This year has marked my first foray into ultra-racing. Going into the year I’d planned to focus on two main races, Race Across Oregon (as a two man team) and Furnace Creek 508 (solo). These races, in conjunction with various randonneuring brevets, the “Death Ride”, and a couple of 12 hour races; the Lewis and Clark Ultra and Ring of Fire, resulted in a great season of riding and racing.
The Furnace Creek 508 is known as “The Toughest 48 hours in Sport” and is the world’s premier ultra cycling race. This 508-mile bicycle race is revered the world over for its epic mountain climbs, stark desert scenery, desolate roads, and its reputation as one of the toughest but most gratifying endurance challenges available, bar none. The course has a total elevation gain of over 35,000′, crosses ten mountain passes, and stretches from Santa Clarita (just north of Los Angeles), across the Mojave Desert, through Death Valley National Park and Mojave National Preserve, to the finish line at the gateway to Joshua Tree National Park, Twentynine Palms, CA.
It more than lived up to its reputation as a tough, challenging event.
Prelude
The couple of days leading up to the race were a flurry of activity, configuring the support van, stocking up on supplies (ice, ice and yet more ice), practicing our handoffs, studying up on the rules, registering and passing bike and vehicle inspection and then hanging out with hundreds of like-minded souls at the final pre ride briefing in the hotel ball room. Before I knew it I was off to bed for an early night with the alarm set for 4:50am to give time for a big breakfast ahead of the 6:30am roll out.
The Race
Stage 1: Start to TS 1 (California City, 82 miles – 11:43 am, 5:13 elapsed)
The buzz of 70 racers itching for the off in the hotel entrance driveway was contagious as the excitement and anticipation built up ahead of the official start. There was time for photos with SIR friends and training partners and then I positioned myself near the front to give Susan and the kids the best chance of seeing me on the webcam as we rolled out for the neutral 4 mile start. 6:30am finally came and our police escort lead us out of town until we hit the bottom of the first climb up the canyon. This is were the racing officially starts and all the riders pretty quickly spread out as the road started to pitch up.
The temperatures were still cool and there were a lot of officials along this section to make sure that everyone was coming to a complete stop at all stop signs and spreading out as required. There is no drafting allowed during this race. The aches I’d been conscious of in my left IT band and achilles over the past couple weeks eased up now that I was moving in a steady rhythm and were not an issue at all for any part of the race.
24 miles in I turned left at the top of the canyon and saw all the support cars parked up ahead ready to commence leap frog support . A quick stop to remove my lights and seat bag and to grab a fresh water bottle and a sandwich and then it was off to start the rhythm of ongoing roadside handoffs for water and food as I tried to stay moving on the bike as much as possible and minimize any time off the bike.
This was a flatter stretch and Mike “Newfoundland” McHale caught me in due course on his TT bike and headed up the road. There were great long stretches of road with extended lines of sight as we entered the desert country side proper.
The Windmill climb (6 miles, 1000ft) came up and I reeled Mike in and passed him before the top. Then it was on to the first time station, feeling good and averaging 15.9 mph for this first section.
Stage 2: TS1 to TS 2 (Trona, 153 miles – 16:29, 9:59 elapsed)
It started to heat up and the wind picked up as we headed into the afternoon. I passed Mike’s crew setting up his TT bike again so knew I’d be seeing him shortly. At some point along this stretch Christian got Susan and the kids on the phone and I gave a shout out as I rolled by.
The Randsburg climb was a hot climb (7 miles, 1500 ft) in the peak of the afternoon heat and I ended up stopping for a couple minutes in the shade to try to cool down a bit. I saw a number of riders including John “GeoDuck” Pearch go by before heading off again.
Arrived at Trona, 153 miles in, and had a brief stop before heading out. My moving pace on the bike was still holding steady around 15.9mph though a few more breaks in the heat had lowered my overall average a little.
Stage 3: TS2 to TS3 (Furnace Creek, 252 miles – 00:38, 18:08 elapsed)
Climbed the Trona Bump (5 miles, 1000ft) and then dropped down into the Panamint Valley and rollers on chipseal for the next stretch before stopping to get lights on the bike for night riding. I didn’t really notice the road conditions; compared to northwest chipseal it wasn’t particularly bad.
I came up to John’s vehicle and exchanged a few words as I passed. My stomach was starting to go along this stretch and it was getting tougher to work out what to eat. I was also finding that I was having to stop in order to have my stomach allow me to eat food now that it was nighttime. This was somewhat frustrating as any time off the bike is time lost. The right turn at the end of the valley came up and we stopped again to talk with the officials here. They were reminding everyone that we could leapfrog support up Townes Pass if we wanted in order to minimize traffic impact.
Townes Pass is a significant climb (13 miles, 3800 ft with grades of 12-15%) and I took it at a steady slow pace. I pulled in when I saw Mike’s vehicle about a third of the way up to check on him. Unfortunately his stomach had completely gone and he ended up needing to DNF.
I finally reached the top after various stops for rest and food breaks, donned my night helmet with head light and started on the descent. The head lamp made the dips that had been mentioned so much a non-issue and while I was somewhat cautious going down I was still able to maintain a decent clip. The temperature was in the 80s at the bottom in Death Valley as we rolled along to Furnace Creek and the midway point.
I sat down for a rest and called Susan to let her know the descent had gone fine. It’s not much fun for her to know I’m heading down mountain passes in the middle of the night when she’s back in Seattle. Thankfully the combination of Spot Tracker, Facebook updates and periodic phone connectivity meant much better communication during this race than in some all night rides I’ve been on.
So 18 hours in and half way done, a bit off target pace but, apart from my stomach, not feeling too beat up. To this point I’d been off the bike for about 1 ½ hours, most of that in Stage 3.
Stage 4: TS3 to TS4 (Shosh, 326 miles – 08:15, 25:45 elapsed)
This was a long slow stretch through the night. My energy levels were low as my stomach was not doing great. I had to convince myself that just throwing up and resetting probably wasn’t a good idea. I came upon Bob “Bushbaby” Brudvik along this stretch resting up in his vehicle after similar issues. I guess us Seattle riders had lost what heat acclimatization we had earlier in the summer and were getting hit hard.
We leapfrogged a bit along the valley as Bob would rest up, get back on his bike and then power past me only for me to catch up to him resting in his vehicle down the road.
Climbed out of the valley as day break was approaching, Jubilee Pass (5 miles, 1000ft) followed by Salsbury Pass (9.5 miles, 2300 ft) and a nice descent into Shosh.
I decided to try to force down a decent breakfast in the restaurant there and slowly ate a large omelet and some toast in an attempt to reset my stomach. At this point I’d shifted mentally from racing to riding and wasn’t as concerned about longer rest stops. Having such a large time cushion to finish up the race meant that I knew that even suffering with digestion issues I should be able to easily finish well within the time limits.
In hind sight it would have been good to have some intermediate goals other than just finishing once my main time goal of 35-36 hours became unfeasible.
Stage 5: TS4 to TS5 (Baker, 382 miles – 13:22, 30:52 elapsed)
I rolled out slowly to digest my breakfast and gradually started feeling a bit better. My crew finished up their breakfast and then caught up to me about 6 miles along the road prior to the 4 mile climb up Ibex Pass. The short descent was then followed by a long 20 mile gradual uphill into Baker.
It was starting to get hot again and my crew was trying different things as they sensed a change in attitude.
Ice socks helped to manage my core temperature and I eventually reached Baker and another longish stop.
Stage 6: TS5 to TS6 (Kelso, 417 miles – 17:32, 35:02 elapsed)
There was an extended 20 mile climb straight out of the time station and my crew grabbed an ice-cream cone for me in Baker and then caught up along the road. It went down a treat! Then it was back into heat management mode, ice socks and short stops in the air conditioning to cool down. I caught up with Bob again on this stretch.
The road surface got progressively worse as I approached the top and then was bad all the way down the other side. I had to keep the speed down for the whole descent as I picked a safe line through the gravel and rocks. Another 40 minute or so stop at the bottom as we got ready for night riding again.
Stage 7: TS6 to TS7 (Amboy, 451 miles – 21:04, 38:34 elapsed)
The start was a steady climb up Granite Mountain as night came down (2000ft in 14 miles). I was in a steady rhythm and felt pretty good climbing without needing any real breaks. Once I summited there was a long fast descent for 17 miles into Amboy. Despite the fact that we were all watching out for a cattle guard mentioned in the route book it came up on us by surprise about 4 miles down and rattled some teeth.
We pulled over to swap out drivers and then carried on to Amboy. The Hawaiian theme at Amboy was pretty cool and I took 5 minutes with a towel over my head to close my eyes and reset my brain. My legs were vibrating away and after chatting with a couple other crews here we rolled out for the final stretch.
Stage 8: TS7 to TS8 (Finish, 508 miles – 02:58, 44:28 elapsed)
There was a bit of a downhill stretch and then a left turn onto Amboy road and after 5 miles the start of the climb up Sheep Hole Pass (10 miles, 1500 ft). I kept a steady pace with other riders periodically passing me.
A 6 mile descent followed the summit and then the long uphill run to the finish (20 miles, 1-2% grade). I was hallucinating a little along this stretch as I thought I saw a crew vehicle stopped up ahead with people standing out in the road. They never seemed to get any closer and I had to keep waiting for my brain to correctly interpret the light patterns that were confusing it. That, in conjunction with one stretch of semi trancing as I rode along, i.e. not really remembering the last stretch of road I’d just gone over, meant periodic stops for more caffeine were in order. Nothing dangerous and I’m used to the impact on my brain by the second night of no sleep so I soldiered on.
The long awaited left turn onto Utah Trail arrived and then we headed over to 29 Palms and the 3 mile stretch through town with a couple of final steep little bumps. We rolled into the finish at 02:58 for a final time of 44 hours and 28 minutes (18 hours for the first half and 26 ½ for the second half).
Bob had finished an hour and a half earlier but was still up to see us in which was great. Then it was time for the finish line photos, a shout out to Susan on the web cam and off to the hotel for 3 hours sleep before breakfast the next day.
Postscript
All the riders and their crew gathered for an outdoor breakfast the next morning and shared stories from the ride before we headed off on the 150 mile drive back to the start hotel to unload the support van.
Then it was simply a case of returning the rental van and hanging out in the airport bar waiting for our delayed flight to get us back to Seattle.
Final Thoughts
My crew was great! Words can’t express my thanks to Mark, Christian and Clint who were all willing to take the time to support me in this endeavor. I felt lucky to be able to share the experience with them.
Also, none of this would be possible at all without the support of Susan and my kids. I’ve skewed their perception of what a “normal” bike ride is for quite a while now.
The course was stunning, other racers and crew members were unfailingly friendly and encouraging, the officials kept everything running smoothly. All in all a fantastic experience and a race I would highly recommend.