One Cyclist’s Death Ride 2022 Experience

       We had a pretty good death ride. We started late as we got started at 6:15 am. The official start is 5:30 am but it seems that most people cheat this. 

       One woman working at the Topaz rest stop told me that the first rider showed up there at 3:57am with two more in the next few minutes. We observed people coming down Monitor just as we were starting, meaning they were about 4 hours ahead of us. The woman told me that the early riders told her they started at 2am. Wow, more crazy than I knew. I recall that Lesley told me that when she and other pedalers did the ride some years ago they started at 3:30am. I usually started at 5am. 

      On the first pass I had many more people passing me than I passed. However, by the time I got to the top part of passes 2 and 3 (Ebbetts) I was passing 10 people for every one that passed me. You could see that many of these people were really struggling and guess that the training was not sufficient. Some were walking due to cramps. Some were wobbling and apparently so tired they couldn't hold a line well. The level of struggle did vary. One woman rider climbing up the back of Monitor felt that her friends had undersold the difficulty of the ride rather badly. She seemed to be perhaps 40 and certainly not overweight, so clearly she had not anticipated how hard it would be. I don't know, the name "Death Ride" always seemed like a strong hint to me. 

       On the top of both backside of Monitor and Ebbetts I stopped a couple times to make sure I drank, usually 30 second stops and I was drinking Electrolyte drinks. Near the top of Monitor backside I was starting to feel hints of cramps in my quads. At the next rest stop I actually commandeered the rest stop's Morton Salt container and poured about a tablespoon onto my palm and slowly downed it with water. I also drank a lot then and at lunch. It seems to have worked, I didnt have any cramps on Ebbetts. 

        At the end of the ride it was quite clear that Miriam did have plenty left as we passed lots of riders on the last 2.5 mile hill up to Turtle Rock for the check in and dinner. As she admits we could have done the whole ride. However, it was wise of Miriam to resist overcommitting as this was probably the longest ride in terms of saddle time she has done. We were tired but not wasted. Perhaps she was more glycogen depleted than I was, it sounds like it. 

        Of my now 5 death rides, this was the hottest. It was pretty miserable in Markleeville at the end but not that bad at the tops of the passes. Attached is a photo taken of us at the after dinner. 

       Anyway this is a thorough recap. 

       BTW,  Eve would have blown away the woman's record for the Death ride but she had a mechanical issue with her cranks that delayed her. That is as we know awesome.  (From Graham Flower’s email to Terry Quint, July 20, 2022)