Category Archives: Furnace Creek 508

The Down and Dirty of my Furnace Creek 508…

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I wanted to drop a quick post as I compile the data and sort the pictures and videos. Yes there will be videos this year yay! Subscribe to the blog to get updates.

First off I want to thank my crew. Brandy, Jason and Ticia they were AWESOME! When you have a great crew your event goes off a lot smoother. I also had the benefit of cool foggy weather the first 30 miles and then massive tailwinds for many sections of the first 100 miles. The Heat Miser stayed away and I believe it was in the low 90’s for most of the first day. I would pay for the benefit of the tailwinds with just as massive cross and headwinds especially going up Townes Pass.

One of my greatest treats was getting to the base of Townes Pass before sunset. I was about 1.5 miles from the right turn onto HWY 190 which I consider the base of the climb when the 6pm hour hit. At 6pm until 7am we MUST mount lights on the bike and turn on the yellow flashing lights and install our safety triangle. I HAD NEVER SEEN THIS IN THE DAYLIGHT. I was so excited. Basically I did an 11 hour double century with about 12,000 feet of climbing to get to the base of Townes Pass still about 300 miles left though.

All for now but thank you all for following my progress and I will post again later today and throughout the week.

Shhh…sleepytime

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Brandy here again, guest blogging while George is sleeping. We’re here in Santa Clarita, on the eve of Furnace Creek 508.

Upon our arrival this afternoon, we checked in and waited what seemed like an eternity to get the van and bikes inspected. Lots of familiar faces here at the race hotel and it was nice to see so many people back for more suffering and pain this year.

Once we were done with the pre-race formalities, we made our way to our hotel, and then to dinner at Denny’s. Despite George’s bad experience in 2006, he hasn’t sworn Denny’s off and ate not one, but two meals.

After dinner we left George to nap while Jason, Ticia and I went grocery shopping. We were all stuffed and nothing at the grocery store sounded particularly appealing, so we ended up with turkey, pickles and cheese for sandwiches, mini bagels, cream cheese, carrots, crackers, Oreo cookies, Diet Coke and Pepsi. Not much of a spread for the next two days, but it was all that we could agree on at the time. We realized that we had wandered around for too long and that we only had a few minutes to get back to the hotel, pick up George and get to the pre-race meeting on time. We needed to come back and grab a few more things, including ice, but we thought we would just swing by in the morning.

The pre-race meeting hall, once again, was packed. George found a few seats for us and we enjoyed listening to Chris Kostman talk about the history of the race before he introduced both John Marino and Michael Secrest spoke about the early years of ultracycling. We set our watches to race time, wished our friends “good luck” and made our way to the van, where Jason was napping.

I decided that I needed a soda with ice, so we stopped at a gas station, where we also topped off the gas tank. While there Robyn “Athenian Rottweiler” Benincasa decided to draw some legs on the poor legless vireo on our signs on the car. Thanks Robyn! Back at the hotel, George went straight to bed while the three of us organized the back of the van. It’s actually spacious enough with the seats down, for someone to take a nap back there. Now, there’s no guarantee that some random objects won’t fall on your head, but there is enough room!

We decided to hit the grocery store for the second time tonight and grab a few extra things and ice, to avoid to the rush in the morning. I spied the business center in the hotel lobby, so I thought I would run over here and quickly update everyone. This may be our last post until after the race, so be sure to keep up to date via the Furnace Creek 508 Webcast.

Keep George in your thoughts during this epic weekend!

~Brandy

Blogging in my sleep

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I’m sleeping. Sleeping as long as possible, so Brandy is acting as guest blogger. 🙂

It’s early Friday morning and we were up late last night checking off boxes as we packed for Furnace Creek 508. About a month ago I asked George if there was something that we should be doing to get ready and he always answered me with “No, we have the 508 box!” The 508 box had many of the supplies from last year and was put away and not touched, so it would be ready for the 2008 race. He was mostly right, packing went really smoothly and I started to think that for the second year in a row, I’ve made it out to be worse in my head. Perhaps I’m still traumatized from all of the prep that went into RAAM and the enormity of the packing for that race.

So everything is in it’s place, ready to go into the van when George and Jason pick it up in about two hours. Surprisingly, the list of things to buy is pretty short. After I pick Ticia up, we’ll just need to make a quick run to Radio Shack to buy a bigger SD card for the Canon. Unfortunately, our plans to borrow the neighbors video camera fell through when they figured out that it didn’t work. Since Ticia and I both have our Nikon DLSR’s with us, we’ll designate the Canon as a makeshift video camera. The video on it is decent, and it’s better than what we had last year, which was nothing. The rest of the things on our NTB (need to buy) list, mostly groceries, can be taken care of once we get up to Santa Clarita.

We decided to stay at the Best Western down the street from the race hotel this year, so hopefully that won’t be too much of a hassle getting there in the morning. The Hilton Garden Inn, while a nice hotel, sells out of rooms with two beds much too quickly for a race of this size. Last year one of our crew members chose to sleep in the car the night before the race so we were trying to avoid that.

Hopefully George will have a chance to update more before we leave. If not, we’ll likely be out of touch until Monday. You can however, follow along on the Furnace Creek 508 Webcast, which will be up and running at noon today.

Later!

B

Race Prep

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In the process of gathering my gear for Furnace Creek 508, I realize how well my sponsors have taken care of me this year. I’m surrounded by box after box of gear and nutrition. Without my sponsors, I wouldn’t be able to race.

Big thanks go out to the following sponsors in alphabetical order…

Cervelo for the P3 time trial bike and flyweight R3-SL climbing bike.

Finish Line for their lube, cleaners and everything drive train related.

Hawaiian Island Creations for their amazingly effective sunblock and their lip balm.

Kenda Tires for their tires and tubes.

Motortabs for their electrolyte tablets. These fit nicely into the Speedfill and will really help out with the expected temperatures being in the high 90’s this weekend.

Nathan Sports for all of the reflective gear for myself and the crew, hydration packs and lights.

NiteRider for the MiNewt lighting system and lightweight battery packs.

Shower’s Pass for their rain gear, which may come in handy on Saturday!

Skins for their compression garments. I’m wearing the tights right now!

Speedfill for their hydration system that I have installed on the P3. This makes hydrating on the time trial bike a breeze. Typically in this position my hydration takes a hit because it is not convenient to get out of the aero position in order to hydrate and fuel enough. Speedfill takes care of this issue.

Sportquest for their generous sponsorship of nutrition supplies. I plan to use the Carbo Pro 1200, Carbo Pro, Vantage and Recover supplements.

Team Sho-Air-Sonance.

Zipp for their deep dish aero wheels.

Wheelbuilder.com for building the 404 and 808 Power Tap wheels.

Woolistic for their amazing wool jerseys and base layers.

Begin Countdown to the 508…

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72 hours until the start of the Furnace Creek 508. Saturday Oct 4, 2008 at 7am.

This morning on the way to work I was doing some calculations and setting goals for the race. My goal is to break 40 hours on this event.

To break 40 hours on the 509.5 mile course this year I would have to avg 12.7 mph. Sounds reasonable since it is really slooooow to most people that race shorter distances. In actuality it is a good avg speed for multi-day non-stop Ultras. There are so many things that can go wrong. You wouldn’t believe how quickly your avg speed drops when you stop for JUST 30 mins.

Let’s use the example of a century.

100 miles in 6 hour total time = Avg Speed 16.6mph

100 miles in 6.5 hours (30 mins off the bike) = Avg Speed 15.3mph

The trick to a good time at the 508 is to STAY ON THE BIKE. As someone once told me “You are not making forward progress sitting here get back on your bike.” And that’s all there is to it. Keep pedaling and stay on the bike. But as simple as that sounds it is actually quite difficult.

Another way to look at this 40 hour goal is to look at my previous times.

2006 42:59 (nutrition problems)
2007 45:17 Fixed Gear

If my best time was 42:59 then I need to chop off 3 hours.

Let’s break those three hours up into the 8 stages of the race. I figured that out to be 22.5 minutes faster per stage than in 2006. Still sounds doable.

So what are the time killers?

1. Nutrition problems
2. Fatigue
3. Calorie Deficit
4. Sleep Deprivation
5. Hot Foot
6. Mechanicals– Flats, shifting issues
7. Night Riding– You can’t see as well in general and you can’t descend as fast.
8. Crashes
9. Resting– “Oh I just need 5 mins off the bike”
10. Nature Breaks
11. Heat
12. Cold
13. Clothing changes — for weather conditions and changing of shorts (usually 2x)
14. Equipment changes– Lights on/off bike exchanges
15. Follow vehicle – Mechanicals, Refueling
16. Crew- Fatigue, Sleep Deprivation, boredom, inattentiveness, running into racer
17. Going off Course– LOST Hard to do at the 508 but on other Ultras very feasible
18. High winds
19. Sleep breaks
20. Eating breaks

This list is not complete it is only the top 20 things that come to mind.

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My Last Hard Training Ride…

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^^^ Graph of ride. Notice the first climb 35 miles with some rollers.

^^^ Dawson Saddle Summit at 7901 feet of elevation

^^^ How convenient that Motor Tabs tablets fits into my Speefil hydration system.

^^^ Another summit along the way. It is great to have the opportunity to climb from Sea Level to 7000 feet and eventually almost 8,000 feet!

well before Furnace Creek 508 that is.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank a few sponsors that keep me rolling. I fueled with Sportquest CarboPro and Motortabs. I rode a Speedfil and a hydration pack from Nathan Sports.

I did a 107 mile training ride in the San Gabriel Mountains. I left Encanto Park (below 1000 feet) in Duarte and rode up Hwy 39 to the Angeles Crest Hwy junction and then continued East another 5.3 miles to Dawson Saddle elevation 7901 feet. It was a 35 mile climb with over 7,000 feet of gain.

I then headed West on the AC Hwy and got water from Newcombs Ranch. I climbed back to Dawson Saddle a second time via Cloudburst Summit at 7018 elevation.

It was a great day of climbing with VERY little traffic. Mostly because the lion’s share of the climbing is done on closed roads. It was a solo ride. I only saw one cyclist all day near Cloudburst Summit. He was coming East up the AC Hwy.

This was a tough ride but since it was cooler at elevation I felt good most of the day. I dreaded the descent into the blast furnace.

Sure it was a 107 miles with 12,300 but 11,700 feet came within the first 72 miles all of it on a Cervelo P3 which people say “you can’t climb on a tri-bike”.  I say they just need to practice and use proper technique.  I usually do the first 200 miles of the Furnace Creek 508 on a Cervelo P3 and that has 12,000 feet of climbing.

The main drawback I saw with doing this ride on a TT bike was that on the descent there are a few sketchy sections where the road is in varied states of disrepair.  The section from 5,000 feet, up and past the Ghost town of Crystal Lake, to connection of Angeles Crest Hwy has lots of rocks and potholes.  The climbing up to 5,000 feet was fairly clear.  The climbing on Angeles Crest Hwy was fairly clear as well.  You need lots of flat repair options because the roads are closed to vehicles and there is no cell service.

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My Solo 175 miler (282 kms)- Dawson Saddle

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On Sunday I went out to do 175 miles (282 kms) solo. I rode from Huntington Beach to Dawson Saddle (7901 ft) in the San Gabriel Mountains. The ride has 8600 feet (2621 meters) of gain. The largest chunk of it comes in a 33 mile 7,000+ feet of gain (2133 meters) in a remote closed road section. No cars and no people for hours and hours just the way I like it. I love doing long solo rides.

The ride took me North on the Pacific Coast Hwy to Seal Beach then Northeast on the San Gabriel Bike Trail. Hwy 39 up past Crystal Lake (where I went two weeks ago)to the junction of Angeles Crest Hwy then continuing up to Dawson Saddle.

Meet Rebecca, my climbing bike. It is a Cervelo R3-SL. Very light very stiff and unbelievably it has a great smooth ride. It is dressed out in a Dura-Ace kit with Velocity Arrowhead rims on a Powertap Wireless 2.4 SL.

Rebecca before the Fred Pump

After the fred pump

Flat repair- notice Park Tool Patches

18 gel packets stuffed into my shorts

Three bottles in my jersey pockets with powder mix NO WATER yet

Beginning of Hwy 39 climb

9 miles into the climb East Fork Turn Off


11.5 miles into the climb the road is closed

Nearest Mile Marker to the first gate

15 Miles into the climb 3,000 feet

THIS IS A SPECIAL PLACE

Looking down

About 4,000 feet (1219 meters) elevation about 18,8 miles (30.3 kms) into the climb there is a stream. It has been really hot lately so I usually dunk my head in the icy cold water. It is very refreshing. Some folks drink from it.

About 21.2 Miles (34 kms)into the climb the 5000 ft (1524 meters) sign

Crystal Lake Turn Off if you read an earlier post you will recognize this as the destination point in that post. You may also recall it is a veritable ghost town.

About 27.8 miles junction to Angeles Crest Hwy

Destination Dawson Saddle 7901 ft (2408 meters) 33.3 miles (53.1 kms) of climbing.

EPIC Climbing on Labor Day Weekend

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Saturday:

Climb #1

We left the house at 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning to drive up. I had no idea where we were going until the signs on Highway 65 gave away our destination. We arrived in Springville early Saturday morning and started out on our first climb of the day.

Balch Park Road Loop started out at 1000 ft elevation and went up to 6400 ft. We took a little detour off of the main road and ended up with 5700 ft. of gain for this climb.

Climb #2

We went back to Springville and had lunch at the cafe, which has been there since 1897. Service was a little on the slow side, so we were off of the bike longer than we anticipated. While at the cafe, we stared at the thermometer which read 100+ degrees. IN THE SHADE!

Highway 190 out of Springville started at 1000 ft and Brandy made it to 5500 ft, while I made it to 6300 ft. It was over 106 degrees when we left (with 4 bottles each) on our second climb of the day. Though Brandy is getting better about riding in the high temps, she still overheats fairly easily and the Tule River was calling her name. I was back taking pictures when Brandy decided to pull off of the road and take a dip in a beautiful pool of water. I indulged her diversion from the plan and she shed her gear for a little skinny dipping. This put us behind schedule and losing daylight, but it was well worth it. I didn’t mind at all.

Sunday:

From our motel in Porterville, we drove up to Three Rivers.

Mineral King Road was our climb for the day. From a starting elevation of 800 ft in Three Rivers to an ending elevation of 7800 ft at the end of the road, we gained over 7400 ft on this climb. The road was narrow, steep, sometimes unpaved (not hard packed dirt…but SAND!) and is reported to have over 698 curves. Totally awe inspiring. The views were breathtaking.

Mineral King Road is one of the toughest climbs I have done in recent memory. It is 7,400 + feet of gain in one shot (including the warm up climb before the turn off). It has sustained ramps of 10-12% grades. There are sections that avg 10% for over 1.5 miles. It got to the point where I didn’t want a relief in the road because all it meant was that I was going to have to pay for it. Just after a leveling off section BAM! you would get hit with 12-14% grade ramp. This cycle of relief and punishment repeats itself over and over and over again over the 25 miles.

Then closer to the top above 6,000 ft there were sand sections with the 12% grades. Our 23mm tires were sinking in to the sand. Hard packed dirt would have been better. Next time we will ride 25mm tires.

The motorists all said it took them over two hours to drive the 23 miles up all the switchbacks, ramps, single lane travel, potholes, loose gravel and did I mention the very narrow road without guardrails?

Mineral King is a very tough climb indeed.