Artist Drive was amazing.  The climb was steep but the scenery was awesome.  It was well worth the effort.  I had no idea that this road even existed.  It’s so close to the Furnace Creek Ranch that you can ride out and back and have a great ride in a couple of hours.  The descent had a lot loose rock so I really couldn’t bomb down it but the twisty parts were really fun.  It is definitely a very cool addition to the ride.

I was passing people on Artist Drive as they suffered on the 10-12% ramps.  I started counting 1…2…3… I pulled into the checkpoint to see Elizabeth and Steve Barnes and posed for a few pics.  But then back on the bike and back on with my mission. I  finished the loop and got back on Hwy 127 and 7…8…9…passed more riders.  I was riding well and thought to myself “this is going to be a great day on the bike!”

I rode past Furnace Creek Ranch on the slight downhill and motored to Daylight Pass Rd.  17…18…19…I was reeling them in. Along the way, I saw Dean K on the eliptigo. I thought wow that must be tough.  I’m so lucky to be on the bike 😉  I made the right turn onto Daylight Pass Rd and see a SAG vehicle.  I refueled and saw Marcus.  Oh good, I was making good time since he left in my 6:30 wave and I caught him.  I kept the intensity pretty high on the bottom of the climb and I was passing riders “left and right”.   I was well over 40 riders that I had passed and I stopped counting.  It’s obvious to me that I will accomplish  my goal of passing 50 riders.  Ok what’s my next goal?  Just keep pushing and something will come up.

On my descent towards Rhyolite I realized it was quite chilly at elevation.  I was expecting riders to be heading back by now but I didn’t see anyone.  This was a good sign.  As I approached Rhyolite I started to see the first few riders were now heading back.  I counted 1…2…3…4…ok it looks like I’m currently running between 12-14th.  I make the turn off the main road towards the ghost town and see a tandem exiting.  I’m thinking damn they are   miles ahead of me.  But there is a long climb to get back up and over to Death Valley.  A fast turnaround at the aid station and I can catch the tandem on the climb.  I now have a new mission.  CATCH THE TANDEM FOR THE DESCENT BACK INTO DEATH VALLEY!

I refuel very quickly in Rhyolite and boogie out of the checkpoint.  I want to catch at least 5 riders on this climb.  It’s a milestone goal to help me achieve the greater goal of catching the tandem.  I’m working as hard as I can without blowing up to catch that tandem.  Of course, this is all relative since I’m starting to feel really fatigued.  And then I see it …we are less than a mile from the summit.  I turn myself inside out and I’m almost there.  They reach the summit before me and I’m hoping they will pause just enough to put on jackets or something for the descent.  YES! They are doing just that and they are still there when I crest.  I have about a minute to catch my breath and then down we went.  In less than 12 miles, 9 of which were on a climb, I have made up 3 miles on the tandem.  Go Vireo!!

The descent was fast.  We were moving at 40 plus mph.  At one point we hit a top speed of 46.2 mph.  With 5 miles left of the 16 mile descent we catch Troy who was in my 6:30am wave and who had set a hard pace at the start.  I’m now feeling satisfied with my effort for the day. Troy and I stayed with the tandem until the finish.

My total time was 6:55.  I know from my Power Tap that I spent 44 minutes off the bike with the flat issue.  So my total time is 6:11 (6:07 rolling and 4 minutes at the various checkpoints).  The winning time was 6:31.  Yeah I would have crushed it by 20 minutes!


Overall I loved the event.  This new route showed me parts of Death Valley I was never exposed to before.  Artist Drive was a nice treat.  Also knowing that there is a 16 mile climb just 11 miles from the Furnace Creek Ranch is very good for future training.  I’ve been doing the spring and fall double centuries since 2003 and I often wondered “what else is out here?”.  I like the diversity of this new century route.  Great climbs and being able to see riders continuously throughout the route are great bonuses.

I haven’t done many organized centuries since 2004  because my training consists of solo centuries as I get ready for the 508.  One reason I like doing doubles is so I can work on my nutrition strategy and of course my pacing.  But this year my training time, and racing time are both limited.  I’m really enjoying doing century routes instead of doubles.   One reason would be less gear needed for a century as opposed to a double.  I don’t need lights, and the staff doesn’t have to work the course for 18 hours.  As far as training, riding a fast climbing century has plenty of training value and stresses my system just enough but yet I can recover possibly overnight and do another hard century the next day.

Another reason I’m diggin’ centuries this year is I’m actually hanging out at the finish line and meeting riders and hearing their stories of their journey.  When I finish  doubles I am completely spent, as I should be, and don’t have the energy to be social.  I’m usually off in a corner just trying to recover from the 11 odd hours of punishing my body.  You know riding a bike is supposed to be healthy but when I first finish my doubles I swear nothing about it feels healthy 😉

As always I am open to questions about my ride and welcome comments on my blog.  Thank you for visiting my blog.  I’ll be riding the Mount Laguna Bicycle Classic on April 17th.