Death Valley Report

In 2005, I crewed for Graham Pollock in his defense of Race Across Oregon crown. Graham had won the prior year, and he was back to defend his first place finish. The 540 mile race started in Portland and Graham lead for the first 300 miles. He DNFed at 350 miles. I thought he could have continued and did not understand why he pulled out of the race. Now, I do.

I woke up at 5:00 and was at the starting line in time to watch the first wave of 50 rides leave at 6:00. These were the fast riders and did not want to ride try with them. Ron Farris, who crewed for my during my successful 508 last October, and I left in the second wave at 6:10. Ron had been ill for five weeks and did not have the opportunity to train properly he was going to see how well he was riding and then decide how far to go. I wanted to finish in under 14 hours, beating my best time of 14:28.

After Race Director Chris Kostman's starting speech, we were off. I saw a tandem and move up near it ready to jump in behind it after the small hill to the turn to Badwater. After the turn, a pace line formed behind the tandem, and I was in it. We sped toward Badwater very quickly. The tandem was aggressive, and soon I found that I was working to hard to keep uo so I decided to drop off. I did the next five miles to Badwater by myself.

At the Badwater rest stop, I did not stop. It was just 17 miles into the ride and the next rest stop was at 45 miles into the ride. As I passed the parking lot, I saw the tandem getting ready to leave and they soon caught me. I asked if I could ride with them and jumped on their wheel. They towed me all of the way to Ashford Mill, the next rest stop.

I took a very short break at Ashford Mill, just long enough to fill my water bottles with Sustained Energy, and I was back on the road. However, the tandem had taken an even shorter break and was already out of sight. This was not an issue as we how had 3000 feet of elevation gain to do, the Jubliee and Salsberry Passes.

I met up with Louise, another 508 finisher. I rode with her trading 508 stories as we climbed toward the first pass, Jubliee. However, just short of the pass, I flatted. I stopped to repair the rear tire while Louise continued on. After a not so quick tire repair, I was off and I decided to see if I could catch Louise. I put my heart rate at 160 bpm and kept it there. This was an high effort for me; I was working hard.

I crested Salsberry Pass and started the descent toward Shoshone and found myself in the teeth of a strong wind. Usually, I need to break at the first sharp corner, but the wind held my speed down to nearly a crawl. As I dropped down, the wind buffered me and made the descent very interesting. As I neared Shoshone, I saw Louise, heading back. I was still several minutes behind her.

I took another short stop at Shoshone, and got back on the road. I joined up with two other riders and they set a very good pace back up toward Salsberry Pass. My heart rate was again very high for me. I stayed with them until almost the top of the climb where I found myself dropping off. As with every year, the final quarter mile was very though. I was very glad that the climbing was over.

Again, the descent was windy and it blew my bike around. None the less, I let the speed creep up to nearly 40 mph as I flew down the hill. After dropping 2000 feel of elevation and passing two riders, I came to the short climb up to Jubliee Pass, and I found that I had no energy at all. The well was dry and I shifted into my lowest gear (26x27) and suffered up the short hill being pass by the two riders I had just passed. After cresting Jubliee Pass, the last 1000 feet of elevation gain went quickly. Turning to the north for the short ride to the Ashford Mill rest stop, I found myself fighting the head wind again. I dropped down to 10 mph and limped into the rest stop.

At Ashford Mill, I found Louise. I had finally caught up with her. Taking a short break, I was soon ready to leave, but no one else was. I missed one group and it seemed that the next group was not ready, so I headed out by myself, knowing that a pace line will come along soon.

The wind was very tough, worst than I have ever seen it. I had to fight for every inch of forward progress, even on the small downhills. It was going to be a very long 28 miles back to Badwater. After four miles, I was caught by a pace line and I joined in. But, some of the riders were stronger than others and we soon broke into two groups. I was in the weaker, slower group. Louise was in the stronger group. There were now four of us in the slower group; the two who I joined leaving Shoshone and a friend of there's. I watched the stronger group ride away from us as we fought the wind.

I really began to suffer. My legs were cramping even with all of the Enduolytes I was eating, and I had no power left. I was wasted! I suffered along until I came upon a private sag vehicle picking up a rider and I asked if I could get a ride. I DNFed.

I supposed I could have continued on, suffering all of the way. Evidently, I burned myself out on the climbs. I used too much energy riding hard up Salsberry. As I rode along, I decided that I had nothing to prove. I have finished the Death Valley Double six times before, and I was coming off of a strong 508 finish. Instead of suffering, I got off the bike.

This ride taught me how Graham felt when he got off the bike.

Posted 8:53 PM by John Henry