Death Valley Road Stage Race - Spring 2011

This is the third edition of the DVRSR that I've ridden in the past two seasons, and it remains just as difficult as it ever was.  There isn't a flat mile in the race anywhere.  I arrived on Friday afternoon with Lorraine and met Bruce Steele, Kim Bleth, Gary Shuey and his girlfriend, and Leo Longo for dinner at Rossi's, the local Big Pine restaurant.  Later Steve Barnes, the race promoter came by, and before we were done, another Las Vegas friend of mine, Ray Cook, showed up.  While we were eating and discussing past and tomorrow's race(s), wind and rain came in.  Not a good sign!

The morning dawned fairly clear and only a mild wind was evident, but the race wasn't to go off until 10:15.  The hour by hour showed increasing wind through the morning, culminating in a high wind warning for the rest of the day and Sunday, as well.  It came true.  I think a total of 71 riders, give or take, lined up for the start.  We decided on a mass start of all categories at once, and off we went.  Within the first four miles of climb one up Death Valley Road the field began splitting up, with one group off the front, I was in the second group with Kim Bleth, Bob Wilcox, both 55+ riders.  Gary Shuey was already up the road.  Behind us was every one else, and that gap grew to the point where I couldn't even see the next group of riders behind us.  Kim kept drilling the pace, so there were continual surges.  I've been struggling with a cold/allergy problem for nearly two weeks and have been congested and hacking up crud.  I could handle a steady pace, even a hard one, but the surging was killing me.  At mile 8.8 I had one surge too many and slowly came off.  I knew I was screwed because the wind was coming up and there was a nearly sixteen mile high speed descent coming up.  Being in a group there makes a huge difference in both time and expenditure of energy, and I was now out on my own.  I looked back and I saw a lone rider coming up.  Before long I was over taken, and it was Ray Cook from Las Vegas.  He was drilling it and I was able sit on for another couple of miles.  We were close to overtaking a small group of juniors, and as we got closer, Ray grew impatient and jumped to try to catch them in one fell swoop.  In doing so, I was off again!  I was beginning to cramp up in my left hip area by this time, which further complicated my day.  So, over the top at 7,700' of elevation.  I grabbed a bottle of water and a gel at the feeding station, and down, down, down into a burning ring of fire... sorry.  Down into the Eureka Valley I went, flying at 49 mph at times (others I spoke with hit speeds well over 50 mph) to bottom out at 3200' at the end of the pavement.  A quick turn around, pick up some water, and back up I went.  The climb back out is way worse than the first climb, being not only steeper, but longer overall.  And this is where the wind really started playing a role.  It came in gusts, stronger and stronger and mainly in the form of a head wind up 4500' of elevation gain over a nearly 16 mile long climb that is anything but gradual.  The hardest part of it stays well above 8% with sections in the 10-15% range for several miles.  Then it levels out somewhat to a more tolerable 4-5% before kicking up near 8% the last couple of miles before the finish. Add increasingly gusty and hard winds (in the low 20+ mile an hour range with gusts to over 40 miles an hour) made for a brutal ride.  I caught Kim Bleth on the first steep part of the climb.  After all his drilling on the first climb, he'd toasted himself and was having a bad patch where I caught and passed him.  Next were Steve Bernede and Bob Wilcox, also 55+ riders.  When I caught the two of them, Bob started working with me, but Steve came off.  I could tell Bob was toasted by this time as well.  My cramping had subsided and I was feeling much better by this time, so I ended up doing the work over the next steep section, and all through the milder 4-5% section.  Just before we tilted up for the last few miles, Bob came off and I was on my own again.  I finished first in the 60+ and 2nd amongst the 55+ crew, but my time of 3:19 was a full 11 minutes slower that I had done in October, and one minute slower than I had done in June of last year.  It was a tough day on the bike.
I was followed in by Glenn Baldwin, Leo Longo, and Mike Crystal, all approximately 35 minutes down.  Bruce Steele flatted and came in on a nearly flat tire!

Over night the wind howled constantly, waking me from time to time just to remind me how bad it was going to be going up the Onion Valley Road.  The forecast called for winds in the mid 20s from the west (yes, a straight on head wind up the 2nd hardest climb in the continental U.S.) with gusts over 40, and a strong possibility of showers.  It unfortunately was true.  The temperature down in the valley was in the low 50s, but the wind was in good form and hitting 25 mph on average and gusting strongly.  Up high it was snowing.  We left Independence, California with the idea that the race may be shortened depending on the snow conditions up high.  I was not feeling good and was still tired from the day before.  Before we'd gone three miles a group was off the front, and I was in the second group, and everyone else was behind.  Kim Bleth, Bob Wilcox, Gary Shuey, Glenn Baldwin, Ray Cook, Steve Bernede, and several other younger categories were in the group I was in.  I could see that Kim was doing what he did yesterday, and the group was continually surging.  As soon as a surge subsided into a steady pace, Kim would notch it up again.  Grr!  I held on as long as I could, but I couldn't get enough air into my lungs (this gunk I have has got to go!) and I gradually came off.  This was the worst, because the pain I was suffering in the group was now multiplied several times and I had to beat my way through the wind on my own.  The next two to three miles were among the worst I've ever experienced.  I gripped my bars so tightly to pull myself up and through the wind the handlebar tape began to unwind!  To make matters even worse, I could see that Glenn Baldwin managed to stay with that group through the worst of it.  By the time we got on the switch backs I started recovering and kept Glenn and the group in sight; they were only a few minutes ahead of me up the road.  Then people started coming off the back of that group, and I could see that Glenn had come off finally as well.  I was able to gain on the stragglers now, but already I knew that the race had been shortened by three miles because of a snow storm higher on the mountain.  Already there were flurries and the higher I went the more snow was in the air.  About 1 KM from the new finish I caught and passed Steve Bernede, but no one else.  Glenn took a minute and a half out of me for the second stage.  Bob Wilcox made a remarkable recovery and took first in the 55+,  Gary Shuey took 2nd, and Kim Bleth took third.  Glenn came in about three and a half minutes behind them; I was next about five and a half minutes down.  Behind me was Steve Bernede and shortly after came Pete Dufour.  Mike Crystal took third in the 60+, and Leo Longo took fourth.

Believe me, I felt my age in this one.

Here are the full results for the 55+ field, and the 60+ field:


57 shuey gary Swamis 58 4 44197 Masters 55+ 3:06:01 1:08:26 4:14:27 1
54 Willcox Robert UCC 69952 Masters 55+ 3:21:25 1:08:09 4:29:34 2
56 Bernede Steve 126351 Masters 55+ 3:27:57 1:14:41 4:42:38 4
58 Bleth Kim Swami's 56 1 49191 Masters 55+ 3:28:28 1:08:42 4:37:10 3
59 Bell Ron Paramount Racing 55 5 269462 Masters 55+ 4:04:26 1:25:53 5:30:19 6
55 Dufour Peter 250331 Masters 55+ 4:11:44 1:15:49 5:27:33 5

63 Morehouse James FFKR Architects/Sportsbaseonline.com 62 4 283640 Masters 60+ 3:19:35 1:14:12 4:33:47 1
60 Baldwin Glenn NEXUS-GYMONE 62 2 45047 Masters 60+ 3:55:12 1:12:40 5:07:52 2
62 Longo Leo Southbay Wheelman 60 3 189814 Masters 60+ 3:55:39 1:35:07 5:30:46 3
61 crystal mike MetalMtn 62 3 8283 Masters 60+ 3:55:40 1:19:58 5:15:38 4
64 Steele Bruce South Bay Wheelmen 64 4 236498 Masters 60+ 4:18:42 dns

Here's a link to the full results for all categories:  DVRSR