2020 Silver State 508 Ultra Marathon Bike Race (Covid, Smoke, Natures fury, edition!)
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| Left to right. Bill, Ira, Me and Zach |
PROLOGUE
With last year being such a tough year for me, my family, and friends, I thought this year was going to be a great year of doing ultra-events and races.
Then we all know what happened in the early part of the year. Covid-19 hit. Most of the ultra-events were canceled. Many were creatively changed to virtual events using guidelines to help keep everyone safe. Small groups only.
I was blessed to have our tight-knit little group of friends which allowed us to get some of the events done.
Then my ultra-race season started with the Western States Ultra Cup which encompasses the Race Across Oregon, Hoodoo 500, and this race, The Silver State 508.
All three races were able to be run since they were in remote locations. This was awesome.
As per my last couple of write-ups, I was able to participate in RAO and Hoodoo 500. At RAO I crewed for my good friend Tony who did the 1,000K race on his fixed gear bike!! So proud of his accomplishment.
At Hoodoo, I raced self-supported in the Nomad Division.
I did a story on each of these events in past blogs which you can read if you haven't yet.
I was so excited about doing my fourth 508. I am 68 and my goal is to reach the Hall of Fame in this event by the time I reach 70. I asked my friend Ira if he wanted to do a 2-man 60+ division race with me and he immediately chimed in with a yes. This was awesome.
We planned on doing the race in memory of our good friend John Clare. John was the one who put the original Team White Owl together back in 2015. It was my first 508.
After this, just when we thought things couldn't get any worse in the west, all the fires started.
It seemed like the entire state of California and the whole west coast was on fire. The smoke was unbearable in many, many places which made training and racing almost impossible.
With this race only a few weeks away, it was getting a little iffy whether the race would be run at all.
Things were really bad even the day before the race but improved considerably on race day due to a low-pressure system moving in off the Pacific.
This brings me to the next point. Nature has a way of balancing things out and it did that balancing on us during the race as you will see as you read on in my little story.
At this event, you are not given a race number. It is a tradition at this race to give totem names. The totems are usually some sort of animal name. My totem at my first two races was "White Owl". My first race was on a four-person team put together by my friend John Clare. My next race in 2016 I rode solo division as the White Owl.
The 508, this year was continuing the inaugural tradition of "The Clare Coin", to commemorate John's life.
John's contributions to the sport of ultra-cycling are unparalleled. The things he did for me, others, and the sport, are amazing. He also brought so many new people into the sport.
With the Clare coin, racers are asked to give the coin to someone they see during the race who epitomizes what John was all about. This is a really cool thing they did!!
I did a write-up about John last year. You can read it here.
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| John climbing Gieger Grade in 2015 |
Last year. I did a 4-person mixed team with the totem, Chuckasorous.
On our team, we had a new racer named Grace Ragland. Grace was new to ultra road racing. She was a veteran mountain bike racer and did ultra mountain bike events including The Tour Divide, which is a 2,500 mile, self-supported, mountain bike race from Canada to New Mexico, all through the Rocky Mountains. You can read all about it in her book "Divide by One", a great read.
We lost Gracie to cancer not long after last year's race. A very sad moment for all of us.
I highly suggest reading her book. It is a great adventure about a really cool person. I feel so blessed to have known her, all be it, for such a short time.
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| Grace climbing Carroll Grade |
PRE-RACE
We arrived in Reno in time to do racer check-in and have the bikes and van safety inspected. Due to the COVID protocols, we had an appointment for each so there were not a lot of people gathering in one place at a time.
We got it all done pretty quickly.
We had a rookie crew supporting Ira and me.
Bill and Zach are good friends of Ira's from Colorado. They picked up everything really well and did a great job. Crewing is a tough job. I have always said it is tougher than racing as far as the mental part of it and sleep deprivation. They just nailed it with no issues.
Stage one: Reno to Silver Springs
48.8 miles
Elevation gain: 2,996’
Maximum elevation: 6,710’
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| The teams starting the race at 7 am. |
The solo racers started racing at 5am on Friday morning with teams leaving 2 hours later at 7.
The smoke issue was much better when we started racing with just a slight hint of a smell in the air.
Ira and I did the 60+ open division, meaning that we could switch riders at any time on the course. In the standard team division, you are only allowed to switch at the time stations which forces you to ride the full length of each stage. Open division is a great way to do it and is the way that most ultra-races do the team division.
Like last year, I took the first pull to start the race. We had a neutral section of about 9 miles where a follow car took us to the start of the climb to Geiger Grade.
This meant I got to do the climb up Geiger Grade to Virginia City. This is an epic climb of about 8 miles and approx. 2,800 feet of elevation gain. The gradient is about 5-8% but I saw a couple of kicker spots of around 10%.
We had a lot of great conversations going on in the first 9 miles. I knew a lot of people doing the race. Most of them younger than me so I knew that this may be the last time I would have a chance to talk since they would fly up the hill much faster than the old fart.
As soon as we reached the end of the neutral start, the fast teams really took off up the hill.
I do like I normally do. Just watch my heart rate and pace myself. As usual, the nerves had my HR higher than I liked it so I just dialed it back and kept in the 140s. This same type climb on one of my normal training rides, carrying much more weight, I would be at a much lower HR. It's amazing what nerves and anxiety do to you as you get older.
I did pretty well getting to Virginia City, a very famous old western town, and really cool to ride through!
I then made the left turn for the descent down a 6-mile canyon. The highlighted video really shows the steepness of the descent which we would climb toward the end of the race!!
This was an amazing descent and very steep in sections.
When I was about 10 minutes from the bottom, I got a text pop up on my bike computer from my crew saying they were 10 minutes out. I was thinking....."I will be there in less than 10 minutes". When I reached the bottom where I was to transition to Ira, They had just gotten there. Apparently, they had taken a roundabout way to get there. No worries, we switched, and Ira was on his way to Fallon.
Remember when I said in the prologue that nature has a way of balancing things out? Well, this is where it started.
The wind started coming up out of the south from that low-pressure system and the smoke was blowing into the valley in the Silver Springs and Fallon areas. You could now smell it and it was pretty ugly out. Ira wore his mask in this section which helped.
We waited for a little while in the support van and let Ira get up the road toward time station one a bit.
He was doing great as we passed him on the way to Silver Springs. We stopped at the time station and waited for him to pass so we could check him in there. The Hwy between 6-mile Canyon and Silver Springs is amazing. Smooth as butter with a nice wide shoulder. I wish all the roads on the course could be like this.
Stage two: Silver Springs to Fallon
31.35 miles.
Total miles: 80.12
Elevation gain: 266 feet
Maximum elevation: 4,462’
Ira did great getting Fallon during that smokey section. He made a good time. We leapfrogged him and then at one point we got up ahead for a stop at the store for a few things.
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| Ira cruising toward Fallon |
Fallon Nevada is the home of the US Navy's Top Gun School. It was moved there years ago from Miramar Air Station in San Diego, CA where the movie Top Gun was filmed.
We met Ira for my transition at the second Time Station which was just on the outskirts of town. The smoke was much improved when we got there and the sky was overcast with lots of cloud formations moving in.
Stage three: Fallon to Austin.
106.4 miles
Total miles: 186.7
Elevation gain: 5,049’
Maximum altitude: 7,245’
I jumped on the bike and got ready for Ira's arrival. As soon as he arrived, he put the GPS tracker in my back pocket and I was off.
From this point, I was starting to get a pretty strong tailwind. It was the gusty type that occurs when a storm is moving in. Natures balance was on its way which all racers would find out very soon.
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| Rolling through a rain shower just after leaving Fallon. I really pushed this section as I usually do since I always want to get to the Hwy 722 turn in a hurry. This section of Hwy 50 is a little narrow with traffic but is not bad on a Friday morning. |
Not long after I took over, I would say within 5 miles, it started to rain intermittently. The air became really good and it was rather pleasant. It was not very cold at around 75 degrees. The lowest it got on my pull was about 68. The rain at this point was enough to get you wet, but the desert air dried you out relatively quickly so you did not get chilled too bad. I did not need a vest or rain jacket. I would have if it had been more steady of rain.
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| Cresting Sand Springs Pass. Feeling great! |
With the tailwind, Sand Springs Pass and Drum Summit seemed much easier than in the past. It was fun.
I stayed on the bike past Middlegate and "The Shoe Tree", to the turn-on Hwy 722.
Middlegate and The Shoe Tree are both really cool places with lots of history like so many places on this course in the wild west.
Here is a link to the Race Magazine, which has a lot of great info about the course.
I transitioned to Ira at the turn. He was now going to do the entire climb to Carroll Summit which he wanted. There is a lot of cool history about this area including Carroll Station which is still there on the East side of the grade.
Carroll Grade is a long slog, especially when doing the standard team stage or solo. It is traditionally really hot.
This year there were scattered showers and it was cool and breezy.
Ira did a great job on the climb. It was so nice to have it cool for a change. It was actually a little cold in the wind when we got closer to the 7,000 foot + summit.
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| Waiting for Ira just before the final kick to the summit with Zach and Bill |
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| Can you see Ira? |
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| Here he comes |
I took over from Ira at the summit. As a precaution, I put on my knee warmers and jacket. It was pretty cool at the top and I did not want to catch a chill going down.
It was an awesome 40+ mile per hour descent. Nice road, no cattle this time, and no deer. I just flew down and into the valley below. It was a long while until the crew caught up with me. They were really surprised how far I got ahead of them. It was now becoming a crosswind as I headed toward Austin.
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| Rolling toward the Reese River Valley |
The road becomes very rough here which just makes the race tougher. From the sweeping left turn at the farmhouse in the first valley, to just before Railroad Summit, there are numerous ruts that beat you up. Its just power for the course though. I have not done an ultra race yet that didn't have a rough section somewhere.
Over Railroad Pass, I went and down into the Reese River Valley area.
The road was now much nicer but I believe the low-pressure system was starting to move further east because the wind conditions started to change. I was starting to get a crossing headwind at this point signifying a westerly direction which was different from the southwesterly we have had most of the day thus far. I was also getting some blustery wind and rain squalls hit me on and off. You could see that there were some storm clouds building and dissipating all around.
This section became really tough. It was a long trudge the final miles to Austin as you start climbing toward town. I had a full-on headwind to the turn, on Hwy 50 just below Austin.
It became a crosswind as I climbed the newly paved road into town where there was massive road construction going on. (It's going to be really nice when it's done in town.)
I handed off to Ira and he started up to Austin Summit as we gassed up the support van. It was a little after 6pm and we still had a little light. If it wasn't so cloudy there would have been a lot of light still as we climbed out of town.
70.15 miles
Total miles: 256.4
Elevation gain: 2,799’
Max altitude: 7,470’
On this next stage, things got a little dicey with the weather.
On my last pull from the Carroll summit to Austin, the weather started to become a little more blustery as far as the wind and rain. It was looking a little ominous out.
As we rode into darkness, a light show started to become visible on the horizon. It was really beautiful to watch but all along we were hoping that it was not coming our way. We hoped that it was moving away from us.
We passed Ira while he was climbing out of Austin and there was a very light rain. We had nothing very heavy while driving up to Austin Summit.
While we were waiting for him at the top while leapfrogging, the rain was not bad.
When he reached us, he said he was in a deluge shower while on the climb. He wanted to keep going to see if it let up so he could dry off. It was still not too cold out.
It did let up for a while as he descended Austin and Bob Scott Summit.
I took over from him shortly after that and took the pull past Hickson Summit, all the while getting on and off showers. There was quite a lightning show going on to the east, south, and north but not behind us, which was a good sign. I got drenched a few times and Ira did as well during this stretch.
As we got closer to Eureka, the rain got pretty heavy at times and it looked like there was an all-out major thunderstorm going on toward Eureka.
Ira riding into the storm. For some reason, you cant see the lightning in the distance.
Ira took it into the town of Eureka with the rain letting up, but a very very wet road.
As usual, we saw the faster teams going westbound as we were on our way to the east. We were talking constantly about how they must have been nailed by that big storm.
On the climb into town, we had an interesting thing happen. While we were doing direct follow of our rider, Ira, another rider was coming up the rear. We had passed him in one of the rainstorms as we kept rolling and he was hunkering down taking shelter.
We noticed a crew van on our tail but could not find a rider.
This person must have been a rookie along with a rookie crew because he had a death wish.
We finally saw the rider. He was riding on our right and just staying on our right quarter panel, almost invisible in our blind spot. (This is a no-no, and if an official saw this it would be a penalty. It is very dangerous.)
We had a rookie crew and even they knew that this was very dangerous. The rider is always supposed to pass on the left and get far enough ahead before his crew vehicle passes our van.
The next part was pretty funny as our crew was doing a play by play of what happened like they were commentators of the Tour de France.
The questionable rider passed Ira and went a little up ahead. His crew vehicle did not pass us.
Ira then poured it on and said something to the rider about the way he passed the vehicle. Ira then just poured it on and left him way behind as we passed him. He was about a half-mile behind when we reached town just a little ways ahead.
We had a few giggles about the final turnout but this is something that is very dangerous to do. Our crew driver didn't even see him when he started to pull to the right to let the van behind him pass. He had no idea a rider was on his right. It could have ended very badly.
We rolled into the time station, I used the facilities and we headed westbound. We were halfway done and the rain was stopping. Hallelujah!!
Stage 5: Eureka to Austin
70.10 miles
Total miles: 326.4
Elevation gain: 2,753’
Max altitude: 7,556’
As soon as I got on the bike, I was getting very wet.
There was a lot of water on the road. I should have brought one of those small little clip-on fenders, but who thought we would have all-out rain on this event.
I rolled out of town with a self-supported rider named Reed. Reed is in his 70's. Very impressive.
I am almost there. I hope I can ride as strong as him when I'm that age.
On the drop out of town, we both had a couple deer jump out in front of us. That woke us up!
We now had a really nice tailwind, the rain stopped and the road started to dry out. This was one of my favorite sections. The stars came out too, and the air was crisp and clear. The temperature hovered right at 51 degrees on my entire pull of about 2 hours which took me almost to Hickson Summit.
This is the first year I can remember that the temperature wasn't already in the 30's at this point in the race.
I did this section averaging over 17mph and I was just taking it easy trying to dry off and warm up. Even though it was warmer than usual, I was actually colder due to being wet. It was very hard to dry off.
After a long pull, I handed off to Ira and he took it all the way to Austin. We still had some periodic lightning to the north, our right side but far in the distance. The storm was moving out!
I got in the van, ate a piece of pizza, had an Ensure, and drank a ton of water. I then got sleepy.
I had no idea I fell asleep, but the next time I looked up, Ira was climbing that beast, Bob Scott grade.
I had slept at least an hour.
Ira's pull ended up being 3.5 hours because he was determined to get over those grades and to take it to Austin. It was slow going on that stretch and Ira must have mentioned 5 times that he thought they put another hill in there.
Ira is a 508 Hall of Famer having done the event 5 times. This was his 6th and my 4th.
He got it done and we rolled into Austin before it started getting light.
Stage 6: Austin to Fallon
112.5 miles
Total miles: 438.87
Elevation gain: 2,730’
Max altitude: 7,446’
As you can see in the above elevation profile picture, there is a little descent out of town.
Well, just at the bottom of that first little descent is the turn on to Hwy 722.
The road takes you on the Destoya Mountains scenic drive through part of the Reese River Valley, over the old Railroad Pass, then up Carroll Grade before descending back to Hwy 50. It is a scenic bypass of Hwy 50. A beautiful place both in darkness and daylight. It is especially beautiful when we go through the area at sunrise.
This year did not disappoint.
Now back to the turn on to the 722.
The turn is very easy to miss as it is at the bottom of the descent and if you are not paying attention or if your crew does not spot the turn, you will miss it and be on your way to Fallon via Hwy 50 instead.
I have never missed it but many others have, especially when it's dark.
This year, I got another surprise which no one expected. Pea soup fog!!
I guess it was due to the pouring rain overnight in the area.
The stars were out when I left Austin and it was absolutely beautiful out. The temperature was about 48 degrees which is pretty warm for this point in the race.
As I reached the bottom of the hill I hit a wall of fog. I had my helmet light on so it was reflecting back into my face and I was completely blind. I could not even see 5 feet in front of my face.
I was able to see the sign to my right for the turn, so I stopped, took the light off my helmet, and clipped it on to the handlebar.
My "Exposure Lights Diablo" light is a very bright light. I have the same attachment on my helmet as on the handlebar so I can switch locations for just this reason. ( A light mounted on your head is pretty bad in the fog!!)
At this point, I totally knew where the road was. It was just up ahead to the left.
Believe it or not, it was so dense of a fog that I could not find the road.
So this is what I did.
I listened closely to make sure there were no other vehicles coming in the darkness with this fog. I walked my bike across the street. (There is a very large shoulder on this part of the Hwy.) All new pavement and shoulder. I walked against traffic on the outside edge of the shoulder until I reached Hwy 722.
I kid you not......even when I was standing right next to it.....I could not see the road. I thought I was going to have to get on my hands and knees to find it but I finally did.
At first, when I saw this weird fog, I thought of the sci-fi movie, "The Fog". Was some sort of walking dead creature going to come out and get me? Then it went through my mind that this was some sort of smoke-infused fog from the fires. There was a strange smell and I was afraid it was smoke I was smelling. I found out later that it was the strong smell of sage I was smelling. My crew person told me that it was sage and all the moisture was bringing out the fragrance. It was actually quite a nice smell in that dampness once I knew what it was.
After I lost a little altitude, the thickness of the fog was not as bad. I could see but I could not see with my clear glasses on. I had to take them off due to all the moisture. They kept fogging up on the outside.
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| Visibility getting a little better but it was still really damp. |
As I got a little lower in the Reese River Valley, another interesting thing happened. I was very used to this area being the coldest part of the ride. Last year we got a reading of 21 degrees here and the year before that, racers had their water bottles freezing solid on the bike it was so cold.
This time the temp dropped from the 48 degrees in Austin to a low of 35 degrees. Due to the dampness though, it felt just as bad as last year with the 21 degrees. To top that off, I could not wear my glasses so my eyes were starting to freeze and I was seeing blurred. I already have a problem blinking one eye and this was not good.
I stopped and called up my following vehicle to get a paper towel to clean my glasses. I then put them back on and just used my finger when I needed to as a sort of, windshield wiper to clear off the moisture. It was just starting to get light out so I was able to see, even though not too well.
As I started to get closer to the Railroad Pass, the fog started to clear showing an amazing sunrise to the left and rear of me. I wish we could have captured that in a picture because it was amazing with all the moisture in the air.
My eyes and glasses cleared up as I pushed over the summit. Now came the rutted road section we all hate so much. I went another few miles and then handed off to Ira.
I felt pretty beat up in what would turn out to be only an 18-mile pull, I think my shortest one.
Ira then took a shorter pull as the sun came up and it warmed up a bit. It seems like a never-ending slog getting to the east side start of Carroll Grade. It is a long gradual climb just to get there. Going in the opposite direction is much easier.
We waited till Ira reached us then we leapfrogged up and waited for him about 1/3 way up the climb. We sat there for a little while and talked to my friends Daniel and Dzung. They were part of a 4-man team doing the race. I introduced them to Bill and Zach.
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| Here comes Ira. It doesn't look like a climb but the approach to the start of the real climb is at least 2% for a long time. It is one of the desert alluvial fan type climbs. |
When Ira reached us, I took over for the top 2/3 of the climb. Now I was feeling really good. It took me a little while to get my legs back. Once I had them back I just spun it easy to the summit. It was not as difficult as I remember. I have only done this much of the climb once. That was when I did the race solo in 2016 and it was later in the heat. Not fun!!
This time I felt great.
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| Still a little chilly but warming up. Perfect temperature for the climb. |
I made it over the summit and then enjoyed the amazing descent down the west side of Carroll Grade. No wind, just a fast descent with no cows to dodge this year like last year.
When I got down to the 722 and Hwy 50 junction, I handed off once again to Ira.
Ira now wanted to roll for another long 2-hour pull. He took it over Drum Summit and Sand Springs Pass. As of yet, we did not have the traditional headwind. We were still early enough, we thought. The prevailing south-westerly wind had not come up yet.
I kept hoping that the storm passing was going to give us a northerly wind but it never happened. That would have given us a tailwind. No such luck.
We stopped to take a picture of The Shoe Tree. I had never stopped here before. It was pretty cool.
At the first pull-out after descending off the pass, I took over for Ira.
This would start the least favorite and hardest part of the race for me every year. The long, flat, slog into Fallon.
This year's prevailing wind did not disappoint.
When I first got on the bike, it seemed like I had a crossing tailwind but, noooooo, it was not to be!!
Headwinds it was on the whole slog into town.
You can see Fallon in the distance but you just never seem to get there. It is one of those sections where you just need to get into a zone or you will go crazy. It just plays mind games with you.
The only thing that broke my concentration on this stretch was the occasional buzz over my head by an F18 Super Hornet flying into the approach at the Top Gun School, Fallon Naval Air Station.
Despite all that I was able to maintain a 15-16 mph average speed. It could have been much worse if the wind was really strong. It did hurt though and I was so glad to get to town and the butter smooth pavement. The chip seal was wearing me thin on that long stretch!!
It never felt so good to get to a time station.
I rolled in and saw my friend Brook yelling at me. Brook was doing the self-supported division with no crew. He said it was pretty challenging in that storm overnight without any place to take shelter. What a stud!!
Ira was now on his way to the next time station in Silver Springs. I took a much-needed rest and it never felt so good!
Stage 7: Fallon to Silver Springs
22.5 miles
Total miles: 464.32
Elevation gain: 499’
Max altitude: 4,560’
This section to Silver Springs is pretty short and sometimes if you are lucky, you may have a tailwind.
We marked the turn out of Fallon for Ira then did the leapfrog support until the final little climb before the time station.
This section is not my favorite. The road is kind of narrow with the bad rumble strip again. Ira handled it well.
We waited at the time station and talked to the nice lady who was running things there. She was really on top of the GPS tracker.
All along, we had thought that we were off the back of all the teams and solo riders. We know we passed a few people but we just didn't remember. The weather conditions made it hard to tell who was stopped at the time stations. I bet some really amazing stories are going to come out that ride through the storm!
It was to my surprise when she told us that we had a lot of riders still behind us at that point. There were at least 13 solos and teams still behind us. The weather had affected a lot of the racers I am sure.
Our goal was first, to just have a good time and second, to try and finish in daylight. It looked like we were going to reach both our goals. We didn't really care about racing per se.
I was now going to do the section into Reno from Silver Springs to the bottom of the Reno side of Geiger Grade. Then Ira was going to take the streets into the finish.
Along came Ira and I was off. Wooooooo hooooooo.......HOME STRETCH!!! 44 MILES TO GO!!!
Stage 7: Silver Springs to Reno
44.35 miles
Total miles: 508.67
Elevation gain: 2,844’
Max altitude: 6,779’
But wait.....there is one little obstacle to get over before we can finish in Reno. You can see it on the above profile. 6-Mile Canyon Road.
I started off with a slight tailwind which was very nice at this point in the race. When I did the race Solo in 2016, it was about 100 degrees with a blasting headwind. I thought I was going to turn into a potato chip that year.
It is 17 miles to the next turn at 6-Mile Canyon Road. This part of the Hwy was so buttery smooth that I was just ecstatic. The shoulder was also super wide. It was awesome.
The ride to the turn went by really quickly.
I was really smelling the barn at this point and feeling really good. I pumped down a lot of my liquid food, Tailwind Endurance Fuel, which had been my main fuel source during the race.
I was a little worried about the top of this climb which is really hard at the end of the race. I had only done it one other time. It was the year I did the race solo and I had to walk the upper section due to balance problems while climbing at such slow speed in the dark. It was a crazy experience.
I felt surprisingly good as I hit the first few kickers leading into the canyon. This climb is really no different than some of the climbs in my backyard, The Santa Monica Mountains. Some of my home climbs are actually harder than this one.
The toughness of this climb is related to where it comes in the race, at the end!
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| Getting steep now Another nice aspect of this year is that it was nice and cool. I do much better in cool temps and I don't seem to be able to handle the heat any more at my age. This was a Godsend for this year's climb. |
I remembered from the last time I did it, that, just before you see the town, there is an 18% kicker on a curve. Then you see Virginia City above you, and I do mean above you! It's way up there. Then I had to negotiate a 20% wall that just seemed endless before the final couple little 20% steps to the parking lot where the turn is to Gieger Grade.
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| I think this photo was taken at the start of that 18% turn. |
I was able to just stay in the lowest two gears up that blasted wall. When it leveled a little at the top, I stopped for just about 30 seconds and stretched my back. That seemed to really help because this time, it was my back, that was giving me issues on the climb. My legs felt great and I had plenty of energy.
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| This photo was taken with a zoom from the top by our crew. This is the 20% wall that keeps on giving. It does not look that steep but believe me, it was!!! I was going a meager 3mph in this picture. |
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| Zoomed in on the final lift to the top. This was really steep!! |
I could see the crew and Ira way up above me looking down from the parking lot. I stopped one more time just before the final step to the lot. On that last step, I did tack from side to side a little at one point. Boy, that was steep!!
I made it!!
Virginia City is such a cool, cool place. I wish I had time to visit on one of my trips to the race but I only got to ride through. I sense a road trip coming up with my wife in the near future.
All you would have to do is convert the asphalt road to dirt and the city would look just like it did back in the 1800s, an old western town. Love it!!
I didn't want to cool down so I didn't stop. I just kept going and grunted for the 6 miles more to Geiger Summit. This seemed easy after Six Mile Canyon Road. I
went over the top, and bombed down to Reno where I switched with Ira.
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| Handing off to Ira at the bottom of the grade. |
Ira knew the way to the finish so we drove up ahead and then I was dropped off just before the finish so I could ride in the last few yards into the finish line with Ira. The crew went to the finish to wait for us.
We rolled into the finish near 7pm with a finish time of 35:51. We were happy.
*Thank you to all the volunteers who worked the event including the people who manned the time stations. You were all so appreciated.
Congratulations to all my friends and others who completed this very tough race.
* A huge thanks to my team-mate Ira for doing the race with me, and congratulations on your Hall of Fame induction this year.
* A big thank you to our crew, Bill and Zach! You guys did a great job and were a lot of fun on this adventure.
*Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife and family for being so understanding and supportive of my ultra race and training schedule.
Here is a short video compilation of our race.
All the pictures are available here.
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