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2006 Death Valley Double Century Race Report Page 2
| October 28, 2006 196 Miles 10,500 feet of climbing |
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| Ride Report I was fortunate enough to arrive Friday afternoon. I hate to feel rushed and miss the rider check-in the night before the event. Usually, I work a full Friday and then drive to the event and it is quite late when I arrive. As a consequence, I have to wake up earlier to check-in the morning of the event. But fortunately, my work schedule is a little more flexible now. I checked into the hotel and then checked into the event. I was there early enough to grab some freebies which was nice of Chris Kostman, the ride director. The following morning, the “fast guys” as some people call us, lined up and rolled at 7:00am. The next group was launched 10 mins later and then the last group 10 mins after that. The first group went out at a pretty good pace and I fell into a nice groove. The tandems usually take the lead and the solo bikes; follow closely to take benefit of the huge draft. Saying that drafting a tandem is nice would be an understatement. You work a little on flat terrain and barely at all going uphill. Different story on the downhill though, you must be ready to put your bike in the biggest gear you have and pedal for all you are worth. These are the things I considered for my bike setup: 1. The course does not have a lot of climbing only 10,500 feet. 2. I knew I would draft a tandem for a portion of the course. 3. I would also be spending the majority of the time alone without anyone to draft. My bike setup was as such: Scott CR1 Front: Reynolds DV-UL wheel Rear: Zipp 404 with Powertap Profile Design Lightning Stryke Aero Bars Chain rings: 55 x 39 Cassette: 11 x 27 As we approached the first few rollers the usual accordion effect happened. The tandems slow down and the solo bikes pass them. Then when the tandems crest they catch and pass the solo bikes. This went on until we hit the roller just before the left turn that descends towards Stove Pipe Wells (SPW). It is not much of a descent more like a gradual downhill. Up until this point I was sitting very comfortably behind a tandem. I was enjoying the draft on the flats and gentle downs. I recovered as we went up the rollers while I watched the solo bikes pass us. But this is where I made the first, last and most costly mistake of the day. I stayed back with this tandem (which had done the 508) while all the other riders took off up the roller and down towards SPW. I call it a mistake because I stayed behind the wrong tandem. I felt that I was in really good form and I honestly thought that I could've stayed with the lead group on that day. Well the lead for the lead group got bigger and bigger but I felt committed at this point and stayed behind the tandem hoping to catch the lead group on the gentle downhill. Every pedal stroke was agonizing because I kept seeing the hope of a top ten finish disappear. Damn it, I had chosen the wrong tandem. By the way this was mile 15 or so. Checkpoint #1 (Mile 25) I followed the tandem down into the stop at SPW and then I went solo. I could not believe that there was only two Port- a – potties and the stop. I had hydrated pretty well before the event and by SPW I had to go. So even more of a delay as I had to wait for the facilities to become available. |
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Once I was refueled and relieved I got back on the bike and hammered. I stayed in my big ring (55T) from SPW to the Ranger Station --just before the real climb to Scotty’s Castle begins. During this time I used my aero bars. This was the first time in 12 doubles that I used aero bars . I think I will use them again. I passed many of the people that had left me behind when I was drafting the tandem. Then I passed a guy who wanted to team up with me. He seemed strong enough so I decided that it would be prudent to conserve some energy and play along. But after a few pulls I realized that he was actually slowing me down so I went on alone. Just before we split up he said something like “you need to save some”. I replied “I’ve done this event before. I’m good.” As you look at the elevation profile you will notice that there is a continuous climb for about 25 miles. It is gentle but it does go up and up for a long time. It wears on you because you are not doing cruising speed but you are also not at climbing speed. Checkpoint #2 (Mile 68) I got to Scotty’s Castle and felt great. I refueled quickly and headed up the final miles up the climb. Once you crest at about 4000 feet, you are on a long straight and flat road. It is one of the most boring straight roads. Of course, there are longer, straighter rods on the 508. It was on this section about 30 miles round trip (Mile 75-115) started to fade and started falling asleep. I don’t know why this happens to me. I have periods in the middle of the day where I am falling asleep. |
I had been riding alone since mile 25. I noticed someone was coming up from behind me. I was not gaining any ground on him so I slowed down and he eventually caught me. We then worked together until the 95 Junction. We refueled and a couple of other riders came in to the stop and we decided that it would be best if we all rode together. I was the weakest link. I could not maintain their pace. Every time it was my turn to pull I pulled about 2 MPH slower than the pace set by the other riders in the paceline. Eventually I recovered. As we neared the descent to Scotty’s Castle I picked up the pace and only Dan Crain came with me. Checkpoint #3. The descent to Scotty’s was refreshing and necessary. I had gotten bored of the long straight out and back 30 miles to the 95 junction. I can’t imagine how triathletes race on flat/rolling roads. It bores me to only do 30 miles. I love to climb and descending is not so bad either. |