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Ride Report
6/28/08 – Climb to Kaiser (
So this was it, the BIG one. The
ride I’d been preparing for all year - 155 miles with 14,000 feet of climbing. It had epic written all over it. I’d read about it and knew I was in for a whooper.
About a month before the ride I
Googled my way to Jeff Bean’s blog. He too was training for Kaiser and was looking for someone to accompany him on the ride. I sent him an email giving a little
background to see if he was interested in tagging up. He suggested a training ride up
Jeff arrived late afternoon the
following day and after we had checked in at the high school we headed out for dinner .
The morning of the ride arrived
and I suited up quickly and headed to the high school. By chance I parked just across from Jeff and we rolled to the start
together. We were basically at the rear and by the time we got moving the hammerheads were long gone. I later heard an entire
local team had dedicated itself to pacing their lead rider over the entire course. He finished in something like 8 hours,
wow!
Jeff and I, of course, had no such
luxury so we continued with the rear group at a somewhat leisurely pace of around 20 mph, a crawl by Kaiser’s standards.
We zigzagged out of town and then headed onto country roads towards the rising orange disc of a vividly crisp sun. As we entered the foothills we passed a group of kids in dust masks holding up a crude handmade sign. As
we approached it read something like: “Bike: $4,000, Wheels: $1,000, Shoes: $300, Helmet: $100, Dust Mask: Priceless.
It was hilarious.
We moved along with a snaking group
of at least 50 riders through the initial flat stretches on the outskirts of
The grade kicked-up significantly
as mile 20 approached. Some riders were already having trouble. As I passed one, his chain snapped. Another was trying to talk on a cell phone. When the hill crested I hit the 1st rest stop.
As usual there was lots of chaos. I filled up my bottles and grabbed a few snacks. I lingered for no more than five minutes
and then headed down the road
The descent along this section
was brief and fun but, as others had warned, you had to be careful. There was oncoming traffic, albeit intermittent. The trees were becoming thicker as I moved closer to the base of the mountains. Unfortunately
any views were completely obscured by the smoke. As things leveled out I almost missed the left turn onto
As we approached Rest Stop #2 a
SAG motorcycle pulled up beside us and asked if we’d like a bottle of water. He then pulled ahead onto the shoulder
and I grabbed a bottle ala Pro Tour from his out stretched hand. After taking
a big chug I was temporarily inspired to pour the remaining over my head and then toss the empty bottle to the road side,
then thought better of it. Instead I gave it to Jeff like any good domestique. As a result we had no need to stop at Sierra
Elementary and continued on to tackle the first big climb of the day,
Tollhouse consisted of a series
of five switchbacks up the side of a granite mountain at about a 7% grade that ran for 7 miles. Nothing too onerous, but it
definitely burnt the legs a bit. As we started the climb I once again let Jeff slip off the back to take the grade at his
own pace. Near the summit the road went vertical for a few fractions of a mile followed by a brief patch of fairly level tarmac
that deposited me in the parking lot in front of the firehouse. I dismounted and handed over my water bottles for a fill.
Jeff pulled in shortly thereafter and we exchanged grins. The fun was definitely starting.
Next came a brief one mile dash
to Highway 168. It went vertical again and all of a sudden I started to get that ominous twinge in my right knee. Crap! It
was way too early for this! Suddenly it became very difficult and painful to
stand on the pedals. If this persisted I was doomed. With my riding style there was no way I could do the remaining 110 miles
seated. As we made the right turn onto the narrow shoulder of Highway 168 I fumbled with my stash of Advil and downed three
while trying to stay on Jeff’s wheel. The Ibuprofen went to work and within 20 minutes the pain subsided.
I’d heard that this stretch,
albeit scenic, can be plagued with excessive traffic. Today, however, we were spared the onslaught and had a relatively uneventful
trip to the
The ride along
At this point in the ride I had
become intermingled with a sparse group of fairly aggressive riders. As the Big Creek descent commenced I found myself following
a rider down into the canyon. This was the portion of the course that had claimed the life of a rider back in 2003 when he
apparently swung wide on a corner and hit an oncoming pick-up truck. With this
historical fact rattling around in my head we suddenly found ourselves confronted with a large big rig winding its way down
the road. It was a tight fit so passing was impossible and, for that matter, stupid. As we were beginning to enter into a
left downhill sweeper at speed, the truck slowed and started making a left turn. The rider I was following apparently was
unaware I was behind him and started cutting me off, forcing my trajectory into the oncoming lane and consequently the rear
bed of the truck. I called out several times and he eased up, maneuvered back
to the right shoulder and allowed me to skirt between him and the rear of the truck.
It was a close call. As I passed he called out apologetically from behind, though I felt I was probably at fault for
tailing him and taking more aggressive lines on the turns.
As I reached the lower slopes I
could see the Big Creek climb bathed in the full afternoon sun off to my left. It was a huge, semi barren scab of rock with
a gouge of a road scratch into its west face. I wound down to the bottom of the canyon and was greeted by the growing roar
of the water gushing from the power plant’s exhaust pipes. A couple of quick turns and I pulled into the Bear Cove Rest
stop. Not surprisingly, Jeff brought up the rear within a minute.
Here everyone was in high spirits
with numerous jokes about setting up a paceline to tackle the climb. A C2K staffer commented on the abundance of high end
bikes that populated the bike rack. I pointed out the exception, mine, which I have to keep an eye on so that no one mistakes
it for trash and throws it in a dumpster.
We dallied a bit here, delaying
our departure, lingering before setting off to take on the most challenging climb of the day. After a quick leak break we
were off. I will say right off that I was led to believe I was about to be confronted with sustained grades of 16%. My Garmin
never registered them; and I am not complaining. I had trained on a 1/3 mile of 16% back home and was trepidacious about having
to hold that grade for over a mile. What I saw were 14% grades, with 15% spurts. But they did go on and on.
For me it was just a matter of
keeping up a constant, steady pace and not stopping. I passed numerous riders on my way up. Everyone was in their own place,
but no one dismounted. In retrospect it was the highlight of the entire ride, a climb that screamed at you with every pedal
stroke. I had bought and installed a compact specifically as an insurance policy. That with my 27 rear cog helped keep my
legs turning. As I reached the final grades I started to encounter riders sitting by the side of the road cramping. The carnage
had started.
Towards the top the road leveled off and then a few minor ups and downs deposited me at Bear Cove. As I rolled in and parked my bike the staff commented on the fact that I was smiling. And why not? I felt pretty good and was one climb away from the top. I strolled down to the tables and was fixed up with a nice turkey sandwich. I also piled on some pasta and fruit and then wandered over to find a place to sit in the shade. I was conscientious not to eat too much. That may have been a mistake, but I did not want a repeat of the Ride Around the Bear where I felt I had consumed too much in too short a period thereby degrading my climbing efficiency.
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| Kaiser Peak |
With freshly filled
bottles I rolled out back onto
On queue the highway
ended and the logging road covering the last mile appeared. It was no more than a ¾ width single track of heavily pock marked
asphalt. I grunted past several riders on this final stretch as the road weaved amongst the trees and boulders. With so little
distance to cover I didn’t really suffer knowing I was no more than a handful of minutes from finishing. Along the way
I passed another rider struggling with cramps. He quickly faded behind me. After a few dips I rounded a right hand turn followed
by a short climb and before I knew it I had summited.
Winded, but ecstatic
I handed my bike over to a staffer, grabbed a coke and cookies and plopped down with three other riders. Within a few minutes the cramping rider arrived screaming in pain. His legs had gone totally thermonuclear
and he was unable to move, much less dismount. Four staffers hoisted him off the bike and deposited him in an empty chair.
He sat there moaning. Ouch. We had another 77 miles to go and did not envy his condition.
I hung around for
about ten minutes and then decided to head back. The descent down Kaiser was a huge relief, though for the first mile I was
on the brakes almost full time. The number of riders coming up was growing and
the pot holes made picking a clean line impossible. The lower half was pure downhill pleasure. The beautiful road bed made
for an excellent six miles of tuck. At the bottom I hung the left onto Highway 168 to work my way through the four ups and
downs of Tamarack ridge. This is where I started feeling not so good. The realization of having 70 miles ahead hung heavy
on my mind. That’s a long way after so much climbing. Each hill was a slog.
Along the way I teamed
up with a rider in a
I pulled in, parked
my bike and wandered over to the food tables. It was starting to get hot and I knew it was going to get much hotter. I had
some fruit and basically tried to relax by walking around a bit. I was feeling weak and my energy level was getting low. I
still had 50 miles to go, albeit mostly downhill or flat.
I got back on the
road and knocked off the remaining portion of Highway 168 in quick order. The traffic was light so I pretty much had the road
to myself. I then made the sweeping turn onto
As I rolled in, one
rider was pulling out while another was slouched in a chair under the tent sipping a soda. I wandered over with handfuls of
watermelon. God it was hot and I was tired. I grabbed a Coke hoping the caffeine
and sugar would give me a boost. I think they had iced towels here, but I can’t recall for certain. As other riders pulled in and congregated, catatonic under the shade I reluctantly remounted my bike for
the last 40 mile push back to
What came next was
the rapid descent into the valley via a series of five hairpin turns. As promised the temperature rose accordingly. It was
then a few rollers through more rural areas whose specifics escape me. Considering
the fact that I covered 22 miles, it’s puzzling how little I remember about this portion of the course. I was fading.
The Millerton Store
stop finally came into view. There had to have been about 10 riders there. Here they definitely had the iced towels. I pulled
off my helmet and doused my head and neck. It felt great. I topped off my bottles
and shoveled more food down. I thought I’d try and hang onto a group for the last 18 miles so I mounted up quickly as
5 riders were heading out.
Unfortunately I was
in bad shape and began falling off the back almost immediately. Then, by some miracle, two of the riders, who apparently had
done only the Century that day, held back and let me grab onto their rear wheels. One of them tried to start up a conversation,
but I was too exhausted to even talk. I did tell them I was dragging and greatly appreciated the draft though.
They took me all the
way into town, often looking over their shoulders to make sure I was still there. I continually poured water over my head,
but it didn’t help. I was drained and had nothing left. Every pedal stroke
was a monumental effort. We zigzagged our way through the outskirts of Clovis and then took the long run along
Finally the high school
came into sight. I cut across Fowler onto the side walk, made the left just before the parking lot and rolled up to the gym.
The two riders who had pulled me all the way from Millerton headed their separate
ways before I really had a chance to thank them. I parked my bike and staggered up to the check in table, gave them my name
and then wandered over to a bench to sit for a spell. I’d made it, but
just barely.
I felt very weak and fatigued. It was already a quarter past 5 in the evening. It had taken me 11 hours and 38 minutes to complete the course. At that time it sounded abysmal, but I was too tired to care. No way was I going to stay for the barbeque either. I rode back over to my car, put the bike in the rear hatch, changed my shoes and headed over to the hotel.
I showered, drove
out to grab a burger which I took back to my room to eat. For the rest of the evening I just vegged. I called Jeff
to send my apologies about bailing on the BBQ. He had finished just 1/2 hour after me and was in much better shape. After
that I fell into a fitful asleep sometime around eight.
In retrospect, regardng
my fading in the latter part of the ride, I think I simply did not eat and drink enough throughout the day. At
the time I was at my lowest weight of the season, around 160 pounds, and my body fat was almost nil. Without constant intake
I must have literally been eating muscle to keep going. My Garmin registered a monumental 10,228 calories consumed!
I have never been this close to literally falling off the bike. The two riders who pulled me were representative of what makes this ride so great, super folks and epic challenges. Will I do it again, you bet? Yes it is a tremendously strenuous ride and it hurt big time. Of the 298 registered riders, only 193 finished. That says something. But I know I can improve my time (20th place according to the website) and would like to undertake it under more favorable climatic conditions (no smoke).
Total Distance: 155 miles
Total Time: 11:38
On Bike Time: 10:40
Average speed: 14.5 mph
Maximum
speed: 45.2 mph
Total altitude gained: 15,259 feet
Maximum grade: 20%
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