[OHPV-list] Death Valley Ride Report

[Rand Milam]

Hey All,

Last weekend went to Death Valley for the Double Century ride.  This is a unique and inspiring area that I had been looking forward to seeing the changes of color during the day.

Was lucky for my ride here as the weather was perfect, forecast of 65 degree high and only light winds, the day before there were high winds and rain.

The course was an out and back to Shoshone from furnace Creek , a 150 mile ride with about 8800' of climb, then a 26 mile out and back to Stovepipe with an easy 2% climb. 

On Friday gravel was laid for 17 miles to Badwater that had to be ridden twice, later on there were 13 miles of the roughest road I have ever ridden that had to be ridden twice, a total of 60 miles that would be no fun at all.  I opted to skip the gravel and start at Badwater.

Having just had two StarBucks Frappacinos I was chomping at the bit to get started and quickly zoomed away from Badwater where the desert floor is white from salt and if you look up at the nearby hills you sea a sign high above that says sea level.

The start of my ride was a very gradual climb along the large alluvial fans along the mountains.  This section was fun, fun,fun and fast.  

http://www.adventurecorps.com/deathvalley/southernroute.html

En route to Jubile Pass was an extremely rough 13 mile section of road, my eyes bounced so much there was no way to focus clearly.

Jubilee Pass and Salberry Pass are like one long climb that was my favorite part of the ride.  Having about three hundred calories in each water bottle and also some protein my strength stayed high the entire time, you should have heard some of the comments from riders being passed by a recumbent, that made it even more fun.

Returning from Shoshone I saw BikeGoddess, she was about one hour behind m when I was eight miles into the return and I knew she would be stopping for lunch too.; she was 16 miles behind me here.

My return to Badwater was exhilerating, except for the 13 miles to traverse over the rough road again.  I was flying by riders and enjoying the beauty of Death Valley.

Robert was going to be at Badwater to ferry us across the gravel at 3PM, I got there at 3:30PM and BikeGoddess was far behind me by then.  Robert and I loaded my bike and drove back looking for her.  

On the way we stopped to check on a rider, his face was beet red, he was wearing tights and a long sleeved jacket, was obviously near heat exhaustion.  Was very happy he let us sag him in.  Found Bike Goddess about thirty miles out, it was about a half hour before dark and she had no lights or warm clothes, we sagged her in too.

I never got to do the section to Stovepipe with the best roads and shallow climb but I had a great ride anyways.  Will remember this one a long time but not interested in riding it again unless the roads are improved.

This Fall they do the the Northern route on different roads up to Scotty's Castle, I will probably be back for that. 

Zin is posting some pictures on the bikejournal.com.

Would have been better if my Northern friends wer there too.....

Next week Solvang, Hubba!!!!

rand
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