Check it out: last year when I was in Tahoe for a week, I took this shot from the bike path along the southern part of the lake. On Thursday while I was out riding I stopped in the same spot and took a shot of the lake. That’s how bad it was.
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| July 2008 | July 2007 |
Anyway, I decided to go ahead and head out to Markleeville for the event on Saturday and just play it by ear. If it was too smoky to ride, I’d just turn around and head back. So Saturday morning I was up at 4:30, in the car by 5, and out near the ride start by 5:45. By some meteorological miracle, the air was relatively clear of smoke! I parked by the side of the road where lots of other riders were parking and unpacking their gear. I didn’t realize until later I was actually about 2 miles from the start at Turtle Rock park, and that there were plenty of spots along the road a bit closer. Oh well.
It was late enough (just after 6am) that I didn’t need my bike lights, but it was still chilly out. I had my vest and arm warmers, but going downhill into Markleeville (elevation 5500 feet), I briefly wished I had my leg warmers and full-finger gloves. Luckily I quickly warmed up and ended up shedding the vest and arms about a quarter of the way up Monitor.
Beginning the ascent up Monitor in the early daylight was really beautiful. The road was closed to auto traffic so it was just us cyclists. The road outside of Markleeville follows a nice alpine stream (Carson River, apparently) for a couple of miles before the turnoff for the pass. The first few miles of the climb are comfortably graded, and I thought, what a lovely way to spend the early morning, out here in the middle of the Sierras climbing away! Then it started to get steep. About a quarter of the way up there are patches of 9.2%, 9.5%, and 10.3% (according to the race elevation map). These steeper sections really slowed me down, and I felt like I was crawling up the mountain. I did manage to get some nice photos of this stretch, just using the ol’ cell phone. When I figure out how to get them out of the phone I’ll post them. It’s a very scenic ride, especially before the heat of the day kicks in. Monitor pass is an arid high desert landscape, with some amazing vistas of the surrounding sierras. I’m not that familiar with the geography, but I imagine we were able to see a good number of the high sierra peaks from this vantage point. After a couple of more moderate sections (7.3, 7.5%) I suddenly emerged at the summit rest stop where a volunteer placed my first pass sticker on my rider bib (elevation 8314 feet). It came up so suddenly that I didn’t think it was the summit at first. I was all, Wait, is this the top of Monitor? The volunteer looked at me like, Duh. I dunno, maybe it was the thin air. Anyway, I continued on just a half mile or so past the summit, because Cycling Boss had said that there was a nice view down the other side into Nevada. I rounded the base of a hill and sure enough, there was a nice vista of the Nevada side of Monitor. There were also hundreds of Death Ride cyclists climbing up the back side (pass 2). While I was taking a picture with my camera, one guy yelled out, "Call my mom! Tell her I need help!" Heh.
Back at the Monitor summit rest stop, I overheard a cyclist talking to the search and rescue helicopter pilot. I guess because it’s so remote, they have the helicopter available onsite in case they need to take someone off the hospital. The pilot was explaining all this and then added, "They don’t let us enter the race though. That wouldn’t be fair to the cyclists." Ah, everyone’s a comedian at high altitude!
My favorite part was the descent down Monitor, which is long (almost 10 miles) with good sight lines, good road surface, and very few technical turns. It was a BLAST going down this mountain at 40 mph.
Back down at the base of Monitor pass (at the 89 and 4 junction), we all headed south on 4 toward Ebbetts. The first couple miles of Ebbetts were nice and gentle, just meandering along the east fork of the Carson River. We had a quick rest stop that featured both a bag pipe player and a Hawaiian theme (shoutout?), and then shortly after the real climbing began. Ebbetts was… tough. There were a couple sections of 10% and at least one 12%, and the whole climb just seemed relentless. However it was absolutely gorgeous, much more wooded that Monitor pass, with great vistas from the ridge. It reminded me a lot of Yosemite. The last few miles I had to stop for quick beathers every 2 miles or so, just to get my heart rate down and my breathing leveled out. However I didn’t need to walk my bike at any point, which is saying something because there were a lot of folks walking up Ebbetts. It may be the most challenging climb I’ve ever done; it’s probably almost on my top 5 list of beautiful rides. And to be able to do it with the road closed to car traffic was pretty awesome. Anyway, I finally made it up to the summit at 12:45 pm, got my second sticker, and decided that there was no way I doing the third pass (down the backside of Ebbetts and back up). I was thinking that I could probably grind it out, but I didn’t think I could then make it back the remaining 12 miles to Turtle Rock. Ultimately I think this was the right decision, because the final little climb between Markleeville and my car almost did me in. If I had attempted the third pass, I would have had to get the helicopter to lift me back to my car.
So, all in all, a good ride and a decent result, although I really wanted to complete three passes. Next year, if I do it again, I’m sure I can do 3 and probably even 4 passes if I train just a little more. I’m also thinking about parking closer to Markleeville to avoid that last little hill that’s just no fun at all.
Next.. prep rides in Tahoe for the Death Ride
Total Distance: 62 miles, 2 passes (Monitor 1 and Ebbetts 1)
Total Elevation gain: 6238 feet
Time in the saddle: 7 hours
Elevation map: Death Ride elevation map
Rivendell sightings: one Atlantis
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