mph average. This actually is my longest (distance) ride to date this year, that record is not going to last very long! I think it’s the third or fourth Century ride this year.

All in all it wasn’t that bad, having the TR profile really helped keep me engaged, no doubt it I had just been spinning I would have been slower and significantly more bored. I totaled at 248 miles for the week, with over 160 miles on the weekend on the trainer, Saturday I had ridden 53 and change supporting a friend who was riding his Sufferfest Knighthood.

What I was really pleased with was the average HR, 119bpm for the entire ride.

Now to ease off of the gas and taper into the Everesting ride in two week!

The next challenge…

So next up on the agenda is something a little out of the blue, I have signed up for the Tour de Big Bear. It’s a Century ride which in its self is not too onerous, what will be the challenge is that it is at altitude, mostly around 7000’, the website blurb is;

The CLIMB – 100 miles – 7425’ Climbing

Southern California’s most challenging century, this course will duplicate The Grand Tour route over the new bridge, across the Arctic Circle to Snow Valley, back across the Arctic Circle, across the north shore of Big Bear Lake and Baldwin Lake, up and over Onyx Summit, but will extend down the backside of Sugarloaf Mountain into the spectacular Santa Ana River Canyon.  The ride continues down past the Seven Oaks turnoff and turns left and loops up along the edge of the San Gorgonio Wilderness and Jenks Lake.  The return up the backside of Sugarloaf Mountain will test even the most seasoned climbers with a 15 mile ascent before reentering the Big Bear Valley and continuing toward the finish line. Just when you think the climbing journey is over, its back up into the hills as you climb to upper Moonridge with the last short ascent up at about 15% grade at mile 93!!

I obviously need to work on my cycling fitness and need to get some serious miles on my road bike. Given the restrictions I have on time I am using a plan published by The Sufferfest, the only modification will be extending out the long rides on the Sunday to get me some serious saddle time. I am almost at the end of Week 1, I will be posting updates and you can follow my progress on Daily Mile, Garmin Connect and Strava!

Ojai Valley Century Ride

I had only registered two days earlier for the ride, apparently bike rides don’t fill up like running races, although there were 700 riders this year a 75% increase over last year people were still registering on the day.

Despite my earlier ruminations about what distance to ride (62 miles vs. 100 miles) I had emailed the Race Director and had been told there were a couple of bail out points in the second 50 miles should I need to take them, with that in mind I strapped on my boots and jumped in feet first: 100 miles!

It was to be another late night and another early start, you would think by now that I would have figured out how to get all my crap together before I head out the next morning, still this was my first organized bike ride and that’s my excuse. I finally got to bed around 1:00am and set the alarm for 5:00am. I actually woke before the alarm and so I had a couple of minutes in the bank. A quick shower, 3 Wheetabix and the same number of Race Caps and I was in the car, I had packed everything into the car the night before and only had to mount my bike on the rack; I couldn’t close the garage door with it mounted. On the road I finished off breakfast; a bagel pb&j and a cup of coffee.

Ojai is about 55 miles drive north east of my house, as I left the San Fernando Valley and headed further north the weather started to close in and the temperature got noticably colder, the hills were covered in cloud and started to wonder what the day held weather wise. I had given myself 75 minutes to get there. I needed all of it as I pulled into the town, a morass of cars with bike-racks faced me, we nudged and budged our way through and finally I found a parking space no too far from registration and wandered across to pick up my number. It was somewhat disorganized and there was the usual mix of widows and orphans (metaphorically; the spouse of the runner or in this case cyclist) running the registration. This is only the fifth year of the race and they are obviously still ironing out the details. After some discussion I got my number, photo coupon, helmet sticker, t-shirt and raffle tickets and headed back to my car. I had hoped to leave with the 7am wave but by now it was 7:10am. I unloaded my bike stuffed all my bits and pieces into the pockets on my shirt; gels, chapstick, jiffy bags with powdered sports drink, sun cream, Hammer bars and a few other bits, put on my vest and armwarmers, stuck the sticker on my helmet and headed back to the Start/finish area.

I didn’t really know what to expect, it was very low key and jovial, it was a fun ride rather than a race. I had missed most of the safety brief but caught the tail end “don’t run red lights, stop at stop signs and have fun” (the application of these rules resulted in; happened, kinda happened, happened) shortly followed by “the metric century (62 miles) can go now if they like”, no gun, no horn like I say …very low key! I asked someone to take my photo and at a little after 7:30am I was off.

I’ll spare you a mile by mile blow and wrap it up in nice and tidy 20 mile sections.

Miles 0-20 (Time elapsed 1:23:55)
The first few miles took us through a series of winding residential streets in the backend of Ojai, plenty of stopped signs, most of which were rolled through; hey that’s hard earned momentum you want me to just give up! We finally broke out into the countryside around mile 6 and were treated to some great rolling roads, this is a real contrast to where I live where it'e pretty much either up or down. I was trying to focus on keeping my cadence up; talking the strain/pressure of my knees and I had set a goal of maintaining an average speed of 15mph for the course of the ride. I had no real idea if this would work as this was a new route and a much bigger distance than I head ever ridden before. The first and biggest hill came around mile 11.5 and we climbed for two miles and about 600’ I remember thinking if this was the biggest hill I could be in good shape assuming I didn’t blow up over the mileage. A quick stop at he top to enjoy the view over Lake Casitas and a photog moment and I was off. This picture is actually from the rides website, the one with me in it has the hazy sun shining over my shoulder and is covered in low cloud. Of course the joy of the bike is that after any climb there is a descent and this one with the exception of a few little ups took us down for the best part of 10 miles.

Miles 21-40 (Time elapsed 2:40:25)
Just after mile 20 there was an aid stop; potta potties, food and fluid were available and I availed myself of the latter two. It was only a quick stop (stopping for a grand total of 35 seconds!) I was soon back in the saddle pushing further North into Santa Barbara. Here the 62 milers and the 100/200 milers spilt (yes there was a 200 mile ride as well!), I followed the 100 mile arrows and was directed onto a nice loop around the orchards and farm land of Santa Barbara and Capenteria, there was a fair amount of winding paths and I nearly missed a turning onto a bike path. During the ride I was trying to pay close attention to other peoples handling skills and mimic them, I not the most confident downhiller, (I was really burned by a tandem that flew past me, in the early hills section, while I was traveling at 35mph) as I typically ride alone I have never had the luxury of being able to draft someone and on this bike path I was riding close to a girl on a Tri bike, I tucked in behind her and was amazed at the difference it made, I was literally able to coast while she cut through the air in front on me! This section lasted a good 10 miles or so and when we exited back onto the road I was willing to pick up the reins and let her enjoy my wind blocking but she declined to follow and so I headed back into the previous aid station for a quick stop.

Miles 41-60 (Time elapsed 4:00:00)
This stop was the reverse entry of the 20 mile station and this time I opted for a potta pottie break, there was the compulsory line so I waited my turn stripping off and packing away my wind vest and arm warmers. From this stop I wound my way back the way I had come, threading through lush farmland with the spine of the mountains reaching into the sky like the backbone of a stegosaurus on my left and wafts or salty water from the ocean to my right. We were unceremoniously dumped onto the bike path that ran alongside the freeway and for 20 miles we followed the 101 south finally exiting up a ramp and tooling round a semi residential area. I rounded a corner and I was at the third aid station, there were bikes everywhere and there was a huge line for make-it-yourself sandwiches, clearly this was the fun element to the ride. I had been pretty self sufficient up until this point; Endurolytes, a gel each hour, an Anti-Fatigue and Energy Surge tab each hour and to be honest the thought and large sandwich was really not appealing so I refilled my bottles (Perpetuem/Amino-Vital) and grabbed some chips and once again headed out.

Miles 61-to finish (Time elapsed 6:36:02)
The next four miles had us tooling around the backstreets that ran parallel to the beach and the railroad, there was a lot of stop’n’go traffic; lights, stop signs etc, the road was pretty crappy and by now my backside was forming an opinion over my choice of distance, we finally exited onto a smooth section of tarmac and started to pickup speed when then was a twang and my front wheel went wobbly! I pulled over expecting to see a rapidly flattening tire and to my amazement I had broken a spoke. Now I understand that this happens a lot but in the 30+ years I have been riding bikes I have never broken a spoke. Of course the tension on the rim was being thrown off and it was rubbing on the brakes as it would if it were buckled, I opened up the brakes and let it spin freer, not wanting to tempt fate I thought best course of action was to head back to the aid station as there was a mechanic stop there as well, I pootled back at low speed anxious not to do any real damage. I pulled back into the aid station and heading for the mechs. They looked at it and said they could fix it with a temporary spoke, I had never heard of this but it is basically a Kevlar thread that you connect through hub to rim as per a normal spoke and tighten and it serves as a “get you home in an emergency” fix. Fortyfive minutes and $20 later I was back on the road.

The mechs said that the prudent course of action would be to head back to the finish using the metric century route and that it was about another 12 miles. By this time I had lost too much time to finish off the remaining 40 miles which conservatively would have taken me another two and a half hours. So I picked up the shorter route and headed up the bike path that ran parallel to 150 highway back into the centre of Ojai, stopping to grab another picture along the way by the river (note the stock pose!). I cruised through the finish line in, according to my Forerunner, 6:36:02, I had covered 82.25 miles, I had a total stopping time of 1:04; most of it while having my wheel fixed. I had a maximum speed of 36.7mph, climbed 6031’ and burned a staggering 7199 calories, personally I am amazed at this as my consumption had conservatively been 250-350 an hour, and although I was tired I felt pretty good and nowhere near bonking as I had the previous week with half the mileage.

Once in the finish area I made sure to stretch, chugged a protein shake and took eight Recover-Ease tablets, I discovered these on TheRunDown.net; they were offer free samples and I am never someone to turn down something free. In fact as I write this the next day, I do not have an ache in body, not one! I searched through some of the photos that had been taken but there were none of me and then waited for the raffle where I won, woot, a Cateye Astrale 8 cycling computer, ironically I have one fitted on my bike but it’ll work on my mountain bike. After this I packed up and set off for home.

Looking back a day later, I had such a blast, other than the broken spoke, the ride was just so much fun, seeing some new parts of the world and meeting some interesting people, I’ll definitely be back for another one later in the year.

The rest of my photos are here, as mentioned there were some photographers on the course but they are still being uploaded.

Here's the MotionBased data: