Follow this link for an elevation profile and other data I collected during the 2003 deathride.

Update August 2002

Did the death ride again. In 2001 my companion did not finish due
to mechanical problems so we had to go back this year. I bought a
new titanium bike but didn't train as much as the previous year. Since
I was pretty wiped out after the ride last year, I decided to take it
a bit easier this year. Since I had finished once, I didn't feel it was
as important to complete the ride the second time. I took an hour longer
but the time actually on the bike was about the same. I just took more rest
stops and didn't skip the lunch stop like in 2001.

If you ever decide to do a ride like this:

1) I would suggest that you practice climbing slowly while seated on
your bike - if you can't talk, you are going too fast. You need to stay
within your aerobic limit to go for a long time.

2) Drink lots. If you don't pee every couple hours, you are not drinking
enough. I drank water, sport drinks and Coke.

3) Eat. I ate more the second year and didn't feel bonked going up
the last pass like the first year. Breakfast was coffee with a half loaf
of french bread and jam. During the ride I ate everything there was.
Bagels (stale) and jam, lots of bananas, oranges, melon, energy bars, cold
boiled potatoes, potato chips, and a full lunch (sandwich, soup, fruit
potatoes, tomatoes, etc). I ate two helpings at the Turtle Rock post-ride
dinner. I figure I downed about 7000 calories during the day and did not
loose weight like the first time.

4) I brought a rain jacket which I wore when the thunder started but
didn't need. A second layer is nice for the early start.

5) I wore a pair of liner socks inside a pair of cotton socks and my
feet felt better.

6) To finish, your average speed (excluding rest stops) should be about
11 mph. If you get over Ebbetts the first time and you are going this fast
and feel ok, you should finish.

7) getting back to Turtle Rock from Carson Pass is longer and harder
than you think. Save some strength for the short climbs in the last couple
miles. I noticed tat many of the "five pass riders" loaded their bikes into
cars on Carson Pass and did not ride the whole course. I fact, there were
so few riders from Carson back to Turtle Rock that I thought I might be
the only one finishing the course. This may have been due to the threat of
thunderstorms

Go to West World images and look for #1561.

Below is what I wrote after the 2001 ride

The following is shamelessly copied from the www.iseran.com Death Ride web site.

"The Markleeville Death ride is infamous among road cyclists
of the Western US states, infamous as one of the hardest day
rides open to all entrants in the area.
There are harder rides ... But the Death Ride has the edge:
it has the name."

There are 5 pictures here.

Just left click on the link and a new window
will open all by itself and show the picture.

Starting at dawn
A typical rest stop along the way.
Climbing the West side of Ebbetts Pass
At the top of the last climb - Carson Pass
End of the ride

The Death Ride the only organized bike ride that I've ever done
and twice as long as any ride I had ever done previously -
maybe I'm not so smart. I had just started riding a road bike
for the first time a few months earlier when I managed
to borrow the one in the pictures from Rob. I started 20 min late
and finished with two hours to spare.I had acclimated to altitude
by summitting Mount Whitney 5 days earlier.

A note on photography: These pictures were taken with a very cheap
Fuji disposable camera (carried because it is small and light).
The film was then scanned at a high resolution using a Canon
dedicated film scanner and adjusted for color,
contrast, brightness, saturation, etc. Then the image size was
reduced to about the maximum size practical for the quality of
focus. This all worked well enough for snapshots. The cheap lens has
fixed focus, fixed exposure and the flash preformed poorly (as expected).

Dan

Follow this link for an elevation profile and other data I collected during the 2003 deathride.

Images Copyright © 2001 by Daniel S. Merrick