Audax Atlanta

2005 GRR - Jeff Bauer





The Gold Rush Randonn‚e is a 1200K (750 mile) out and back ride that starts in Davis California, just outside of Sacramento. The ride hosted by the Davis Bike Club every four years and has a superlative reputation for rider support.

I spent most of the ride with Alan Gosart, who had completed GRR in 2001. Jeff Sammons, Alan and I shared a room together in Davis. We spent time before ride socializing with the Georgia randonneurs: David Bundrick, the Kaiser brothers, etc.

Unlike most 1200K rides, GRR has only one start time, Tuesday at 6:00 pm. After our morning bike inspection, we retired to our rooms and attempted to sleep. We would be riding all through the first night and into the next day.

Davis Control
Depart: Tue 18:04


We were off to a late start in Davis, as the organizer got a little carried away with all the announcements. The big joke from 2001 was that Bill Glass had announced that he would ride conservatively -- then hopped on some tandem wheels and wasn't seen for again the next 140 miles. I had intended to ride conservatively, but soon started bridging up to faster groups with Alan and Kevin. This section of the course is flat and we were making good time by riding in a large group. About 20 miles into the ride we hit a rough section of road along the levee. The bumps were rough riding, but we didn't slow down much.

At the midpoint toward Oroville (101 miles), we hit the non-mandatory water stop. Several of the faster riders went on, but most of us stopped to fill our bottles and put on our night gear. At one point we were engulfed in a horde of flying insects. By turning down the brim of my cap, I could keep them out of my eyes, though other people weren't so fortunate. Our pace slowed down somewhat as we kept our mouths closed and breathed through the nostrils. Nobody wanted to be out in front on this section.

Oroville Control - mile 101
Arrive: Tue 23:27
Depart: Tue 23:44


Alan, Kevin and I arrived at the Oroville Control in less than 5:30, including our mid-section water break. Probably too fast a start for a 750 mile ride, but it was fun. We got our cards signed, stocked up on food/water, and left within 15 minutes. Not more than 1-2 miles later I had a front flat. I couldn't find any debris in the tube and we were back on the road in less than 10 minutes.

We soon started our first major climb, the Jarbo Gap. Kevin and Alan were still going strong, so I dropped back to a slower pace, figuring that I'd catch up with them in Tobin. The night was warm with a full moon that lit up the rode. After a 6 mile climb, we had a short descent, three tunnels and a couple of one-lane bridge contructions to negotiate.

Tobin Control - Mile 143
Arrive: Wed 3:14
Depart: Wed 3:21


At the Tobin control I rejoined Alan and Kevin. The control is pretty remote, and I grabbed some quick food, gels, and water. The three of us headed out together towards Taylorsville.

The next 40 miles would be a gradual ascent to 3500 feet. We would remain above this elevation for the next 450 miles. Along this section we had to stop a record two informational controls to verify we didn't short circuit the route. The first was a sign on Main Street in Greenville that said: "Welcome Gold Rush Randonneurs!". The second was the name of the Fire Station. Alan was having some problems eating, as I recall, but managed to consume some fig newtons. I ate a powerbar, but was looking forward to a real meal in Taylorsville.

Taylorsville Control - Mile 204
Arrive: Wed 8:45
Depart: Wed 8:50


By the time we arrived in Taylorsville the sun was already up and it was pretty warm. The ride into Susanville would be hot. We stopped and ate some breakfast. I borrowed a floor pump to top off my prior flat. Despite the recorded time listed above, I'm certain we spent more than 5 minutes at the control.

The next section -- more climbing -- took us up 24 miles to the water stop in Antelope Lake. There wasn't much food, but they had some watermelon and ice. The next 8 miles represented a moderately tough climb up to 6340', the highest point on GRR. We then had a bit of rollers, followed by a long descent. The steepest portion of the descent is known as the Janesville section (average 12%, up to 20%). We would be climbing it on the way back. Rather than being cooled by the descent, however, it got extremely warm. Toward the bottom the air hit us like a blast furnance.

Susanville Control - Mile 263
Arrive: Wed 13:53
Depart: Wed 17:26


Kevin had arrived at the Susanville control about 15 minutes before Alan and me. Kevin headed out, but with the temperature near 100F, we decided to wait out the worst of the heat. We would have two long, exposed climbs until the next water stop. This turned out to be a smart decision, as we passed a number of exhausted/dehyrated riders along the way. While we waited in Susanville, I took a shower and lay on a cot. Didn't get much sleep. The facility, a National Guard Armory, wasn't air-conditioned, but it was better than riding out in the sun. As we headed out, the temperatures were still in the 90's.

Alan and I climbed the first mountain up to Antelope Pass side by side at a conversation pace. We passed a few riders then had a brief descent when it finally started to cool down. The second climb was shorter and the sun wasn't as bad. We arrived at the Eagle Lake (Grasshopper) water station near dusk and were greeted by RUSA President Bill Bryant and Lois Springsteen. We talked to them about the 2001 ride -- when Bill Glass got hit by a truck, taken to the ER, then completed the remainder of his 1200K ride.

We noticed Kevin and David's bikes were still there. Both had left Susanville when the temperatures were at their worst, so our decision to wait out the heat looked like a good judgement call in retrospect. David was willing to ride into Adin with us, but Kevin still couldn't keep any food down at this point.

The trip into Adin proceeded at a relaxed pace. Some rollers, a couple of short climbs, then an almost imperceptible long descent. Traffic was light in the evening, so we could ride side by side and converse -- always a pleasant way to pass the hours.

Adin Control - Mile 331
Arrive: Wed 23:23
Depart: Thu 0:16


We arrived at the Adin control before midnight. The kitchen was preparing fresh burritos. David decided to stop and sleep. Alan and I were ready to push on to Alturas, as we were still feeling strong and alert.

Just after leaving the Adin Community Center, however, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. We looked at each other and briefly wondered if we were making a mistake by continuing on to Alturas. But after the harsh heat of the prior day, my preference was to continue riding through the evening.

Just as we crested the summit of the 12 mile climb (Adin Pass at 5173'), we met the lead group of 5 inbound riders who were already 100 miles ahead of us.

On the way into Alturas I wanted to take a quick nature break, but every time we stopped literally hundreds of mosquitoes would swarm. As long as we kept moving the critters wouldn't attack, but the moment we paused they would be all over us. I didn't bring any repellent, though I doubt if it would have helped. Alan said we didn't have to worry about West Nile virus, which was comforting. After the ride, I counted over three dozen bites.

Alturas Control - Mile 374
Arrive: Thu 4:14
Depart: Thu 7:44


We arrived at the Alturas just after 4am, while it was still dark. The control was set up in a Best Western Motel parking lot. The food was good and plentiful. I had some noodle soup and rice balls dipped in cinnamon sugar. The control had a couple of rooms available for riders, so Alan and I took a pleasant 3 hour nap on real beds in an air conditioned room.

Upon waking, I ate more breakfast (rice balls, fruit) and topped off my water. The next 20 miles to the Davis Creek turnaround is basically flat to rolling. Rested, Alan started picking up the pace and I knew we were in for a fast ride. The sun was out and bright, but the temperature was still cool enough not to inhibit a fast pace.

Along the way we passed a number of riders. As we approached Kari Silpio (Finland) he asked us if he could ride with us to Davis Creek. Kari was stronger than Alan or me, so with the three of us rotating out we burned up that 21 mile section in about an hour. Along the way we passed Sean Smith who tried to hang on to our paceline. Later in the ride he would trash us on the climbs.

Davis Creek - Mile 395
Arrive: Thu 8:55
Depart: Thu 9:03


Almost all the towns that hosted a GRR control ranged in size from small to tiny. Davis Creek was microscopic, population around 380, as I recall. The control was hosted by Larry and Dee Burdick, two incredibly gracious volunteers. I later learned that they bought a number of consumables (including ice cream upon request) out of their own funds. Kari and I split a fresh turkey sandwich.

It's always nice to reach the midpoint of a long ride. Mentally you know that each pedal stroke is bringing you closer back to Davis. On GRR, you have the further knowledge that the trip back is slightly shorter than the trip out.

In the meanwhile, Sean came in and left. On the way out, we stopped to have our photos taken below the "Davis Creek" sign. Lacking any headwind, our trip back to Alturas was just as fast as our inbound ride. Rotating out in a paceline not only made the trip faster with less effort, but it made the time pass more pleasantly. Figure that we each pulled in front for about a mile, then seven pulls later we're in Alturas. Again we passed Sean who tried unsuccessfully to hold on, but as mentioned earlier, he would have his revenge back in the mountains.

Alturas Control - Mile 417
Arrive: Thu 10:13
Depart: Thu 10:35


While we were riding back and forth from Davis Creek, the control volunteers had moved the tables and canopy across the parking lot, presumably to stay in the morning shade. We stopped again for more food and topped off our water. Jeff Sammons and Kevin Kaiser were there too, having decided to ride together.

The Alturas stop was staffed by the Rex family of Rex Cycles. Someone asked Peggy's young son how many bikes he owned. Answer: Five.

After 20 minutes, Alan and I left together. We were now starting to again feel the effects of the heat and direct sunlight, so our pace was much slower. On the way we encountered the remaining riders who hadn't yet dropped out. I think Anne Pockocky (Ontario) was bringing up the rear at this point. Her husband had DNF'd, but she was still riding well.

After about 20 miles of travelling at a conversation pace, we were joined by Kari again. I had neglected to invite him to ride out of Alturas with us, not certain if we would want to ride at each other's pace. We had earlier decided to stop in Canby for cold water, but just as we reached the intersection, a SAG vehicle appeared with fresh ice, water, and Gatorade.

The next 9 miles was a climb back up to Adin Pass. We were fortunate to have some cloud cover here for the first in the ride. For the remainder of the day, we would have intermittent clouds to provide some respite from the previous day, though the temps stayed up in the 90's.

Alan pushed up to the top of the climb, passing a few other riders ahead of us. Kari and I were content to spin up at a more relaxed pace.

Adin Control - Mile
Arrive: Thu 14:00
Depart: Thu 15:10


We stopped in Adin for another meal of fresh burritos. Chris Kaiser was there, but had to quit due to the heat. On the way out of Adin more clouds had rolled in and the wind had picked up.

We had a long, slow climb out of Adin. Without the cloud cover, we would have suffered in the heat. Alan mentioned that in 2001 after Bill's collision, they could only climb up that section about 2-3 mph since Bill was essentially climbing it one-armed. As it was, we were in a double-digit pace most of the way up. Kari told me about a trip he made a few years ago through Tibet and the Himalayas on a mountain bike. Talk about remote cycling!

About 15 miles later we stopped at the Willow Creek Campground. It had restrooms which Kari needed to use, but no potable water. A woman in a pickup truck was stranded. We were out of cell phone range, so she couldn't call AAA. I offered to flag a SAG vehicle down if we saw one out on the course.

We met up with Sean at the campground and the four of us left together. After another 10 miles or so, Kari was having GI problems. He wanted to stop and take some medicine, so we agreed to wait for him at the Grasshopper water station. At this point we encountered heavy crosswinds along a large lake. Alan and Sean did some herculean pulling into the wind. Although I could hang on, I couldn't match their efforts. After a few short climbs, we rolled back into the water station at mile 481, where Bill and Lois were once again waiting for us.

I drank a coke and ate some pretzels. Kari showed up about 15 minutes later, looking no worse for wear. Sean had already left for Susanville and it appeared we would soon be heading into a thunderstorm. We had two climbs and two descents between us and Susanville.

Knowing that we would stop for the night in Susanville, Alan attacked the hills. Kari and I spun up at a slower pace. After the first descent we regrouped and put on our night gear. We arrived at the summit of the second climb, Antelope Pass, just around dusk. This made descent down into Susanville actually more difficult than if it had been pitch dark, since the distances were harder to judge. My hands got tired of holding the brake levers on the long descent.

Susanville Control - Mile
Arrive: Thu 21:30
Depart: Fri 5:26


On the way to Susanville, we made a decision to check into a local motel. This would permit us to tackle the Janesville Grade with fresh legs, but before the temperatures got too hot.

Some kind of carnival/fair was going on across the street -- complete with a ferris wheel, roller coaster, and other assorted rides. Parent and children were wandering around with sodas and cotton candy.

We sat down for a spaghetti meal and borrowed a cell phone to make reservations at the Best Western. We left our bikes in the Armory and walked a few blocks to the motel, which was actually somewhat therapeutic for our legs. The room was spacious, air-conditioned, and we could each take long comfortable showers. Split three ways between Kari, Alan and myself, the room was a minor expense for such a major luxury.

Since I hadn't planned on taking a shower on Wednesday's outbound leg from Susanville, I didn't have any clean shorts available. I washed my shorts in the tub with motel shampoo, then rolled them in a dry towel. Surprisingly, they were quite dry by the following morning.

We left the motel about 4:30 the next morning, feeling greatly refreshed. We stopped back at the Armory for breakfast and to check out. The food situation in Susanville had gone from excellent to good to adequate. Not really bad -- except in comparison to the other controls where the food was superlative. Sean had spent the night at the Armory and left about the same time we did.

After a 14 mile warmup, we began the hardest ascent of the ride, the return leg up to Janesville Grade. The difficult section averages about 12%, but it has a brief monster 20% grade. I had problems getting into my granny ring and had to stop and manually push it in to gear. There is no shame to walk up this portion. Bill, Alan and Lee all walked it in 2001. But with my low gearing, I found I was able to climb it without hurting too much. Kari and Alan also had no problems. Tackling it fresh in the morning certainly helped.

The next section took us generally down a series of rollers, then a faster curvy descent to Antelope Lake, where we arrived at a water stop. The only food available was watermelon and the water had a funky mineral taste. This was perhaps my least favorite stop -- not actually an official control.

Taylorsville Control - Mile 586
Arrive: Fri 10:40
Depart: Fri 11:27


We were really looking forward to the food at the Taylorsville control and weren't disappointed. Pancakes, eggs, ham, potatoes -- even ice cream. We heard of two riders that crashed on the way into Taylorsville, both Canadians. One had a catastrophic wheel failure, another broke his carbon fiber fork. We later met the rider with the wheel failure at the end of the ride. After being treated at the hospital, he insisted on being taken back to where he had crashed and complete the ride. Yeah! I'll have to remember that next time I'm thinking of complaining about something as mundane as a saddle sore.

The temperatures upon heading out of Taylorsville were up to the extremes with the sun back out and beating down on our backs. The scenery was beautiful -- on the way out we had travelled through this section in the evening. We stopped a bit to take photos.

The route to Tobin is basically downhill with itermittent short climbs. The wind was strong however, so we worked in rotation just to maintain a 14-15 mph average. Kari took long pulls and appeared to be less effected than either Alan or myself. Traffic was pretty heavy.

Tobin Control - Mile 623
Arrive: Fri 13:49
Depart: Fri 14:25


At the Tobin control we stopped, ate sandwiches and drank sodas. The temperatures were still pretty high, but we had only 41 miles left Oroville. One of the riders had lost his brevet card early in the ride and was using a paper plate for official stamps and signatures.

After Tobin we descended a little further, then began our last climb. Shielded from the wind, our climb up Jarbo Gap was actually easier than the descent into Tobin. At the top of Jarbo Gap we stopped briefly at a biker bar for ice and lemonade. Alan and I raced down Jarbo Gap, probably working harder than was necessary. Alan warned us to avoid the expansion joints on the bridge by riding to the right of the fog line. Another 15 miles of hot riding brought us into Oroville.

Oroville Control - Mile 664
Arrive: Fri 17:35
Depart: Fri 18:30


Arriving into Oroville was like arriving in Paradise. The control was a sports complex with showers and air conditioning. They also had some great food prepared (lasagna, salad) and even a masseuse! Unfortunately we didn't have time for the latter, but I did take the opportunity to take a quick shower.

Just as I was getting out of the shower, Alan came to get me. There was a well known wheel sucker who was trolling for a group to ride with. Mr. Troll was notorious for sitting in a group, but refusing to do any work, forcing others to pull and navigate the course. He had also caused Jeff Sammons to crash at the St. Louis 600K. We wanted to avoid riding with him, so we sneaked out of the control with Kari.

The remainder of the ride would be cool and flat. On the way out of Oroville we encountered another rider whom I'll call Ms. Whine. No sooner had she joined our group and she was complaining about the ride, about bonking, etc. etc. After about 35 miles she mentioned that she hadn't left Oroville with any food, did we know where the secret control would be? Nope -- it's a secret <0.2 wink>. Since Ms. Whine didn't have any food with her -- who leaves a control with 87 miles to the finish without food!? -- so I gave her my last energy bar -- I had plenty of gels to spare.

We encountered the secret control about 38 miles from the finish, along the levee. They had some great peach cobbler, watermelon, and other snacks. I drank my last Coke and topped off my water. Ms. Whine hung around with us for a few miles, but once the road smoothed out, we didn't make any attempt to keep her with us. We rode a fast pace for the next 20 miles, then slowed down somewhat. For the first time in the ride Kari and I were getting seriously chilled, which was strange because we were now close to sea level. We stopped to put on our jackets. The air air was moist.

As we were getting close to Davis -- within 6 miles -- I jokingly asked Alan if it would be okay for me to have a flat tire. You can guess what happened. Within 50 feet we had to stop so I could change my front tube.

We arrived Saturday 1:08 am at the finish line, for a total ride time of 79 hours, 4 minutes. Plentiful post-ride food was waiting for us there and we were still awake enough to enjoy it. A volunteer offered to take our drop bags back to the hotel for us, which saved us the hassle of carrying them on our bikes.

Despite the heat, I would say overall this was my most pleasant 1200K. I probably had more sleep and time off bike than my previous three, and I had fewer problems with my saddle, legs, and knees. Also, because of the downtube friction shifters, my hands didn't suffer from the repetitive stress of the STI shifters.

What worked for me on 2005 GRR:

1. Camelbak. Yes, you don't like having the weight on your back, but all the GRR control have ice which works well (3-4 hours) in a Camelbak.

2. Butt lube. I use the small disposable packs of Chamois Butt'r and reapply it almost every control. No saddle sores and minimal chafing on this ride despite the heat.

3. Three drop bags. Clean shorts make me a happy rider. ;-)

4. Lots of breaks/sleep. No RAAM qualifier for me when the temperature is in the 90's.

Alan and Kari were great to ride with. Riding buddies make the trip shorter and more enjoyable. Special thanks to my brother David who provided me a free round-trip voucher on Southwest Airlines.