Introduction
On Saturday April 26th, my best friend Mark and I completed the annual Devil Mountain Double cycling ride. The DMD is a double century (206 miles to be exact) but what makes it unique is the climbing involved in the ride. Across those 206 miles you will climb close to 20,000 feet. To make it even more fun, you get to do this all in one day! The Quack Cyclists DMD web page provides details about the ride.
 |
| Steve and Mark with DMD climb profile - Yikes!!! |
The ride starts at the San Ramon Marriott with two start times: 5:00 am and 6:00 am. Most riders will start at 5:00 am while the more gifted and faster riders will start at 6:00 am. You might think why would I want to start at 5:00 am instead of 6:00 am? It is warmer at 6:00 am and is already starting to get light by then. The main reason is that for safety reasons the DMD imposes two different cutoff times that you must meet in order to continue riding. Otherwise, you have the option to be taken back to the Marriott or you can be sagged ahead. In either case you will receive a "Did Not Finish" and won't be able to purchase the official jersey. Obviously this is not a deal breaker but just something to be aware of.
The first cutoff is at 1pm and is approximately 91 miles into the ride at the Mines rest stop (this is just past the tee where Del Valle continues to the right and Mines continues to the left). The second and final cutoff is at 4:30 and is at the Mines Junction restaurant. Once you made these cutoffs the support team of the QuackCyclists will do everything in their power to help you make it to the end.
I think that we really lucked out on the weather this year. It had been raining the day before and partially into the night, but by the early morning the rains had stopped. I live in Danville while my friend Mark lives in Davis. Mark and his wife Sandy were staying at the San Ramon Marriott. Since I live only 10-15 minutes away from the Marriott I slept in the comfort of my own bed the night before. I had originally planned to get up at 3:00am but my body automatically awoke at 2:50am. It had been a really busy almost crazily busy work at work and this had thoroughly exhausted me. I had planned on getting up early on Friday morning to get me tired so I could go to bed early on Friday night. Back when I was in College at U.C. Davis, Mark and I had done the Davis Double Century several times. I remember that I always had a hard time going to sleep the night before because I was always so excited and couldn't get my brain to shut off. This time though, fortunately or unfortunately on Thursday night I participated in a work related trouble shooting call. I had planned to go to bed around 8pm on Thursday night in preparation for getting up early on Friday morning. However, my trouble shooting call did not complete until around 10:30pm on Thursday night. That blew that plan. On Friday, work was just plain crazy. Even though I worked from home (as I said I live in Danville but work down in Mountain View), it was non-stop meetings from 7:30am to 4:30pm. By the end of the day on Friday I was exhausted.
Day Before the DMD
Mark and I had already registered for the ride but we still needed to check-in at the Marriott to get our rider numbers and packets. I left my house at 4:45pm and got over to the Marriott right at 5pm. Mark and his wife Sandy met me at the Marriott in the bar and already knew where to go to check in. We both checked in and I got rider number 26. We met Scott Halversen the DMD ride director and since this was our first time doing the ride asked him for any last minute tips. Scott said to ride at your own pace, don't stop too long at the rest stops, and drink, eat, and use proper layering (i.e. don't allow yourself to get too hot or cold). Good tips to remember.
 |
| Mark with Scott Halversen (DMD Director) |
Along with our rider tag we received a plastic bag with the four safety pins and a sweat proof turn by turn route sheet (similar to what was provided here). I knew that I wasn't going to need the turn route sheet since I had already ridden every part of the course multiple times (more about that later). The one thing that I did wish was for the QuackCyclists to post on their website (or their DMD website) the type of food that was available at the rest stops. I asked Scott if I could take a quick look at the food that was organized by rest stop in the room behind registration/check-in table. After reviewing the food I did see important items to me such as v8 (my body craves this during the longer rides), peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, oranges, fig newtons, plus much more. At the checkin area there were also different open cartons that contained pre-labeled brown paper bags for the rest stop (Top of Diablo, Morgan Territories, Crothers, and Pet the Goat). On the paper bags you needed to add your full name and rider number. You could either place items in the bag beforehand so that it was available to you at that rest stop or you could insert items into that bag at the rest stop. For me, I got a bag for Top of Diablo and Pet the Goat.
 |
| Steve placing items for rest stop bags |
Top of Diablo was for shedding my Under Armor pants and top that I would wear at the start of the ride, and in the Pet the Goat bag I placed another set of Under Armor pants and top, extra battery for my light and some extra food.
After checking in, Mark, Sandy and I had a nice dinner at Fish On Fire in Danville. I love their Chicken Terrayaki, salad, and Miso soup. We finished eating around 6:45 and I dropped Mark and Sandy back at the Marriot by 7pm. Mark had also given me some extra reflectors to put on my bike which I spent some time doing back at home. I went to bed by around 8:30pm thoroughly exhausted did some light reading on my iPad and probably was asleep by 9pm.
The Morning of the DMD
At 2:50am I woke up and made my daily protein shake
- 2 scoops Arbonne Essentials Chocolate protein shake mix
- Dab of honey
- 1 Kirkland Red Grapefruit container
- Several scoops of blue berries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries
- 1 Yoplait light blueberry yogurt
- Crushed ice
- Orange Juice
Blended the above ingredients quickly in our new Ninja blender from Costco (love it). Given it was the day of the DMD I also made 4 scrambled eggs combined with some cooked ham cut up into square chunks. I then spent 40 minutes stretching on the Pilates reformer (working on my quads, calves, hamstrings, arms, and core). When you get over 50 (I am 51), stretching becomes an extremely important ritual :)
After taking a nice warm shower, I shaved, applied my sunscreen, put on my skull cap, dressed into my cycling gear including stocking extra food, my S-Caps electrolyte capsules, extra tube and CO2 cartridge, and put on my Under Armor pants. With an extra tube in the back of my shirt, I was carrying two tubes, one in my toolkit and one on me. I then checked the tire pressure and filled up both of my tires to 100 PSI. The night before I had already put my Garmin, Cygolite, and rear blinker light on my bike. I took my two water bottles (that were mixed with Strawberry Hammer Heed) out of the refrigerator and put these on the floor of the cargo area in the rear of our Yukon. I then put my bike in the back of our Yukon. It was about 4:30am so it was time to head over to the Marriott. I didn't want to get there too early because it was cool outside ~40 degrees and I didn't want to get tight waiting around. My lovely wife (especially for getting up so early for me) Denise drove me over to the Marriott where I met Mark and Sandy. Some of the riders were just starting to assemble under the canopy. I went inside and used the restroom one more time knowing that once on Diablo having to use a restroom before the summit would be a pain. One of the things that I was debating was whether I should wear boot covers. I brought them with me and had used them on rides where the temperatures were below 35 degrees. At the last minute, I decided not to bring them. I took off my sandals and put on my Sidi mega shoes (absolutely love these shoes) and cinched them tight. I then headed over to the canopy with Mark while Denise and Sandy walked over to take some pictures.
Twenty five plus years ago I have ridden the Davis Double Century with Mark. We were roommates at U.C. Davis. At that time there were over 1000 riders who started the ride together. That was a sight to see. With the DMD the number of riders is limited to 200. Although around 166 riders signed up for the DMD this year I believe Scott Halversen said there was only 145 riders who were initially participating. Mark and I had gathered with the other riders who were starting at 5am. There was also a 6am start time for the fastest riders. Mark and I were definitely in the slower group and were of the mind we just hope we can finish this ride and make the cutoff times (we had estimated that it was going to take us around 21 hours to complete the ride). We took our place under the canopy as our wives took some pictures and wished us luck and to have a safe ride.
 |
| Mark and Steve 4:45am |
I remember what my wife said jokingly to me "just don't die" (on a serious note I was aware that a rider had died of a heart attack during the 2010 ride at the base of the East Hamilton climb). As I looked around, every rider was dressed warmly since it was around 40 degrees. Skies appeared clear with some patchy clouds and the winds were calm. About 10 minutes before 5am Scott Halversen gave a brief talk to the group about being safe and following the rules of the road including posted speed limits descending down from Diablo.
 |
| Scott Halversen giving pre-ride talk |
We also had a 20 second moment of silence for another rider (I apologize that I forgot his name) who had been a big part of the Quack cyclists and who I believed had recently died from cancer. After the moment of silence Scott released the group for the official start.
The Start
Carefully and methodically the wave of riders pushed off while clicking into their toe clips. I turned on the backlight on my Garmin, turned on my Cygolite and rear blinker and pushed off with Mark along with the swell of other cyclists.
 |
| Cyclists getting ready to start |
Mark and I had discussed before hand of not trying to keep up with the group as we sped towards the first climb up Diablo. Instead we paced ourselves going between 17-18 mph. We also made sure to start drinking 10 minutes into the ride no matter how fresh we felt. My goal since I was carrying two water bottles was to have drank at least half of one of the bottles by the time we hit Athenian school. As you come out of the Marriott one of the Sag cars had stopped in the middle of the intersection (I believe it was Camino Ramon) and was waving cyclists through the light. Once you get onto Crow Canyon you hit your first little hill of the day as you make your way up Crow Canyon and over towards Blackhawk. Mark set a nice pace and I was comfortable spinning around 90 rpms. A group of us did have to stop at the stop light at the corner of Crow Canyon and Tassajara. Fortunately the light triggered for us and we didn't have to wait too long. After this light Crow Canyon becomes BlackHawk road and there are some little hills and descents to go through. Not too long on BlackHawk road I heard riders yell out "Water Bottle" and I noticed a water bottle that had been dropped and was rolling from the rider side of the road to the opposite side. Fortunately no riders were impacted from the bottle. These are the type of things that you should always be ready to react to when riding in a pack. Especially in a pack of riders who you have never ridden with before. I remember back to one of the Davis Double Centuries I rode in up near Lake Berryessa when something similar happened with a water bottle but in this instance a rider did crash because of the bottle and had to drop out of the ride. At the base of Athenian school Mark and I had already said that we were going to stop briefly. I have a body type where I tend to overheat on climbs so I removed my light jacket, rolled it up and put into my middle back pocket. I also popped a couple of S-tabs and downed them with a couple deep swigs of water and Mark and I were ready for our first ascent during the day.
Climb up Mount Diablo (reaching rest stop #1)
The gates for Mount Diablo don't normally open until 8am. For the DMD the rangers opened the gates at 5:30am for us. Mark and I reached the gate around 5:35am. It was calming climbing Diablo in the early morning dark. Ahead of you was a stream of red blinking lights and behind you bright white lights reflected in your rearview mirror. As soon as you start climbing it is natural for the group of riders to separate. Both Mark and I had climbed Diablo many times so we just kept to a steady pace, relaxed our upper bodies as we rode. Because of the darkness the ascent of the climbs became readily apparent as you saw the train of lights inching their way up the mountain. In looking at my Garmin I tried keeping my heart rate no higher than 157. I passed several riders and several passed me as we made our way up to the first ranger station. I noticed that there wasn't a lot of conversations among riders, as everyone was concentrating on conserving energy for the long day ahead. Before we knew it we were at the first ranger station. In reaching the upper ranger station (sometimes called the junction because this is where the south gate and the north gate road meets and the summit road continues to the top) we turned right onto summit road. At this point sunrise had already occurred so we could start to take in the panoramic view.
I remember at this point there was a cyclist ahead of us that had some type of alarm going off as he rode. CLANG... CLANG... CLANG... I told Mark that noise is going to drive my bonkers so we quickly passed him and I smiled as the CLANG got softer CLANG and softer CLANG. Off to the right we had a beautiful view of the valley. At this point there appeared to be a fairly thick cloud cover blanketing over the valley - especially over to the south towards Mines road which we would eventually be heading over to. Summit road is little steeper than the South Gate road and there are several sections before Juniper campground that have a gradient between 10-11%. Fortunately we knew exactly when these were coming up and even more important how long they were. At this point I have to say that for me when climbing it makes a big mental difference when I am familiar with the climb. On a day like today, it made a huge difference. Before the DMD, Mark and I had rode every inch of the DMD route. I had even ridden Palomares Canyon and Norris Canyon in the dark. This becomes especially true when riding up East Hamilton and Sierra roads. For me, at least knowing how long you have to suffer is better than not knowing when the climb was going to end!!! I knew the DMD route so well I didn't even bother to take the route sheet.
Just past the Juniper Campground you pass the 3,000 foot elevation sign. As we passed the Juniper Campground we did start to see a trickling of riders coming down the mountain. We saw more as we approached the big left hook turn. Before the big left hook turn we did notice that there was a small landslide so there were rock debris in the road (it would only impact riders descending the mountain). We warned the riders as they descended and took a mental note to remember this in our descent. Once I hit the big left hook turn I knew I was about 10 minutes from the top. Since it was light outside now, I turned off the back light on my Garmin. Eventually we got to the wall, this section pitches up to around 15%. Once again because I was familiar with it I even knew the number of pedal strokes that it would take for me to get up and over it. About 3/4 of the way up the wall I saw a photographer taking my picture as we approached the summit sign. I tried to smile or maybe grimace as I grinded my way up the 15% gradient. As I approached the summit Quackcyclists volunteers were already asking for my rider number and congratulating me. We arrived at the summit just past 7am. At the summit, Mark and I refilled our water bottles since the next rest stop wasn't until Morgan territories about 32 miles away. I ate a chocolate cliff bar and deposited my Under Armor pants and top into my paper bag to be taken back to the Marriott. I did use the restroom at the Summit which requires you to walk down some steep stairs to the facility. In the facility there was only one toilet so there was a line. The one positive was that it was warm in the bathroom. It must have been in the mid 30's at the top of Diablo. In retrospect, I should have just used the restrooms just below the wall. I believe that Mark and I took around 15-20 minutes and then took off. Mark asked me to go in front of him since I typically descended faster than him. I didn't find out until later but just after I passed Mark on the descent, Mark's chain got stuck on his back rim.
Descent down Mount Diablo and Morgan Territories Climb
I have descended Diablo many times in many different weather conditions. Once I descended in a heavy rainstorm. That was the scariest for me since I was having a hard time braking to keep my bike at a safe speed. I had also descended when it was pretty cold. Today was no exception, with the wind chill it must have been in the 20's while we descended. To make matters worse it was overcast so there was no direct sunlight to help warm you on the descent. I had full gloves on and had put back on my light jacket at the summit. Well, the next 8 miles was extremely painful to say the least (I did remember to slow down for the mini rock slide). My hands got so cold that they kept slipping off the brakes on my handle bars. Luckily I kept my speed down and safety descended down the mountain. At this point, I wasn't thinking very clearly and the only thing that I wanted to do was keep going and get myself into the sun.
Cardinal Rule #1
Don't change your plans with your riding partner unless you have communicated your change of plan to your partner.
Mark and I before the DMD had planned on riding together for the entire ride. At the bottom of the Diablo I should have stopped and waited for Mark - especially since I had no idea he had a chain issue. Unfortunately I would break cardinal rule #1 again going over East Hamilton :(
I hooked up with several riders as we rode over Ygnacio and into Clayton. I must admit going up the brief incline on Ygnacio felt good because finally the sun was out and my hands started to get their feeling back. There are a couple of smaller climbs as you get on Marsh Creek. This section of the road doesn't have much of a shoulder so you need to be extra careful to be watching for cars in your rear view mirror. I started to follow a gentleman who I eventually found out that his name was Michael and was 57 years old. This was his first time riding the DMD as well. After a brief fast decline Michael and I turned right onto Morgan Territories. Once your turn onto Morgan Territories you can relax a bit as the traffic on the road significantly lessens. Michael and I rode side by side as we started our climb and headed to rest stop #2. The road on Morgan Territories does get fairly narrow so you will need to move quickly over if you see an incoming car either from behind or ahead of you. One rider just zipped by us like we were not even moving. I commented to Michael that rider was probably a 6am rider, the way he was riding he looked like he had a motor behind him. Somewhere between halfway and three quarters way up the climb Michael mentioned that he felt he was cramping just a little bit in one of his quads and was going to stop so take some endurolytes. He told me to keep going. I was still taking my S-Tabs but kept riding as I did it. Not too long after I left Michael I started to feel some funny twitching in my left quad. I didn't panic but started to get concerned because I had this same feeling before on a training ride with Mark where we did the first half of the DMD up to Mines road. On that particular day I kept too much clothing on too long and probably got dehydrated (remember earlier when I said that I tend to overheat very easily). On the training ride both my quads started to cramp up. At one point I couldn't pedal anymore until I took a 5-10 minute rest. On that training ride day Mark and I stopped at a CVS Pharmacy in Livermore and I drank 3 v8's. Other than those several twitches, I was able to continue on. Michael caught up to me before the final ascent and led as we reached the summit. Michael and I then descended together into the rest stop #2 at Morgan Territories. We arrived there around 9:15am.
Rest stop #2: Top of Morgan Territories, descent to Livermore and Altamont Pass
The first thing that I asked for was for some v8's. One of the volunteers said that there were supposed to have them but unfortunately they couldn't find any. Darn it! I did have about 3-4 bagel peanut butter and jelly sandwich pieces. Yum Yum. They were so good I had them pack several more for me in a baggy to take with me. About ten minutes later Mark came gliding into the rest stop. It was great to see him since I hadn't seen him since the initial descent at the top of Diablo (I wouldn't find out about the problems he had with his chain until after the ride). After loading up on the PB&Js, I also ate 4-5 orange slices. I also filled one of the water bottles with Hammer Heed and the other with Hammer Perpetuem. After using the porta potty Mark and I were ready to continue onward hoping to meet the 1pm cutoff on Mines road.. Altogether I was at the rest stop for about 25 minutes.
Mark led on the fast and furious descent down the backside of Morgan Territory. You have to be careful here because you can go very fast and the road is winding and fairly narrow. On our descent I thought that one car didn't move as far as he could have over and came fairly close to Mark. Fortunately no mishaps as we moved away from Morgan Territory and onto the flatter roads. We turned left onto Manning and then the road turns right and becomes North Livermore Avenue. We next wound are way through Livermore residential neighborhoods for the next 7 miles with Mark setting the pace. We turned onto Herman and then left onto Northfront Road (this road turns into Altamont Pass Road). On the right you pass the mini airport for the remote controlled airplanes and then you see the motocross park where you can watch kids racing their dirt bikes over mounds of dirt. At this point I was feeling good (or I thought I did) and decided to give Mark a rest from pulling and took the lead as we continued on Altamont Pass Road. From our training rides we knew Altamont pass was a pretty mellow climb with a nice gradual descent. With the winds at our back I saw this as an opportunity to make some time on our 1pm cutoff time as we approached Patterson. For the next 10 miles I felt really good and did a strong pull. With a tailwind I kept up a pace between 25-27mph until we turned right on Midway. Along the way we did see several small bike groups from the Wente Vinewards road race that was going on at the same time. Not too far from the Midway turn several cyclists slingshot ahead of me (I assume they had been drafting behind me) and they thanked me for the pull as they went by.
Patterson Pass to Mines Road
As we headed up Midway Mark took the lead again. We came up on a rider (a big guy) whose jersey was ripped and I noticed that he had mud stains on his left leg and jersey shorts. I asked him what happened and he said he crashed coming down the "plunge" from Morgan Territories. He said he was going around 45 mph when he lost control. The positive was that he didn't crash on the road but fell into the mud on the side of the road. Both Mark and I were amazed that he wasn't seriously hurt. I also noticed that both of my quads were still twitching and starting to feel tight. This wasn't encouraging as we were getting ready to battle Patterson. As we turned onto Patterson Pass Road the wind that had been our ally now became our foe as we headed into a 20-25 mph headwind as we headed up Patterson Pass. I must admit, with my tight quads, brisk headwind, steep ascent, and looming 1pm cutoff, this was mentally and physically the hardest part of the ride for me. Mark had to stop for a quick bathroom break. I told him I would continue ahead since my legs were tight. At the base of the climb I swallowed several S-Tabs and was drinking sips of water every 10 minutes. My quads continued to get tighter as I ascended Patterson. With my quads hurting, I did my best to not think about the pain and just keep moving my legs. As the road pitched up I tried several times to stand up and power my way through the climb, but this became too painful to do. In moments like this is where you can tap into similar experiences. I had plenty to choose from. Going up East Hamilton, Sierra, or Quimby Roads during the heat of the day when your legs felt like jelly. In moments like this you just take your time and slowly plow through it. That is what I did here. After getting my water topped off at the small rest stop above the false summit. I continued on to the OMG summit. There are several small walls 10-12% you hit before you go over the slightly longer OMG wall which is around 13-15%. With my quads hurting going up the steeper ascents I could only zig zag back and forth to take some of the pressure of my legs. I probably looked like a drunk rider at this point. I made it to the top and stopped at the summit around 11:15am. I tried waiting for Mark, but with the strong winds, I was getting cold at the top. Standing there and resting on my bicycle I was doing everything in my power to prevent my quads from cramping. Realizing I was being unsuccessful I clicked back into my clips and started to descend Patterson. I descended fairly slowly as I approached the left on Cross Road. Just after you turn on Cross Road there is a nice short wall that you need to climb over. I made it over this and continued my descent towards Tesla road.
Mark passed me quite easily as we descended and turned right onto Tesla road. At this point I was just hobbling along as my quads wouldn't let me press on them too hard. Mark was just humming along as he rode strongly. I couldn't and didn't try to keep up with him. Just past Vasco on the right were two riders (man and women) who were taking a break on the side of the road. I passed them but not too long after they passed me. At the time I didn't realized that it was Mark's sister Kerri and her husband Ron. They were not riding the DMD but were out for a weekend ride from Dublin. They hooked up with Mark and the three of them rode together as they approached Mines road. I tried to close the gap with them but didn't have anything in my legs. I turned left onto Mines road and tried to maintain the gap with them. As I was thinking to myself, I thought if I could get closer then I could have them help pull me to the cutoff point. I stood up a couple of times and pushed to close the gap. I don't know how but I was finally able to catch up with them. I pulled up alongside Ron while Mark was riding two abreast with Kerri. It was nice to talk to Ron, Mark, and Kerri as we rode towards the Mines rest stop since I was able to draft off both Mark and Kerri and the chatter kept my mind off of my sore quads. Before I knew it we signaled for the Mines turn and turned left onto Mines road. It was a great sight to see the large rest stop on the right. We were at the 91 mile marker on the course.
Rest stop #3: Mines Road (cut off point #1)
I noticed that the time was only 12:15pm. We were 45 minutes ahead of the cutoff time. That was a great relief! It was really the first cutoff that we were most concerned with. The second cutoff time of 4:30pm at the Junction for lunch we felt that if we could make the first cutoff that going an additional 25 miles in 3 1/2 hours should be fairly easy since the riding would contain some climbs, flats, and quick descents. Since the Morgan Territory rest stop I had noticed that it had become harder to unclip my shoes from my toe clips. I think it was due to the mild mud like conditions we walked on at that rest stop. One of the awesome volunteers offered to clean my cleats but I declined (what was I thinking -- next time say yes). I quickly started eating PB&J's and drinking the mini v8's. I was also eating a lot of orange slices. I was doing everything in my power to recover. I tried not to think what lied ahead but just focused on loading up to give me the energy to get me to the lunch stop 25 miles ahead at the Junction. I called my wife to let her know that we had made the first cutoff point. She and the kids were having lunch with Sandy and said they would come over from Danville to cheer us on. I told her we were going to be on Mines road for a long while. Mark chatted with Kerri and Ron a little while longer then Ron and Kerri left. We made a quick stop at the port-a-potty, did a check that we were ready (fluids check, tires good check, blinker light on check) and we were off. I believe our rest time was around 25 minutes. I remember noticing it wasn't quite 12:45pm when we left.
A Great Surprise From our Family
Just pass the mines rest stop (or rest stop #3), Mines road begins to ascend. Before we hit our lunch rest stop at the Junction we would be doing another 2,000 ft of climbing. Once again Mark and I had ridden Mines road multiple times before so we knew exactly what to expect. The climb starts rather abruptly then tapers out. Mark initially led while I gladly followed in his wake. As we climbed the one thing I noticed was that my quads had calmed down and felt reasonably good and strong. I took that as a positive sign (on these type of rides you will take any positive sign) as we kept up a good climbing pace.
Probably about 5-7 miles out from the mines rest stop a white Camry came up on us and started honking. There was a truck behind it so the Camry only slowed slightly while it passed us. The passenger side window was rolled down and I saw and heard my son Cameron yelling encouragement to both of us as the Camry rolled past us. I noticed that Denise was driving, and Cameron (my 15 year old son) was in the front passenger seat and Jaclyn (my 18 year old daughter) and Sandy were in the rear seats. Since they had a pick up truck behind them they couldn't stop but continued past us on the winding ascent and disappeared around several bends. I must admit seeing the family like that was a fantastic surprise and it got my adrenaline pumping and I passed Mark as I was looking for them around every bend. As I came around a left turning bend there was a nice turnout on the right and lo and behold was my family and Sandy out of the car cheering us on. My son was shaking a cow bell loudly as he yelled and Denise and Jaclyn held signs while Sandy had her camera out taking pictures all cheering at us as we passed.
 |
| Denise and Jaclyn cheering us on - Yea!!! |
All I can say was that was truly an awesome thing for them to do!!! It really made my day. As I passed Sandy I gave everyone a big thumbs up as Sandy took my picture.
 |
| Thumbs up at 97miles |
 |
| Mark Plugging Away |
I noticed that one of the signs had a great big black bike drawn it with words of encouragement for both Mark and I written near the top. I definitely felt lucky to have such a great family and friends. After we passed them Mark and I had big grins on our faces and we commented to each other how awesome that was for them to do that. The cow bell cracked me up. I happened to remember some Saturday Night Skit with Christopher Walken as some music producer who was listening to his band practice and he kept demanding more cow bell :) As we continued on Mines, the road narrows and sporadically we would see small groups of cyclists coming down Mines road from the opposite direction. The Hamilton Challenge ride was also occurring on that day. In fact, one of the women riders that we met on the Cycling Escapes Santa Monica climbing camp that we took during the week of March 10-14, Kathy, was participating in the challenge. Kathy knew that Mark and I were riding in the DMD that day and we said we would try to look for each other on Mines road. Mark said he thought he may have seen Kathy descending Mines, but unfortunately I didn't. The other thing that you notice on the Mines road are the mile markers drawn on the road. The mile markers actually start as soon as you turn on Mines from Tesla, you just probably don't notice it until you are riding in the more remote areas on Mines road. Mark and I rode abreast of each other as we snaked our way through the countryside. There is a good 7 seven mile stretch in here of relatively flat terrain. After the initial climb out of the mines rest stop, we knew that there were still two smaller climbs we would have to go over before we hit the Junction for lunch. I had kept my Cygolite on my bike but it kept rattling enough to annoy me (I guess many things will annoy you on a long ride like today), so I decided to remove it and put it back into my middle sleeve of my cycling jersey. We stopped briefly at one of the mini rest stops to top off our waters and I popped some more S-Tabs.
As I rode with Mark, I noticed that my legs were starting to feel stronger. My neck, shoulders, and arms felt nice and relaxed. As we started the first climb I kept up a strong pace and noticed Mark falling back just a bit. On the descent Mark and I regrouped together. As we approached the second climb another DMD rider rode by us. Because my legs were feeling fresh, I decided to up my pace a bit to see if I could maintain the gap between myself and the other rider. I noticed that Mark didn't up his pace and was content at his pace. That was cool. As I was able to prevent the gap from widening with the rider ahead of me, I decided to up my pace a little more to see if I could actually shrink the gap. I have to admit that I am a competitive person. In cycling, as in all things some days you feel stronger than others. Given the issues I had earlier with my quads, I was quite surprised how strong I was feeling. I believe I kind of made it a mental game to see if I could catch up to the rider ahead of me. Slowly but surely I caught up to him at the top of the climb and followed him down on the descent. He and I started to chat with each other and this was his first time doing the DMD. He wanted to know how far before the Junction and I told him only a couple of more miles and then on the left perched at the top of mild hill would be the Junction restaurant and more importantly our lunch rest stop. He and I arrived at the lunch stop around 3pm. About 10 minutes later Mark rolled in as well looking good. We had come in well before the 4:30pm second cutoff time. At this point we just needed to meet the 24 hour deadline to complete the ride.
Rest Stop #4: Mines Junction - Lunch (cut off point #2)
As soon as I arrived I parked my bike against one of the picnic tables, I put on my jacket (which was sleeveless) to keep myself warmer while we stopped for lunch. Back behind the picnic tables the QuackCyclists crew had setup all their food and equipment for the rest stop. You had the choice of ordering hot food (pulled chicken, hamburger, vegetarian burger, etc.) or a nice cold sandwich. The lady serving the rest stop food said that they were waiting on the next batch of hot food to come out of the restaurant. I decided that a nice big cold turkey/ham sandwich would do the trick. Normally I didn't eat bread, but on a day like today where we were estimating that we would burn somewhere between 8,000 to 9,000 calories, I decided it was important to get those extra calories and therefore bread and bagels were definitely on the menu and boy did that sandwich taste great. On a day like this I noticed that food in general just tasted that much better. One of the lessons I learned from my training rides was that I could not sustain myself on a longer ride if I only ate cycling food such as cliff bars, gels, and wafers. I had done a 125 mile training ride where I did Mines up to East Hamilton, down and up and over Sierra road and back to Sunol. On this particular day I only ate the cycling food that I mentioned above and I felt extremely lousy and my confidence for completing the DMD was not great. My wife told me that I needed to get real food into my system for these type of rides. In another 130 mile training ride that I did with Mark where we covered the exact same course as I did before, but this time we stopped for sandwiches at the Junction and at a convenience store on Piedmont before we climbed Sierra. I have to admit that, though I was tired, I felt about 300% better than I had before and it left me with the confidence that I could do this ride as long as I properly ate. Remember what Scott Halversen said earlier (ride at your own pace, keep hydrated and replenish those calories). Along with my sandwich I had several more mini v8's used the facilities (the Junction restaurant has an actual bathroom but for only 1 person). All together we probably spent about 30 minutes for lunch. I removed my light jacked and rolled it up and put in my back middle sleeve. Before we headed out I decided to remove my light jacket (even though the temperatures were still considered mild - mid 60's), I still kept to the shorts and shirt I was wearing.
San Antonio Valley Road
Mark and I headed out on San Antonio Valley Road (Mines road turns into San Antonio Valley Road just past the Junction). Mark and I talked a little and then settled down to a comfortable pace knowing that we had several climbs ahead before we tackled the east side of Mt. Hamilton in about 12 miles. As we hit our first climb I noticed that Mark had dropped off my pace. I continued on focusing on what lied ahead. Several cyclists came whizzing by me and asked if I was ready to join the pasta feed back at the Marriott starting at 7pm. Looking at my Garmin it was just past 4pm, with a sly grin I shouted "I don't think any of us will be partaking in the pasta feed around that time". That got a chuckle out of the two riders. At this point, since I was feeling even stronger I let my competitive juices get the better of me and decided to see if I could keep up with these two riders. After staying on their wheels for a bit, I got confident that I could actually hang with these guys. We started our next ascent before hitting the bridge before the real 5.5 mile climb up Mt. Hamilton began.
After riding with Mark in college after my last Davis Double Century (back around 1988) I got really dehydrated due to the heat and pretty much gave up riding at this point. It wasn't until last year that Mark did his ride across america (3500 miles in 33 days) that I was truly inspired of his accomplishment and felt that I should try to get back into cycling so that I could possibly cycle with Mark. Mark had asked me if I had wanted to do the Davis Double Century again. I wasn't sure especially after my last experience doing it. In August, my family (Denise, Jaclyn, and Cameron) went to Mark and Sandy's 50th birthday bash. It was held at the Davis Veterans Memorial Center. I had been riding for about a month and half and was making good progress. Mark had been talking about this Devil Mountain Double ride. I was going to surprise Mark at his party that I wasn't going to be able to ride the Davis Double Century, pause for emphasis but instead I would ride the DMD with him. When I told Mark he looked at me and said "Are you sure?". I was a little ignorant at this point in terms of what I was getting into but said "yes - I am in".
In getting back into cycling, I remembered that we all have good days and not so good days especially when it came to climbing. I had some brief glimpses of having some good days climbing, but most days were a struggle. On our Santa Monica climbing camp, there was one day where I felt incredible strong climbing where I was able to summit one of the climbs before Mark and was able to get some video footage of him coming up the mountain. It always seemed like to me that Mark was always taking video of me because he always climbed faster than I did. The other days I didn't feel quite as strong and Mark was his normal piston engine as I watched him climb ahead of me.
Today of all days on the day of the DMD, I was able to get into what I felt like was the zone. I play competitive tennis and the zone is where the ball looks much bigger and your able to focus so sharply and cleanly that your able to execute your strokes effortlessly and relentlessly. What was strange and alien to me in cycling was this feeling of exhilaration, where my legs and body felt light and slightly detached from me. As I pushed myself, I was able to recover quicker than normal. I was still using my heart rate monitor so I never let my heart rate go above 175 beats per minute and it mostly stayed in the 155-160 range. My quads which had been on the brink of cramping earlier felt light and loose. Before you roll your eyes of what I am saying, I am perfectly aware that no matter how great or fast I thought I was doing or going, those 6am and many 5am riders would still clean my clock and pass me like I wasn't even moving. Regardless how fast I was truly going the feeling of euphoria I had was a tremendous feeling that I won't soon forget. I was able to climb past both the riders and led as we descended over the bridge and stopped at the mini rest stop at the beginning of the East Hamilton Climb. I popped several more S-Tabs and waited a bit deciding what to do next. The two riders who I had just passed, stopped only briefly and rolled ahead to tackle the East Hamilton climb. At this point I had no idea how far back Mark was and how long I would have to wait. At this point I was getting anxious (just my dumb competitive juices again because now the two riders who I had worked to pass were now getting ahead of me on the Hamilton climb). I made a rash decision and decided I would push ahead. I would either wait at the top of Hamilton for Mark or wait for him at the next rest stop at Crothers.
Climb up East Side of Mount Hamilton
The climb going up the East side of Mt. Hamilton is approximately 5.5 miles with an average gradient between 8-11%. I had ridden it multiple times with Mark and by myself. I had ridden it directly from Mines road as wells as ascending from the west side and descending to the bridge and then turning around to go back up the east side climb. Most of the times when I climbed it the temperatures were much higher than today. I started my ascent up Hamilton and kept my eyes on the two cyclists as they were already a good distance ahead of me. I was able to get into a good cadence, and passed several cyclists within the first mile. When riding up the East side of Hamilton as a marker of where I was, in my previous training rides I had counted there were four sharp left hand turns. Once you pass the last left hand turn your are only about a 1 1/4 miles away from the summit. As I settled into my cadence, I noticed that I was starting to close the gap on the two cyclists. As I thought back on this, I was making this a game for myself to help take my mind off what still lied ahead. In any case, it was working, I started to feel stronger as I continued up the ascent. By this time the two riders had split up. The bigger rider who had an Orange cycling jersey was lagging behind his partner. I slowly closed the gap on him and finally passed him. I then looked for his buddy who was probably 100 yards ahead. I kept to my pace, drinking every 10 minutes and finally pulled alongside the other rider (the one who had said the pasta feed starts at 7pm). Together we climbed together as we snaked up East Hamilton. Probably still 2 1/2 miles from the top the rider eventually said to me that he needed to slow down because he was starting to bonk. I told him no problem and continued pressing onward. I passed the 3rd sharp left turn and then the 4th. I finally saw the 1 mile mark which is always encouraging. It is strange that the mile markers appear to change slower and slower as you reach the summit :). I kept pedaling and came around a right turn where I could start to see some of the smaller domes from the observatory. The road flattens out and there is a small descent as you roll along the top of Mt. Hamilton and approach the largest dome. I parked my bicycle against once of the fences next to the ranger station. There I was able to fill up my water bottle and put my sleeveless jacket back on and put on my full gloves for the descent. It was around 5:12pm and I had gone 130 miles so far. I texted Denise where I was. Denise said she saw me on her iPhone since she was using the find my iPhone feature to track where I was. After stopping I noticed that it was pretty cold at the top of Hamilton. Someone earlier said that there had still been snow on Hamilton as late as yesterday. With the cool temperature that I was feeling, I could believe it. I saw the two cyclists that I passed on the ascent pass me as they started their descent.
Descent down West Side of Mount Hamilton
I decided that it wouldn't be smart for me to wait at the top, it was just too cold and I had to keep my muscles warm. I would wait for Mark at the Crothers rest stop. I began my descent down the west side of Hamilton. I had done the descent multiple times and had just done it less than 2 weeks ago with Mark. On that particular descent I video taped my entire descent using my new GoPro Hero 3+. I wore my GoPro on my helmet for the entire 130 mile training ride I did with Mark. I noticed that for the longer rides it did cause my neck to become a little sore. This was probably due to the weight of the GoPro as it sat on the top of my helmet. The weight of the GoPro is light, but carrying that extra weight with your head slightly tilted over 100 miles can cause your neck muscles to fatigue. I had decided for the DMD that I was going light. Remove any unnecessary weight from myself and the bike. When I had started cycling last May I had weighed 185 lbs. Through a combination of exercising (walk-jog 3-4 times a week, cycling, stretching with pilates reformer) and nutrition I was able to get down to 161lbs. My goal was to get into the 150's for the DMD so I got real close to my goal. Going down Hamilton wasn't as cold as descending Diablo in the morning, but it was still cold. While descending Hamilton I saw the two riders again. This time the bigger gentleman in the orange jersey was leading the descent. I consider myself a fairly good descender. Having practiced going down Diablo multiple times I have a found a comfortable position where I am slightly off my seat with my weight back. Having descended Hamilton multiple times I was also aware of the sharp left u-turns and what lines I should be following around the curves. About halfway down I passed the first rider and then followed the rider with the orange jersey. About three fourths of the way down where there is a series of left and right turns I was able to safely pop out and pass the rider in the orange jersey. I was able to maintain my gap on both riders as we rode over the small climbs and descents over to the Crothers rest stop. The only thing that I could think of as I rode towards Crothers was to pedal fast because I was getting cold - my sleeveless jacket wasn't cutting it!!!
Rest Stop #5: Crothers
Coming down Highway 130, you have a beautiful view of Silicon valley. It was still slightly overcast but there was some sun poking through the clouds which I gladly embraced. The Crother's right turn off is fairly far down Highway 130. This rest stop is at a private residence. When I turned onto Crothers I saw the marking on the road for the DMD and kept riding straight. As you look down Crothers it is flat at first then some rolling hills and larger hill further down. Originally I had thought that the rest stop would be one of first houses once I turned onto Crothers. Nope, I was wrong. The actual rest stop was probably 300-400 yards down the street on the left after you started to climb a small hill. At one point on Carothers I stopped and pulled off to the right and wondered if I should continue on and go up Sierra. As I was stopped, the two cyclists from Hamilton passed me as they continued down the road to the rest stop. I still didn't see any signs yet for the rest stop but having other riders going down the road as well made me feel better. As I started to climb up the hill I finally did see a sign for the Carother's rest stop on the left. It was a fairly steep driveway as I came in and leaned my bike against a small brick wall and got ready to have some food. It was around 6:10pm. I had some more PB&J's sandwiches, v8's, orange slices, and some warm soup (Yum Yum - Chicken Cup A Noodle). I texted Denise around 6:16pm where I was and was at the 150 mile marker. I texted Denise that I would be waiting for Mark at this rest stop since I had lost him going over Hamilton. About 9 minutes later Mark came into the rest stop. It was great seeing him and he appeared to be in good spirits. My goal was to get to the top of Sierra road before sundown since I knew the temperatures would start to go down once the sun was down. Based on sunset tables for San Jose, sunset would be approximately at 7:53pm PT. I knew that I would be warm climbing Sierra but based on past experience it can be cold and windy at the top. My extra clothing (Under Armor pants and shirt) was at the Pet The Goat rest stop at the top of Sierra.
Mark and I left Crothers around 6:30pm and headed towards the infamous Sierra Road. I had ridden Sierra at least 5 times before, the last two were training rides where I was attempting to do the second half (starting on Mines Road) of the DMD. In those training rides, I already had 91 miles on my legs and had already gone over East Hamilton. Because I didn't have any rest stop support, I had added a Minoura double bottle holder that allowed me to carry two extra water bottles behind my seat. This gave me the ability to carry 4 water bottle on my bike. Having the extra water was great, having the extra weight was not!!! On those training rides, I had to stop 2-3 times up Sierra to get my breath. For the DMD, following my be at light as possible mantra, I removed the bottle holder and I was only going to up Sierra with a single water bottle full of water (my other water bottle would be empty) knowing that I could refill at the top at the Pet the Goat rest stop.
The Infamous Sierra Road Climb and Where's Pet the Goat?
As we approached Sierra Road from Piedmont, Mark took the lead as we turned right from Piedmont onto Sierra road and I looked up ominously at the impending 15% gradient wall in front of us. I noticed that Mark smartly had shifted down into his triple or granny gears and I was instantly jealous that I didn't have a triple. After my long training rides going up Sierra, I had gone back to the Pegasus bike shop in Danville and spoke to Brian (one of the owners) about my options. I already had a 32-11 rear cassette and could go slightly larger if needed. My smallest gear was currently a 34/32 (50-34 front cassette and 32-11 rear cassette). I asked Brian what would it cost to add a triple to my front cassette. Brian said well you are going to have to pretty much replace all of your components with a cost around $700-800. Yikes!!!! I told my wife this and she said that if I really wanted to that I could do it. I contemplated this for several days, and since this was less than 2 weeks out from the DMD I really didn't want to do anything too radical to my bike. Possibly I was also trying to still be macho at my ripe age of 51. In the end, I kept to what I had. I did notice when I removed my Minoura bottle holder that my seat had inadvertently moved back farther than where it should be. Before putting on the bottle holder I had carefully marked where my seat was and then moved back my seat so I could fit in the hardware to attach the holder. I thought I had moved back my seat to the mark. It looked like I hadn't. I then adjusted my seat to where it should be. This was about a week before the DMD. Wow, the little adjustment of moving my seat forward made a big difference on how it felt when I rode.
Going up Sierra Road is just plain hard. It is only 3.2 miles but it rises quickly (Sierra Road Grade Profile). It normally took a mere mortal such as myself around 30-40 minutes to climb on fresh legs. Today with almost 150 miles in the tank, I was contemplating on around 1 hour. For those of you who are sports fans, Chris Horner who won the 2011 Amgen stage 4 on Sierra Road climbed it in a remarkable time of around 16:47.
After around the first mile, coming around a left turn bend there was a nice surprise with 10-15 people lined up on either side of the road cheering you on. One person had a cowbell and was ringing it furiously (more Christopher Walken analogies...). Other people were just clapping and cheering me on. As I passed the big group of people I put out my arm and high-five'd them as I passed them at my rip roaring rate of around 3.5 miles per hour. I don't know if these were fellow QuackCyclists or locals who knew about the DMD and were just cheering us on. The one thing I do knew is that it made me smile and allowed me to temporarily forget the difficulty in climbing Sierra and I wanted to thank whoever had coordinated it that it was greatly appreciated and that it was great thing to do!!! As I pedaled pass the group their cheering noise slowly subsided as I climbed higher. I saw that Mark had stopped on the right on a fairly steep section, he told me to keep on going. I slowly passed Mark as I continued to trudge up the hill. I found out later that Mark fell trying to clip back in and skimmed one of his knees. As I continued to climb it was already past 7pm and the sky was starting to become dusk. It was getting cooler, but I get warm when I climb and it didn't seem to affect me. Finally, I reached the summit and looked around for the Pet The Goat rest stop. Hmmmm.... I know it was starting to get dark, but I didn't see anything. Well crap I thought, I was now running low on water (I only took enough because I knew that I could refill).
There were only two minor pet peeves that I had with the DMD that day. The first was the missing v8's at the Morgan Territory rest stop and the misnomer that the Pet The Goat rest stop was at the top of Sierra Road. Technically it was, but the description should have been that the Pet The Goat rest stop was at the top of Sierra Road and Beyond!!! It was beyond the summit by about 2 miles. Not a big deal. I even went back to the QuackCyclists web site to see if I had read it wrong. To be fair there is nothing in the description that says where it is exactly. I was basing it off the brown paper bags where it said "Pet the Goat - top of Sierra Road". As I said not a big deal, but after 150 miles, with it starting to get dark and cold, I didn't like any surprises. That said, the QuackCyclists run a first rate program with the DMD. With almost 100 volunteers their team does an excellent job in supporting the riders throughout the morning, day, evening and morning hours.
Rest Stop #6: Pet the Goat
At the top of Sierra Road it becomes Felter Road. I continued on Felter winding around the mountain with another gradual ascent. After I about two miles I saw a left hand corner and signs for the rest stop. Yea!!!! Mark came in right after me. I quickly parked my bike and looked for my pre-arranged paper bag with my name and rider #26. I found my dry Under Armor pants and top and quickly put these on. I was still cold but having the extra layer of clothes felt wonderful. They were serving hot chocolate and I helped myself to a delicious cup. I could feel the warmth of the chocolate as I drank it (Yum Yum). I had a couple of grape juice drinks. Mark asked me why I was drinking that now, and I said I had no idea but my body was craving it, so I drank them down. I had a couple of more mini v8's, pretzels, and more PB&J's. They were also pushing brownies (they looked delicious) but I declined because I didn't want to get a possible headache from the quick sugar intake. They didn't have an actual Goat at the rest stop but had a stuffed animal instead. Being the tourist, I had my picture taken with "Oh Golly" the Goat.
 |
| Steve with "Oh Golly" The Goat |
Actually "Oh Golly" is not his name I just decided to give him a name for this blog and I like the name since at this point you are thinking "Oh Golly I just might make it all the way through this thing or Oh Golly I just made it over Sierra after 150 miles or Oh Golly am I stupid or what for doing this!". Regardless of your answer, I still think Oh Golly should be his name (I may petition to Scott Halversen about my suggestion). I refueled both my water bottles and then Mark and I were off. I believe it was around 8pm or just after 8pm when we left. It was completely dark now so I put back on my dependable Cygolite and switched on the light. My Garmin had precious little battery left (what the heck - so I kept the backlight feature off but I knew it wouldn't be of any use to me in the dark). Mark graciously led us out into the dark on Felter. Mark had a light both on his bike and on his helmet so he was really lightening up the road for us.
Calaveras Road
Starting up again after you stop at the rest stop I was finding was getting harder to do. My legs would get stiff and it would take them a bit to warm back up so I could ride comfortably and not have to think about them. Fortunately Mark took off like a bat and I chased him from behind. This allowed my legs to warmup quickly. The next key turn off was onto Calaveras Road. It is a tricky right turn because you are on a good descent and it is easy to miss it if you are not paying attention. On my solo training ride where I doing half of the DMD I had missed this turn and continued down the hill. After about a mile I realized that the road was starting to turn towards the west instead of heading north. I realized my mistake and had turn around and go back up the hill I had just descended. Mark and I didn't want to make this mistake on the day of the DMD so we cautiously descended. In the daylight on our training ride together it sure seemed that the Calaveras turn came sooner. Now at night around every bend Mark and I thought it would be there. We did finally see a new marking on the road that said DMD 1/2 mile right turn. The other thing to note that when you turn onto Calaveras it is a brief wall that you have to climb, so as soon as you make the turn you need to be in a gear where you can properly climb a 13-14% grade. It also reminded me on the Morgan Territory climb where before the summit there is a small descent where you immediately go into a steep climb 14-15% grade and you better be in the right gear. On one of my training rides I got surprised by this and almost fell over on my bike as I wasn't in the right gear and I was frantically trying to unclip as the bike started to lean over. On that day I had to turn around so I could gain speed and properly shift down to make it up the climb. We finally saw the Calaveras right turn and immediately were hit by the Calaveras wall. In his triple, Mark just spun up the hill while I muttered curses under my breath as my legs yelled at me as I grinded up the hill. There was no way I could keep up with Mark and I didn't try as he gapped me spinning up the hill. Finally I got to the top and tried to close the gap with Mark. I was finally able to catch up with Mark and Mark did an awesome job of pulling us through the 15 mile Calaveras stretch. This stretch seems to go on and on and on..... Turn to the right with a brief ascent followed by a turn to the left and descent ---- repeat 500 more times. Mark must have been feeling good because I was having a hard time staying on his tail. Fortunately I still had something left in the tank and was able to take advantage of his great pull.
Rest Stop #7: Sunol Train Station
We finally pulled up to the last rest stop at the Sunol Train Station. It was around 9:25pm (I guessed we missed the opening of the pasta feed at 7pm). I got some more v8 and PB&J's (I was practically oozing PB&Js by now) and refilled my water bottles with Hammer Heed. I asked one of the volunteers for several endurolyte pills and she gave me three instead. I graciously swallowed them with water. It was now around 9:41pm and I texted Denise where we were and that were at mile 180. Denise asked if she should go to the Marriott now, she thought we were practically done. Positive thinking but Mark and I still had some work to do. Since we still had around 26 miles to go and had to climb both Palomares Canyon and Norris Canyon I conservatively said we would be there no later than 1am PT. Mark had asked me if he should try one of the hot dogs they were serving at the rest stop, I thought it may be a little heavy to have at this point and may upset his stomach. Mark decided not to get one. After both using the port-a-potty we were off for our last climbs of the day.
Mark led as we headed down Niles canyon. We had also ridden this before during the day and this was the one section of road that made me nervous because there are several sections where there is not a lot of shoulder for a cyclist and you could become an obstacle for a driver not paying attention. Given that we were riding at night approaching 10pm, we just hoped that we would not encounter any crazy drivers. Mark mentioned to me that as we approached the two different bridges where there is absolutely no shoulder that we should spread out. I kept to his plan as we made our way over both the bridges. Fortunately there didn't appear to be that much traffic and it was music to our ears when an approaching car from behind moved to the left and we could hear the CLUNK... CLUNK..CLUNK... of the car going over the lane dividers giving us a wide margin. The Palomares Canyon turn off is about 4 miles from the Sunol train station rest stop. You first go under a train bridge and the stop sign for Palomares is immediately after. Similar to the Calaveras wall, you need to downshift into a low gear because once you turn right onto Palomares there is a steep gradient that you need to get up and over and then the road quickly levels off. The Palomares climb is around 4.5 miles with a gradient between 5-8%. There might be several sections where pitches up above 8% but this is only for a brief section.
Palomares Canyon Climb
It was eery riding up Palomares at night with the other cyclists. It was very quiet, and you could hear the croaking of frogs as you climbed. The flashing red lights of fellow climbers was somewhat mesmerizing as you tried to not think about the climb and what it would feel like to be back at the Marriott or home in a nice warm........ Getting my head back in the game I focused on staying relaxed and getting myself into a good rhythm. Once I had gotten over the tightness with my quads I had been very fortunate to get into a good climbing rhythm. Once again I focused on one of the riders ahead of me and focused on closing the gap between us. Probably a little over half up the climb I noticed that I had closed the gap but I didn't notice Mark behind me anymore. I decided to give up my chase on the rider ahead of me and pulled off to the right and stopped. Several minutes later I saw Mark and told him to continue on as I pulled out behind him. Together we climbed the last bit of Palomares together. Mark had commented that he wanted to pull over at the summit for the descent to put on some more layers, but before we knew we had already reached the summit and were starting to descend. I asked Mark if he wanted to pull over but he said he was OK.
During the day I had reached speeds slightly over 40 mph descending Palomares. I was not going to attempt this at night also knowing that I was fatigued. I led as Mark followed me. There was also a group of 5-7 cyclists that were ahead of us as we started our descent. I decided to see if I could close the gap on these cyclists. I did close the gap but didn't want to get too close to this group in case someone had technical difficulties. As we descended and turned left onto Palo Verde Road I had thought that Mark was right behind me. It was until I turned left on East Castro Valley Road and was approaching Crow Canyon Road that I noticed this. I slowed down and let all of the cyclists pass me as I approached and before I turned right onto Crow Canyon Road. At this point I knew definitely that Mark was not behind me so I turned right onto Crow Canyon Road but then quickly went ahead and pulled over and got off my bike as I waited for him. Although I was stopped my clothing was still protecting me well so I wasn't getting chilled yet. I decided to eat and drink while I waited. I ate 3 Clif Cranberry flavored Shot Blocks, popped two more S-Tabs and drank liberally. After several minutes I noticed that my stomach didn't seem to appreciate the Shot Blocks. Maybe that was too much sugar to take into my system at this point (each Shot Block has about 24 grams of sugar). After about 10-12 minutes Mark showed up behind me. It turns out on the Palomares descent, his bike light holder on his handle bar fell apart. He noticed it was rattling and tried to adjust it and it broke off in his hand. Fortunately, he already had the light in his hand so he didn't lose his light. He still had a second light on his helmet. He said it was eerily quiet when he started his descent again because of all other cyclists including me were gone. He also got confused at the Palo Verde Road turn and had to get off his bike to check the route sheet. The good news was that he had made it and he thanked me for waiting for him.
Norris Canyon Climb and back to San Ramon Marriot
He led as we continued on Crow Canyon and rode to our last climb of the day over Norris Canyon. As we rode my stomach was definitely complaining now about the Shot Blocks that I just ate. Great I thought to myself, I just need to hang on for a little less than 10 miles. I mentioned to Mark that my stomach was bothering me and that I would take it pretty slow climbing Norris Canyon. Fortunately we experienced no issues on Crow Canyon and finally turned right onto Norris Canyon Road. I let Mark continue to lead and he slowly gapped me as we started to climb. I tried to drink small sips to possibly flush out the slightly nauseous feeling I had in the pit of my stomach. The good news was my stomach wasn't getting worse. At this point I was only thinking one more climb then real warmth, bed, then sleep. My stomach was still a little tight but I had found my climbing rhythm again and slowly caught up to Mark. We climbed two abreast as we crested the last summit together. I commented to Mark "Just think no more climbing today", Mark said that was a good thing. I led the descent going down as the feeling in my stomach faded into the background. I descended fairly fast but not too fast given we had now traveled over 200 miles. It felt good as we pedaled through the residential neighborhoods knowing that the ending was not too far off. We stopped at the San Ramon Valley Boulevard intersection as we hit a red light. It must have been close to midnight at this point. Fortunately a car came and triggered the light for us. I had an exceptional hard time unclipping my right foot from my toe clip. Once the light turned green I had even a harder time getting clipped back again. For whatever reason, I snapped and yelled out some expletives as I tried to click my right foot back in. After I finished having my small meltdown I led Mark as we crossed over 680 and turned right onto Bishop Drive and rode strongly as we approached the Marriott entrance. On the road it said DMD finished!!!
We finished the DMD!!!
We rode into the parking lot and turned left onto the main road. There was a sign outside the building above a set of stairs that showed this way for the DMD. There was no where to park my bike so we had to carry our bikes down a short flight of stairs. I thought, wouldn't it be cool if someone from the QuackCyclists helped to carry your bike down the stairs for you (like valet parking). Mark and I then leaned our bike up against the building and went in to register that we had completed the ride with Scott Halversen. Denise and Sandy were already there waiting for us as we came in. Sandy got me a glass of sparkling cider for my stomach. Mark sat down with Sandy to have some of the pasta. I passed because although my stomach was no longer hurting it didn't feel like having anything put into it, though the sparkling cider tasted good going down my throat.
 |
| 19 hours later !!! |
We came in just past midnight. Having started at 5am in the morning our overall time was around 19 hours. With all of our rest stops I estimated that our actual riding time was between 17 and 17 1/2 hours. Denise and I went straight over to the table to buy my official DMD jersey. I ended up buying a DMD jersey, DMD cycling shorts, DMD shirt, and QuackCyclists socks. I went over to the table where Mark and Sandy were sitting and they introduced me to a gentleman who had done the DMD at least 6 times. He had started with the 6am riders and finished around 7:30pm. I believe I said "Wow - that is fast". He was waiting for one of his friends who was still out on the course. After we came in, Scott said that there was still 38 riders out on the course. Mark and I had anticipated that we were going to be the last two riders with the sag cars helping to push us to the finish. We had thought it would take us around 21 hours to complete the DMD. We were extremely happy to have finished safely. We were fortunate not to have any flats though Mark did experience some technical issues with his bike.
 |
| Tired but Exhilarated that we were done!!! |
My Final Thoughts
After completing a ride such as this it seems so surreal like you dreamed it. By writing this blog I hoped to write down my thoughts while they were still fresh to crystallize what I felt and experienced on this long and exciting day. Training for a ride like this is about making small corrections based on data input that you collect. I have provided the corrections that I made while I spent the 10 months training for this ride. One of the real benefits of signing up for a ride like this is that it acts as a forcing function and requires you to stay in shape for the entire year. The hard part is seeing if you can truly do that especially during the winter months when it is cold and dark.
In summary, the DMD is a very difficult ride but the Devil can be whipped if you are willing to work hard , adequately prepare for it, make adjustments, and have a bit of luck. For this year, I am proud to say that I was able survive the Devil (I am no sure that I can say I whipped it). Will I ride this again next year? Too early to say but who knows??
 |
| What a day !!!! |
Main Food list that I ate or drank on DMD
- PBJ sandwiches on bagels or bread
- v8 (small cans) - unfortunately none were available at the Morgan Territory rest stop
- Ham and Turkey sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes for lunch
- Endurolytes tablets
- Hot chocolate
- Cup of Noodle soup
- Salted pretzels
- Grape Juice
- Oranges
- Hammer Heed (strawberry or Lemon Lime)
- Hammer Perpetuem
Cycling Equipment
- Look 566 Carbon Fibre bicycle - we are all partial to own bike and I am to mine. As with anything you will need to try the bikes out. The really good stores will help to fit the bike to you even before you take it for a test drive. Wheelworks in Davis was really good at doing this.
- SIDI 6.6 vent carbon mega shoes (I normally wear an 8 1/2 EE width shoe, these shoes are costly around $350 but are extremely comfortable - I would highly recommend them)
- Fizik Aliante saddle
- Giro Helmet
- Garmin 500 computer
- Capo jersey and bib (I can only use this for cooler days, I tried wearing this on a hot day in Santa Monica going up Decker canyon and I didn't like the shoulder straps when I am feeling hot - for the DMD's weather this year it was perfect)
- Tifosi Cycling Glasses (photochromic) - can be used for both day and night riding (I used these for the DMD - great glasses)
- Rearview mirror that attaches to end of drop handlebar
- Cygolite Expilion 800 USB Bicycle Headlight (great light was able to run on the single battery for the DMD)
- Cygolite Hotshot 2-Watt USB Rechargeable Taillight with USB Cable (the brighter the better - this one rocks)
- CygoLite Spare Battery for Expilion 600 and 700
- Continental Gatorskin Bicycle Tire (700x23, Wire Beaded, Black) - 2 of them
Additional Accessories I used for the DMD
Additional Accessories I used to train for the DMD
Cycling Camps
- Cycling Escapes Santa Monica climbing camp March 10-14 (310 miles 31,000 ft climbing). Mark and I did this together. It was not so much a camp since there was no instruction provided but there were scheduled rides each day with sag and rest stop support. Mark and I had a great time. On one of the days we rode 94 miles with 11,000 feet of climbing. Great training preparation for the DMD. Here is our blog from this adventure.
Bike Shops
- Pegasus bike shop in Danville - the owners both Brian and Chris are extremely helpful. Brian helped me select my shoes, seat, shorten my stem, going to a 32-11 rear cassette, performed tuneup, etc..
- Wheelworks in Davis CA - Shop where I first demoed the Look 566 and fell in love with the bike. When I was ready to purchase the bike they no longer carried the brand.
- CyclePros in Pleasanton - Unfortunately they closed up their shop and now run an online cycling store in San Leandro. They had a clearance on their bikes and luckily found my bike there the weekend that they were closing. I like to think that I got a screaming deal on my bike.
Things that I modified on bicycle based on my training rides
The following list may seem overwhelming but remember this was done incrementally over a 10 month period. These are also in the order in which I did them.
- Changed from 25-11 rear cassette to 32-11 - after almost dying going up Diablo early on in my training rides with Mark, I decided I needed some help. Brian at Pegasus suggested that I go to a larger rear cassette. For me this was a very good decision.
- Seat - after a 92 mile training ride with Mark my glutes were hurting so I decided to get a new saddle (based on input from Brian at Pegasus I bought a Fizik saddle - I have loved it ever since)
- Shoes - On the same training ride my toes were feeling pinched and were on fire. I did some research, talked with Brian at Pegasus and decided on the Sidi 6.6 carbon vent mega shoes. One of the best decisions I made. I went with mega because I have wide feet. I love these shoes.
- Shorter stem - after doing the Foxy Fall Classic with Mark in the fall a photographer took a picture of me and I noticed that I seemed to be reaching out a bit to my handlebars. I wanted to square up my shoulders more so I replaced my stem with a slightly shorter one. This was also based on conversations that I had with Brian at Pegasus.
Things I did a week before the DMD
- I got a bicycle tune up at Pegasus.
- Removed all unnecessary weight from my bike (e.g. rear bottle holder)
- Changed both of my tires with Gatorskin tires.
- My last ride was on Sunday (6 days before DMD). I did an easy Diablo North gate climb to the upper junction and descended the South gate.
- My last power walk / jog was on Monday (5 days before DMD).
- I made sure I was drinking at least 32 ounces of water a day
- Starting on Monday I was stretching on my Pilates reformer for about 45 minutes a day.
- On the morning of the DMD I stretched for 45 minutes
Things I did after the DMD
- Right after the ride - An extremely warm bath. Now that felt good and I was ready to fall asleep.
- Sunday April 27
- I went on a small walk in the morning (I was able to get up at 7:30am)
- I stretched on the reformer for about 45 minutes
- I had a 90 minute massage at BodyLines and Spa in Danville. Ask for Adrian she knows her stuff.
- Be aware that after your massage you will feel very tired. The massage will bring out all the toxins.
- Monday April 28 - I did another walk
- Tuesday April 29 - I did a 14 mile recovery ride - it felt great
- Wednesday April 30 - I started my 3 mile power walks / jogs in the morning
- Saturday May 3 (week after DMD) with a small group from the Forward Motion I scaled Mount Diablo summit's twice and did the wall 3 times (7400 feet of climbing)
The key thing is to try to get back into your normal routine as soon as you can when your body is able to. I am now looking forward to ride in the Davis Double Century on Saturday May 17. Mark won't be able to ride with me so I am doing this solo. I hope to ride three doubles this year and get my triple crown jersey.
