lotoja...

it is done. until a few hours ago it felt like the summer had not truly ended. i signed up for four cycling events this summer--perhaps out of naivete--and it has been exhilarating, taxing, humbling, fun and a summer to remember. from my intense training in the late spring (after passing my oral board exam) to the mid summer with an event every 2 weeks with training as able in between to the crowning event (as measured by miles and time in the saddle) yesterday. in retrospect, i may have overdone it this summer as i lay in bed while typing with aching knees and muscles deciding what to do next...

i have to say at this point that i had trained a lot over the summer, but not specifically for lotoja. i didn't know what to expect, and didn't really know what a good time would be. i didn't set a time goal, but basically committed to my riding mates that we would finish together. as i came to find, this type of commitment makes for a more congenial and relaxed experience, yet precludes a blistering pace... it is amazingly easy to become instantly separated from your companions and then spend time waiting or searching for them...

but enough musing. on to the race.

we arrived in logan with no reasonably priced motels with vacancy and stayed with kind cousins of my riding companion, brent. we met matt and angela (amy's brother and sister-in-law) for dinner the night before for pizza. matt kindly drove my car to brigham city for our return drive home. it was our last--possibly--dinner with matty before he heads to basic training and officer training. we will miss him greatly.

i slept very poorly the night before. there is certainly a mystique surrounding lotoja--from the length, to the race aspect, to the nutrition, to the weather and the sheer endurance. all of these aspects tumbled around in my mind the night before dis allowing me to sleep soundly. in the morning after two bowls of cereal and constant worrying about how many layers to wear we approached the start line.




and we were off... it was a stress relief just to start the race. at least we'd made it to the start line on time, we were feeling fine and the race was on. i'd chosen leg warmers, shoe covers, arm warmers, wind jacket, fleece and head warmer. this was beautiful for the first hour. however, we had our support vehicle skip the first feed zone and i wore those dastardly layers for 80 MILES!!!. no amount of unzipping could alleviate the heat build-up before arriving in montpelier...but i digress.

our group of 48 riders in our specific heat were a bit twitchy to start the race and were pushing hard. about 10 miles in a rider several in front of me hit his brakes. my front wheel hit the back of brent's foot it was all i could do to stay up. i looked behind me after recovering to carnage. there was a 7 bike pileup with what looked like minimal injuries.

it sounds very 'urban utah' of me, but i wasn't expecting much in the way of scenery. i thought it might be pretty drab through much of the ride, but that wasn't the case. in the morning the sunrise was beautiful with mist rising off water throughout the valley. one shot seen here:



we pushed on and reached the first feed zone. for myself, feed zone mechanics are where the race is won or lost. our very strong group of riders was broken up at the first stop as riders waited in line to pee, fill up water etc.

i didn't fill water to try and stay with the lead group and barely made it to the neutral zone to replenish. no photos for the first 80 miles as we were on our own while amy and lyndi rode around bear lake, ate at IHOP and readied themselves for our transition in montpelier (feed zone 3). the profile as seen below.



no water at feed zone 1. second feed zone after 2400 feet of climbing and 60 miles. brent and i regrouped after this climb and headed down a descent and then 15 mile flat with crosswinds and many groups forming, breaking up and reforming as we tried to shield each other across the flat and push up the pace. one of my favorite aspects of a race like this is the pacelines. it takes trust to jump in with a group of guys you've never met (or perhaps it takes madness.) regardless, you jump in with this group and quickly find out what the others are made of. the guy in front is meant to pull hard at the front while those behind recover from the break in the wind and ready themselves for a pull in the front. however, if the guy in the front is pushing too hard, then some in the line-up are doing all they can to keep up without dropping off the back (despite the respite from the wind.) so you are always gauging when you drop off the front from a pull how far back to fall in the paceline as some guys are just holding on but not willing (or able) to pull. the ride into montpelier was full of that sort of jockeying. good times.

the feedzones are something else. a mass of support people and friends. all searching for their riders and a bit ancey as riders are racing and often ready to be off again. as you will see from the goofy and fun photos at the feed zones, part of this event for me was to be with my wife. i added 40-50 minutes to my time at the feedzones, but i was with my wife and it was worth it :)








after the montpelier stop we were off once again...



we would next see our wives at mile 125 in feed zone 5 with two climbs separating us from them. the first climb was shorter, but ended up pretty intense. i paired with a rider from a more advanced category who had flatted and he really pushed me. this was one of the few times during the race that i pushed into the 180 beats per minute heart rate. it felt good though. we descended and hit the rollers to arrive at the base of the next climb. i replenished with water and crackers and headed out for the king of the mountains climb.

king of the mountains went up over salt river pass. 3 miles of climbing and 900 vertical feet with grades of 6 to 8 percent. i summitted at 20 minutes with average mph of 10. the 17 miles to the next feed-zone was largely downhill. i did this descent alone and still averaged 30+ mph. on arriving at feed zone 5, i couldn't find my sweet wife. this was afton, wyoming and come to find out she was stuck in traffic. all told, i was in afton for 25 minutes, but it was well worth it as she brought my salted and buttered potatoes and a hug..:)


we met up for a final rendezvous at feed zone 6 before the final 40 miles into jackson hole...

brent and i pushed together from the final neutral feed zone with 25 miles to go. this was one of the more difficult parts of the day because we were riding at miles 180 to 206. both my knees were aching at this point and while my thighs had plenty of punch left in them, my knees kept asking me to hang it up. the beautiful tetons were a welcome sight at this point in the race. with a rockstar in my water bottle i rode at 85-90% of maximum for the final 10-15 miles. brent and i were our own paceline with occasional stragglers that would join us for a minute here or there. this was probably the most enjoyably part of the ride (aside from after crossing the finish line) as we pushed each other over and over as we took turns pacing each other.

my sweet wife took her job as support very seriously. but seriously, i could not have done this race without her. from the purchase of the bike, to the 6-10 hour weeks of training per week starting in late april she was with me every step of the way. thanks famous.

brent and i committed to get the other to the finish line and you can see our salute to each other as we arrived...

and one last sweet reunion with our significant others before heading home.





i've heard from others rough stories of how the body responds after you get off the bike. for me i felt lightheaded a few times while walking to the car, but largely i felt good.

we planned on heading directly to idaho falls where we had a hotel room, but a car pulled in front of brent while he was driving. the other driver was sited for his illegal turn and four hours after the accident, a spare tire change later we finally made it to a hot bath (at 2 in the morning.)

so, the summer is over. 4 events later i get to reflect on the summer and whether i would try it again. i enjoyed each event for different reasons.

death ride for it's relentless climbing and the experience with joseph.

saint to sinners for the camaraderie.

ultimate challenge for it's relation to the tour of utah.

and lotoja for its reputation.

which did i enjoy most? lotoja was probably not my favorite of the summer, but it's hard to say how i would have felt about it if it had been the first event of the summer.

my time? complicated. my gps said 10 hrs 8 min moving time. i was clocked at 11 hrs 28 min at the finish line. so between regrouping with my riding mates and transition points i added 1 hour and 20 min. definitely room for improvement there eh?

will i do it again? probably. it would depend on potential riding partners and their interest. all in all it was a great time and an accomplishment to appreciate for a lifetime. 206 miles on a bike. 10 hours in the saddle. 15,000 calories burned.

enjoy!

ultimate challenge 2010

the summer is coming to a close and so too should my biking season...but it's not. saturday was my 3rd of 4 events on the summer, but it was no cakewalk.

the ultimate challenge was formerly named the '300 warriors'. then the '1000 warriors'. however, last year there was a tragic accident and the race was revamped and the name changed. there was no official timing this year and starts were staggered to avoid a mass descent in AF canyon.

the course follows the same roads to be ridden by leipheimer, hincapie and bookwalter (among others pros) in next weeks Tour of Utah. it's a fun promotion for the tour and for us wannabe's we get to project ourselves into the queen stage next sunday...

michael and amy were able to shuttle us to park city at 5:45 am because amy's brother paul unexpectedly came into town and watched the girls while they drove.



originally, i'd planned to ride with two docs from work--jorgensen and oliver. jorgensen invited a friend along--shaun--and guenter volunteered as medical support (which really means swag, a free ride for the price of wearing a red fanny pack:) gratefully there were no serious incidents requiring his services!

here we are shivering at 45 degrees waiting for michael and shaun to arrive.



the ride took us out to kamas with a deceptive amount of small, steep pitches. we would stop briefly at each support station to replenish water and food. one of the joys when there's no official time (my garmin gps timer stopped when we stopped:) we dropped down past jordanelle into midway, wended our way across the valley, dropped off jackets and downed a PBJ before heading out past deer creek. i enjoyed talking with guys in the paceline i'd not met before and catching up with the guys from the group whom i usually only see in passing during a busy ER shift.

the descent into provo canyon began with construction and tight lanes, but widened just before the ascent into sundance canyon.

at the start of the sundance canyon i laid down a bit of a tempo increase which left our group at 4 for the rest of the ride. towards the top of the climb shaun put in a huge acceleration where brian and i followed him. unbeknownst to us he was climbing to talk with a friend he'd seen up ahead. he is a strong racer (finished 4th in his division at tour of park city) and the accelerations took a bit too much glycogen from my muscles' stores. brian and i reached the top together and ate at the top before regrouping with michael and shaun for the descent. in retrospect, this acceleration was one that took more out of my legs than i would have liked and made the climb to snowbird the brutal event that it became.

the canyon road had been swept with very few rocks but lots of cars parked near camping sites. it was a fast, safe, fun descent. we entered alpine near mile 73 where a surprise group was sitting with signs and cheering at the round about.

amy, paul (her brother) and the kids rode from here along the rest of the route cheering us on at different intervals. they were such good sports and it was a lot of fun to have them along. bekah was usually nearest the window as they would drive by her face would light up as she would wave and cheer from her car seat. ella probably enjoyed the process least as we found on arriving home that she had a fever. poor girl.

climbing out a draper there are some very steep descents and i thought i lost the guys ahead of me (that's why the pros use radios?) i guess just brian was ahead of me and shaun and michael were behind me. regardless, when i reached the final support station at the base of little cottonwood i didn't see the guys at the tent and decided to go on without stopping. this was a mistake. i only had two half water bottles left in 95 degree weather. i thought, 'it's only 6 miles, how hard could it be?' i've ridden little cottonwood before at good tempo with a high cadence. that was my vision of how i would finish this race. however, the climb starts at mile 94 and rarely drops below 8-11% grade. my cadence fell as my muscles cried and burned. at mile 97 i was out of water and downed my last two hammer goo packets. amy had been leap frogging me as i climbed and i figured i couldn't stop with the kids watching! i stopped at the car and paul thankfully filled my water bottle. she had purchased cafe rio so i wolfed down several bites.

you can see me making my wobbly way to the car here...

i was wolfing down pork barbacoa burrito when michael, shaun and brian came up from behind me. i then realized they had stopped at the final support tent and had been behind me.

i hopped back on my bike for the final 3 miles. the food seemed to have lifted my reserve as my garmin says i lifted a full 1 mph thereafter.

regardless, it felt good to reach the top. i'd hung with the guys from work and had enjoyed a great day with them in the saddle.



good times.

i worked 9p-3a that night (a shift i picked up last minute in trade for gma's birthday next week.) as i waited for a VQ scan to finalize disposition last night and the hour drew near 5 am i realized i'd been up 24 hours. i couldn't decide if the aching in my muscles was myalgias from a virus contracted from ella or from the ride. regardless i was glad to collapse into bed this morning...

and last but not least (can you tell we just purchased a macbook with imovie?) in video format..:

saints to sinners 2010

this past weekend we rode in the inaugural saints to sinners bike relay. it was a riot. over the past many months as i organized and cajoled to get a team together i've gone back and forth with excitement and concern for whether my teammates would enjoy the experience. we went from a team of 12 at one point to a team of 3 men at the beginning of july. jonny, ryan and myself. jonny and ryan were with us from the start and when we thought we might not get a team together they were still with us. luckily, two friends from high school with whom i've biked for years came through to round out the team--jared and brent.

my uncertainty stemmed mainly from the safety of the roads and whether the race would be engaging enough in-between legs. we had 5 riders so it meant a greater challenge and longer miles. i knew this would be a cool aspect of the ride. i was worried enough that i went to great lengths to get a good mix of movies and TV shows that we could play in the car while others were biking. 'pacific', 'generation kill', 'karate kid' and 'green zone' among others. however, even with all that good entertainment at our fingertips, we didn't crack a dvd case once...

as a warning. before i launch into my thoughts and the play-by-play of the race. you may want to just skip to the 10 minute video at the end of the post that contains all the photos and video we took while out on the course. your call.

i worked till 1 am the night before and was up at 5:45 am the morning of the race friday, july 30th. four of us converged on the public park in south jordan where the race would start. the day before i painted the car windows and put on jared's hitch rack.

on arrival we signed wavers, ate pancakes and cheered brent as he began the race for us. from the moment brent began the race there was this ever-present tug on my mind. an inexorable march towards vegas that pulled us forward. at any point we could not stay for too long or we would miss our compatriot at the next transition point. it was this tug and excitement regarding the next leg of the race that led to constant attention and enjoyment.

we raced past brent in the car overlooking the gorgeous sunrise from the west side of utah lake. in retrospect we are really glad we started at 7am. it would be nice to start even earlier next year. as we headed south i began to feel excitement and anxious about my first leg of the race. this was the constant enjoyment of the event. that you had your part to do and you didn't want to let the team down. that constant concern for doing your part led to a variety of interesting emotions.

my leg started in goshen. brent paced with a team from vegas 'chupacabra' during his leg and this definitely helped the two teams time! the goshen post office graciously lent its bathroom to participants and was rewarded by the loss of all its toilet paper.

my mom, amy and our kids arrived in goshen to cheer me on just before i started. they made some great signs and it was a great send-off.

my climb up through goshen canyon was beautiful but with a headwind. i'd hoped to pace with another team, but left him behind with concern that i would get caught out in the wind and neither of us would move that quickly along the route. that concern was unfounded.

i passed through nephi quickly where i waved fleetingly to my kids who'd come south to one more transition to wave and cheer.

beyond nephi was the busiest section of the road. a road i've traveled for years en-route to grandma and grandpa's. a few semi-trucks passed and with them the wind at your back or face, but i didn't feel as nervous on the road as i thought i might. however, i wouldn't complain if the race started earlier next year and we could fly over that road in the dark with less cars to the prettier areas of the race.

after 40 miles, ryan spelled me and headed south towards salina. ryan kept up a very quick tempo as our team was averaging over 20mph on each leg to this point.

south of salina jonny and i rode together. it was fun to pace with jonny. the winning team of ten ('we abuse crack') paced each other throughout the race (each rider rode double the legs.) we did this to a degree as a 5-man team and it definitely helped.. brent, ryan and i each found other legs to double up on so that we could increase our overall speed. over 500 miles, 1 mph will decrease your overall time by nearly an hour... the winning 10-man team averaged 20.1 mph and we averaged 19.3 mph as the winning 5-man team.

our first mishap came in richfield when i was hit by a car. some middle aged woman pulled past jonny and me and then made a sharp right hand turn immediately in front of me. i bruised my shin on her bumper and landed on my left backside. i held the bike up and sustained one small scratch on the quick release and an almost imperceptible brushing on the paint of the top-tube. i was furious and looked my bike over for a few minutes while jonny talked with the woman who'd hit me. we hopped back on the bikes and minus the pain in my leg we were as good as new. we finished our 40 mile leg on an uphill to big-rock candy mountain. who knew there was a big-rock candy mountain south of salina? the whole river and canyon area around big rock candy mountain was beautiful.

our second mishap came with jared's first of two punctures. luckily we weren't too far ahead and as soon as his pacing partner came by without him we raced back to help him. we had the tire changed and him back on the road within 8 minutes. ryan jumped from his seat and offered to pace jared back into the race. this was good of ryan as he and jared had the longest combined solo mileage.

in panguitch we saw quite a few teams as this was the second major transition after gunnison. in gunnison, we'd seen kelly, kathy and kayli. it was fun to talk with them before we headed south. in panguitch we saw the 'death star' team. amy and mel were at this transition as they had been at gunnison. it was fun to follow them down the course. what a sacrifice for them to volunteer those 24 hours with very little sleep. thank you!! luckily they claim that volunteering was a lot of fun...

in panguitch, brent started the climb up cedar breaks. the climb up cedar breaks is about 32 miles and we ascended from 6632 to 10,581 feet above sea level. brent took half the mileage and 1500 vertical feet on his climb and i took the rest. his climb began with some very steep grades early on as a warm-up.

i've never climbed to an elevation on the road above 8700 feet (little cottonwood.) the two things that stuck out was that we climbed from 80+ degree weather in panguitch to 55 degrees at the top. i also noticed that if i took too long drinking from my water bottle (breath holding) that i would become nauseated and air hungry.

the views at the top were gorgeous. it was one of the best parts of the course. the views were idyllic as we rode past farmland, lush meadows, a breezy lake and stunning views of the redrock at sunset.

ryan descended into cedar city at impressive speeds and while we were all worried for him on the way down, he was careful and said the descent was a lot of fun. other teams i spoke with said the ride down the canyon was a riot even though it was in the dark. we took a 30 minute nap in cedar city and headed out west of cedar en-route to saint george. jonny rode solo past amy and melinda's next volunteer transition point.

then jared and brent took us down another big descent and up another big climb through saint george and just shy of mesquite.

another great aspect of the ride was all the other riders and teams. we rode most of the course in tandem with 'the wookies', 'one for the money', 'chupacabra' and 'we abuse crack'. each had different vehicles ranging from RV's to mini-vans. the other teams varied in biking experience and life experience. along with meeting the volunteers along the route, riding with and getting to know the other teams was one of the very cool aspects of the event. you bond with people when you're all pushing as hard as you can to achieve a goal. there was always friendly competition, but also camaraderie as it was common to have other teams drive by and cheer you on and we would do the same for their riders.

another impressive aspect of the race were steven and jill (the race organizers.) with very little sleep they were always smiling and calm. steven was unflappable as the teams barreled down the state of utah with (and sometimes without) the volunteer stations being assembled just in time to catch them. he was impressive in his calm as two volunteer teams dropped out the week before the race. there were also teams much slower than their projected times making the logistics delightful. they were calm in the midst of a good time...

the worst part of the event for me was the hours surrounding my 5 am ride. i'd slept 3 1/2 hours the night before the event and only 30 minutes during the event. i was physically spent and definitely felt more like hopping into bed than hopping on a bike. the ride through mesquite was not sexy with black dirty rain covering my bike and me and these rollers on the road that required climb after climb with seemingly no end in sight. for a moment at the start of this leg i thought i'd be able to pace the leg with stu segura (a friend from highland--whom i met at loma linda during his pediatric dentristry fellowship.) however, it was not to be as his compatriot was 10-15 minutes behind ours and so i soldiered on alone.

ryan and brent then conquered 18 miles of I-15. they said it was surprisingly smooth and they flew in their paceline of two.

jonny and i rode his next leg together. the terrain of this ride was something i'd never seen. pure rocky desert bordering lake mead. there were strong headwinds and climb after climb. it was great to ride that section with jonny. we neared the end of that leg and could see the tent at the end of a distant climb. jonny turned and said, 'i've always wanted to race in a mountaintop finish.' we pushed hard to the top of the climb and we both felt like we'd given our all to the team as jared began the final leg. nick and kelly (sp?) were at this transition point and nick cheered us up in our BYU kits. hopefully we did the school proud?

due to some problems with tent/support placement, the final leg was 5 miles longer than we'd bargained for. jared got beat down by the extra five miles and the heat. he soldiered on with great strength as he had another tire puncture and was forced to ride brent's bike with the wrong clips for the pedals. he held it together as we switched out water bottles for him and poured water over his back. he rode brent's bike for at least a mile by the time we brought him the other bike with the repaired tire. brent and ryan both paced for a period during this final leg.

reaching the finish was a definite relief. we enjoyed some post-ride food. and headed to the golden spike for swimming and a nap before the awards ceremony. i haven't felt that good in a swimming pool for a long time.

that night we went to the wold buffet at the rio and ate as many calories as we could possibly stuff down. what a great place. we collapsed in the hotel and slept for 12 hours after dinner. 12 hours of sleep was heavenly after what we'd been through.

we were excited to win the 5-man division at the awards ceremony and to get jerseys! we did not enter to win the race but to do our best and have fun. i'm sure we'll have trouble defending our division title with many more participants next year, but either way there will be a ton of fun waiting for us at next year's event...

the california death ride...

the california death ride. 129 miles. 15,000 feet of climbing. 5 passes. what a great day!

over the weekend i completed a feat i've been training for all spring. the death ride had 3500 riders this year and the registration filled up in 7 hours back in december. joseph lee and i registered within 1 hour of the registration opening. since registering the race has weighted on my mind. my training began with a few rides in feb/march. april was consumed with study for my oral boards (which i passed--and became board certified!) may and june were filled with 100 mile training weeks--often with over 10,000 feet of climbing each week. the staple of my training was the alpine loop.

key in all of this was the support of amy and the kids. thank you so much for allowing me to ride my bike 10 hours a week these last two months!

the event began with travel to markleeville, california to pick up registration packets on friday. i slept 3 hours on thursday evening and left my house at 1 am and drove 9 hours straight to turtle rock park. i met a couple from upstate new york in line who traveled together to participate in the ride. after registration we headed to south lake tahoe where we rode ten miles, slept on the beach (while joseph swam) and loaded up on pasta and calzones...

we awoke at 4am and loaded the bikes.

during my ACLS training i found an internal medicine physician whom i'd met during medical school, charlie ayers. we found then that both of us happened to be riding the tour of california. we decided to carpool to the start of the race. with 3500 riders there were cars stretched along the highway for miles. we found a spot about 1 mile from the start line to park and climb onto the bikes. below you see a photo of charlie and myself.

nutrition plays a key part in a day long endurance event. the difficult issues are fluids--to prevent dehyration, electrolytes--to prevent muscle cramps and hyponatremia, carbohydrates--to prevent 'bonking' where your glycogen stores are depleted and you muscles are unable to contract anymore...

i'm still working on my pre-race carb loading plan. the main issue for me is that ingestion of large amounts of simple carbs induces GI upset. i won't give details, but this required me to visit the loo at every mountain peak, lunch and other various rest-stops...

joseph and i were off (after visiting the loo at the start) at 5:55 am. this placed us starting 25 minutes after the bunch start. the event was not officially timed and the emphasis was on finishing each climb. regardless, starting late like this had us passing riders all day. the first climb was up 'monitor pass' the climb was 3,000 feet of climbing and about 10 miles.

climbing in an event like this was fascinating. joseph and i had trained very similar and amazingly on the day there were rare occasions where either of us felt we had to pull the other along. we ended up passing riders all day. one of the coolest aspects of this event was its scale. there were 3500 riders and it was amazing to climb past hundreds of riders up the 1st climb. riders of all body types, from all over the country with jerseys often stamped with monikers from their home towns. i'd like to say i enjoyed the gorgeous sunrise during this climb, but i spent most of the time ticking away on the pedals and keeping track of the riders we passed ahead.

at the top of the first climb my father would have been proud of all the boy scouts who helped staff the first support station. another defining aspect of this ride was the phenomenal support. rumor is there were 700 volunteers...all of whom seemed to be smiling and happy. every support station had pbjs, chips, gu, oranges, bananas, cytomax, water, toilets and lots and lots of riders...

getting past the first climb felt good. it felt like the ride had definitely begun and we could settle in. the descent down the backside of monitor was amazing. we claimed a photo at the top before the quick descent...


this was probably one of my favorite sights from the perspective of human scale. we probably passed 250 riders up monitor, but on the way down monitor we saw over a 1000 riders coming up as we descended...

i thought the site was so cool that i couldn't help but pull out my camera and shoot a short video of the scene.

the second climb was 3000 feet over 8 miles--meaning that the grade was more relentless often sitting between 8-10%. it was fairly hot up this climb with no trees and the sun beating down...

after arriving at the base of the monitor descent we turned immediately to climb up what we had just come down. this was another climb of human scale as we passed 100's of riders. i caught part of this climb as well on video. you can see the tempo that allowed us to see so many riders from the race as we rode up the climbs...

and a photo op.


the third climb of the day was the toughest for me. this 3,000 foot 14 mile climb kicked up the last 8 miles with a unique profile where you would undulate from 5% to 14-15% steep sections. this was the most beautiful section of the ride though and while this was the only time on the day that i thought i might not be able to stay with joseph's pace, i turned inward and suffered up past gorgeous views.

before the final kick up to the top we captured this shot on a beautiful section of the course.

you can see a hint of relief in this photo below as we'd finished 3 of the 5 climbs.



at the top of the descent down the backside of ebbetts joseph noticed a bulge in his rear tire. he made his way slowly and safely down the descent and luckily there was technical support at the bottom where we purchased a tire and replaced it. 30 minutes later we were happy to be back on the road.

the climb up the back of ebbetts was 1800 feet and 5 miles. a hot climb but manageable. (for perspective, the climb up the utah county side of suncrest is 4.5 miles and 1200 feet of climbing.)

we descended the gorgeous ebbetts hillside with a few stupid riders passing us and taking big risks and crossing well over midline at high speeds.

lunch was at the bottom of ebbetts (mile 77 or so.) we met a guy from the bay area who was riding his 4th death ride in a row. so many really nice people (and so many really nice bikes...) it seemed anytime you would greet someone on a climb they would smile and give you a kind answer. a lunch of potato chips, chocolate chips, turkey wrap, ramen and water before heading out for the final monster climb of the day. we were done with 4 of the climbs by 75 miles, but still had 50+ miles and 4000+ feet of climbing to ride.

we hopped in a paceline for the traverse to the bottom of carson pass. at one point joseph blew up the paceline with a blistering pace up a 400 vertical foot ascent of 8%. we hung with him and moved to the base of the final climb.

in our paceline (a nod to aj if he even reads this far), there was a strong rider with an oregon ducks jersey and shorts on. i yelled go ducks when he first jumped in the paceline and he said, "that's right go ducks." he said he'd already had an oregon state beaver fan yell, "f*** the ducks" during the ride. i let him know while i was a BYU fan i could appreciate duck fans because of my brother in law's loyalty to the school. we rode together together at a fast pace for 10-15 miles before we hit the base of carson pass.

at the carson pass support tent there was a water shower, a man dressed as a grim reaper, lots of food, and port-a-pottys (my 5th visit on the day to the loo?) for the final climb i knew i would need extra motivation, so i played muse and weezer on my phone speaker in my back jersey pocket coming up that final 16 mile 3000+ foot climb. how can you not tap out a fast tempo when listening to the likes of 'i am the greatest man who ever lived' and 'love is our resistance'..?

regardless, we powered up that final climb (i definitely felt better than i had on ebbetts.)

the final 1/4 mile of our ascent a guy crashed on the descent just ahead of us and i pulled over to look him over. he had no spinal column pain but had road rash over his hip. however his pain in the pelvic region was too great and he stayed on the ground till the ambulance came. we soldiered on. in all there were 4-5 ambulances and 2 helicopters called out for various crashes--amounting to .2% of the riders experiencing physical mishap...the three riders i saw looked like they had no limb or life threatening injuries luckily.

at the top we held our hands above our heads together across the summitt. what a feeling of accomplishment as we two had paced each other over climb after climb that day. we pushed each other and pulled each other in ways we couldn't have done alone. we were a great team.

we then headed to the support tent for ice cream and to sign the 5-pass finisher's poster...

after some ice-cream and a coke we shot these photos capturing the beautiful scenery to be found at the top of carson pass.



we then descended and made the final small climb to our car.

the finish line included live music, chicken fajitas and relief/relaxation. we drove back to tahoe to soak in the lake and the hot-tub.

we watched the tour stage replay at a bar in harvey's casino (a bit boring with chavanel taking back the yellow jersey.)

i locked my keys in car the next morning and delayed my drive home by nearly 2 hours. oh well.

all in all it was an epic day. sadly i erased my garmin gps data the evening of the ride, but not before reviewing it mentally. our spinning time on the bike was 8 hours and 21 minutes with total time including rest stops, photos and tire change somewhere in the 10 hour range.

below is the race profile i created on mapmyride...

and if you read to the end of the post you deserve some award for endurance as well!

cascade springs...

yesterday in continued preparation for the california death ride, i rode to cascade springs and back (stats for the ride at the bottom of the post...)

it's a spur off the alpine loop that i thought would possibly take me to midway. i've never ridden that section of the canyon before and it did not disappoint. however, at the base of the descent there were only gravel or dirt road leading towards midway. it wasn't spectacular like the section of the alpine loop near aspen grove, but it still held its share of exhilaration. sweeping views of wide open canyon valleys...

the ride itself had a profile that demanded some work. it wasn't a straight drop to the springs, but had a 6-8% grade 1-2 mile climb set in the middle of the descent. that climb began at the campground where we used to take the 12-13 year old EFY participants and re-enacted finding golden plates, played campground games etc. brought back a few good memories. the climb out held a few stretches at a 10% grade. rough.

anyway. partway down the descent a sign for 'deer creek lookout' appeared, but paradoxically there was no view of the reservoir. maybe they meant the actual creek which i didn't see in my cursory glance...

irony in the signage and federally run open space here as i've been listening to ayn rand's 'atlas shrugged' during my rides. i've enjoyed it very much and occasionally my emotions flare thinking of obamacare in the context of the story. the story has been monotonous at times as a parade of deplorable bureaucrats are marched out with extensive descriptions of their stupidity. hearing it over and over is also frustrating/disturbing. great book though. made all the better by ayn rand's personal experiences with socialism having grown up in an eastern block country...

the climb today was fantastic. grueling at times, but satisfying. i'm looking forward to a group training ride this weekend with joseph, brent and possibly jared. it should be good times. a ride over the loop past sundance and back...

i had to throw a picture of my own in at elevation.

the payoff at cascade springs should have been soothing as seen below, but i didn't stop to look as i had to get home to the kids and they didn't allow bikes on the boardwalk.

this is to be one of my bigger training rides in anticipation of the death ride as it falls 3 weeks before the ride and i will work on shorter rides hereafter to allow for recovery before the big day...

the stats and map:

slc marathon bike tour...

we have family involved with the organization of the slc marathon and so the years i've lived in utah i've tried to be a part (if even just watching at the finish line:)

this year jonny and i decided to ride the bike tour and it was a riot.

the race started at 0600 and the temperature was just under 50 degrees with wind chill.

there were around 1500 riders lined up near legacy bridge at the university of utah. we got there 15 minutes early and jumped up and down to keep warm (i think i'll wear a few more clothes next year? uncle joe evans started the race with a countdown.

the ride itself was a riot. we had two police escort motorcycles the whole of the course. it was a motorcade of cyclists. i've embedded the course down below. i started my timer 15 minutes before we began, so anytime i moved my bike it turned on. aside from that the averages etc are pretty close to accurate.

anyway. the first twenty minutes were harrowing at times as it was really dark and the lights from the police motorcycles were a bit blinding. there was one particular section of road that was torn out and very rough with a few potholes. and potholes at 25 mph in the dark can rattle the hands and the mind.

otherwise it was fast paced and fun. at 18 miles i ran out of water because at the height of my training i could go 30 miles with one water bottle. but i guess i'm a bit out of shape...

at the gateway i nearly took a wrong turn and found myself riding on the trax line for 100 yards until i jumped out over the side and back to the road. and finally the finish on the cobbles was great.


after the race we hung out at the skybar until other family members came in from the 5k. it was fun to catch up with everyone. i'll have to post the pictures of the kids marathon etc. once i can find the camera...

thanks for riding with me jonny!


the course is shown below. there were about 2 miles with intermittent 4% grades that broke the group up starting at mile 4.5. otherwise the course was slightly downhill...

suncrest...

it's spring! i didn't feel the longing for spring in california like i have here. i guess because it's always spring/summer in so cal.

anyway. with spring and sun comes outdoor exercise and biking!

right now, i am loving the move to utah and it's close proximity to the mountains. two recent training/recreational rides are shown below...



the climbing here from my doorstep is heavenly. i'm looking to set up a second road bike so that you can come and visit and ride with me! so come...

also, consider joining our relay team for the saints to sinners ride in july...

saints to sinners...

i am excited about this race this summer. it is a bike relay from salt lake city to las vegas and will be held july 30-31 (through the night :)

it will wind its way down through eagle mountain!, nephi!, gunnison!, sanpete!, zions, saint george, mequite and all the beautiful red rock, pines, mountains and desert in between. a race team can have 5 or 10 members. you can draft off your teammates if they are willing and aren't riding the leg before or after yours.

if anyone is interested in riding the race with me this summer let me know! i'm looking to put together a team...

80 miles to heaven and back...

on saturday, joseph lee and i rode along a slice of heaven in a culmination of 2 1/2 months of training, and in preparation for another 1 1/2 months of training for a 72 mile race around lake tahoe.

the destination was a stretch of the pacific coast highway south of big sur and north of san simeon. the road is very remote--full of twists and turns, ups and downs, grand vistas, quaint bridges and bordered by mile upon mile of rocky shoreline.

some of the more effulgent magazine and newspaper articles of bike-trekking this portion of the pch talk of it being the most picturesque road-ride in the country. i have certainly seen vistas in the fall canyons of utah that rival it's beauty, but the longer i pedaled and suffered along this stretch of the pch--the more it felt like a must-ride in the western united states.

joseph and i met late friday night at san simeon campsite near hearst castle. we talked long into the night and enjoyed catching up.

that morning we were packed up by 8:30 and headed to gorda, ca. this gas station--set on a cliff in gorda, with gas for $8/gallon--was our launch point.

after donning our matching pink jerseys and haggling over what to carry--two or three tubes? how many water bottles? extra co2 cartridges? mini-hand pump? whose digital camera? fat free fig newtons? dried mangoes? arm warmers, jacket or both? head gear? sunglasses in the fog? gps? etc. etc.---we set our clocks to 'go' at 10am.

the fog never completely lifted from the coast. the only fog-free portion of the ride was when we climbed away from the coast and descended into big sur 40 miles later. however, the fog on the coastline did slowly lift throughout the day--allowing for better and better views of the coast. the photo below gives a sense of the chilly, mysterious views that greeted us through the early haze.

here you see the beauty of our matching jerseys is eclipsed by the rock-strewn costal waters.

the shoulders of the pch went from non-existent to barely ample. in all my reading about this route, no one ever mentioned this small bit of information. the picture below shows a spooky stretch of shoulder. despite the narrow shoulders, this stretch of the pch is remote and supports the migration 1000's of bikers per year. we saw all sorts from homeless walkers, to college sophomores with saddle bags on summer break--camping and riding away their summer days. joseph and i were passed by at least 100 cars during our ride and all but 2 or 3 didn't yell at us, make hand-gestures, spit or curse. after a mile or so i stopped worrying that i had brought joseph to die on the shoulder of the pch, and realized that i felt safer on this quaint winding highway than i do on redlands blvd back home.

before our ride, i hadn't realized joe's love for bridges. we did not pass a bridge in the first fifteen miles where we didn't stop, take a picture, re-tread our route or coast slowly while gazing over the edge. gratefully, his love of bridges gave us some great photos of the stunning landscapes. (an apology to stevie as all my photos include our ugly mugs--nothing particularly artistic brother...sorry:)

in the articles i read about this trek...most authors spoke of an epiphany--large or small--that occurred on the ride. with the hurried nature of our trip (less than 24 total hours on the pch itself) i was not able to settle in on some remote shore and ponder life's mysteries. any epiphanies i experienced were related to my willingness to endure pain on the bike, hazard mechanical issues and find new points of view through discussions with joe while riding.

this isn't to say i was unmoved by the vistas, but they played a complementary role to the overall experience.

below is a photo taken by a french couple in julia pfeiffer burns state park (in the news recently for the fire whose charred remains we could see on the roadside.) having our picture taken by europeans was common on this trip. an italian took the 'matching-jersey' photo above. he is a big supporter of carlos sastre (winner of the tour de france). the french were impressed with our knowledge of the tour and we bonded.

a shot here to show the diverse terrain we encountered with redwoods sprouting up the further north we rode.

the halfway-point was big sur (the elevation profile at the start of this post was created from my gps data points of our specific ride.) after summiting the highest point in our climb and dropping into big sur the climate became dramatically different. the sun was gone, the sky was blue and i felt like i was back in the dry climes of the inland empire. after purchasing gatorade at a ma and pa grocery store for the ride back, we attacked a 900 foot, 2 mile climb at a 7-8% grade. as to be expected, joseph attacked with gusto and we were able to summit together (at a pace faster than i thought we had in us:)

all in all, joseph and i rode well together. our climbing styles are similar and our conditioning was comparable.

our good fortune hit a snag 30 miles from the finish line when a rear spoke of mine snapped. my bike sounded like it was going to fall apart. while i perseverated about the potential costs of repairs and the possibility of walking while joseph went for a car, joe kept his eye on the target, pulled the spoke out of the hub, put the wheel back on and loosened my brake. i shook off my slight gloom, hopped on the bike and tested my slightly wobbly wheel. it held fairly true and aside from a rub on the brake during steep climbs--it became little more than a psychological barrier to finishing the ride.

since joseph's invitation in may to compete with him in tahoe, i have ridden nearly 1000 miles and 115,000 vertical feet. however, i had not ridden longer than 50 continuous miles this summer. it started to show in my back, neck, joints and legs that last 5 miles. the final two climbs felt brutal with a head wind and a never appearing gas station waiting for our return.

when the gas station appeared through the mist on its perch above the pacific relief and accomplishment flooded though me. we had ridden 80 miles and climbed 1 vertical mile. it felt so great that i decided i could not finish the ride without a tribute to my boy who has come to relish the celebrations to be found with each stage win of the tour de france.

so michael, this video is for you as i celebrated the finish of a ride through a bit of heaven and back.