The Death Ride is officially called the
Tour of the California Alps. The 2006 Death Ride course covers five
mountain passes which include both sides of Monitor Pass, both sides
of Ebbetts Pass, and the final climb up the east side of Carson Pass.
The total riding distance is 129 miles with 15,000 vertical feet of
climbing.
This year 3,000 cyclists attempted The Death Ride, but only 1,700 went
on to claim the coveted 5 pass pin.
Pictured from left to right:
Mike Fair, Mike Brand, Rod Pang, Ed Llorca and Richard Fortune.
The ride over to the start of the first climb is very pleasant.
Some nice rolling terrain through a River Valley. It's very pretty
and a nice warm-up for what's about to come next.
It's tough to hold back on this climb. You feel strong, the adrenalin
is pumping, it's not too steep, and you're itching to fly. You see a
bunch of riders climbing up the mountain. You pass a few riders,
you pass a bunch of riders, then you pass some more and there
are still many people going up the mountain. At this point, it's best
to pace yourself and just soak up all the beautiful scenery. After
awhile, you begin to wonder if this climb is ever going to end.
When you finally get to the top, it starts to hit you: "what did I
get myself into?". Especially when you know this is only the first
of five climbs and this one is not even the most difficult.
And then you descend...and descend...and descend. There seems to be a million riders on the mountain...Some going up, some going down. You notice you're flying in the thin mountain air. You're thinking, "this is too good be true". Now comes the fun part, you gotta climb this monster you just flew down.
When we arrive at the rest stop the weather had warmed significantly.
Any extra clothing is no longer needed and is quickly shed. It is
now time to hydrate, chow down on some carbs, and prepare for
climb 2.
Thankfully, the rest stop finally arrives!
In my opinion, this climb is the most difficult. It starts off gentle enough.
A nice gradual climb through a cool green forest. The legs start to feel
good again and your confidence starts to return. Then bam!...it all
changes. You roll over a cattle guard and the nice easy climb suddenly
turns into a 10% grade. What happened? The climb then alternates
between steep and very steep. Fortunately the really steep climbs are
short and there are a few "small" stretches where you can rest your
aching back. As you get closer to the top, you notice quite a few people
walking their bikes and some that chose to lay down and take a nap
along the side of the road.
One of the great things about this event is that, in addition to all the
beautiful scenery, you also get to see some pretty cool bikes.
When climb 4 is over, you know if you're going to complete "The Death Ride". Your legs are either telling you "we're toast dude", or they're saying, "all right, you get one more climb, but that's it!". To make matters worse, you have to drive by your car to get to the start of the last climb. My advice, don't even look at your car as you ride by.
Hey, we found Will.
For the most part, Carson is a moderate climb, but it goes on forever.
I had a blast climbing Carson this year. We had a slight tailwind going up.
Rod and I were actually attacking this bad boy. We flew to the top to
receive our 5 pass pin and Ice Cream. It was such a great feeling to
finish the last climb so strong. Rod and I were soon joined by the
rest of our group where we celebrated and gave high-fives all around.
