224 mile Death ride in a day on the Road bike, Colorado's San Juan Skyway loop by bike

This is a one day road bike ride (aka the Death Ride version) on Colorado's San Juan Skyway loop. Starting in Dolores Colorado; Dolores > Mancos > Durango > Silverton > Ouray > Ridgeway > Telluride > Dolores.  224 miles and around 20,000 feet of elevation gain in over 19 hours
Every other day of the year I race and ride a singlespeed mountain bike. Two days prior to the ride a friend talked me into doing the Death Ride again instead of the KTR. I had done it in the past clockwise but this time we would go counterclockwise.  I hadn't ridden the road bike for over two years so I dusted it off, replaced the tires (Same ones from RAAM a few years earlier) and we started at the Dolores River Brewery at 4:30am. Brutal head winds which really slowed down my progress but overall a great route for a road bike ride.

Due to the high winds forecasted there was some debate whether we should postpone the ride but the following day was the only other option and it was going to be much colder so we started anyway.

Kiviok and I battled headwinds all the way to Durango but still made good time.  In the crowded metropolis of Durango it took as long to get food and stand in line for the restroom at McDonalds as it would have going to a higher quality establishment which burned a bunch of time.  Then some guy asked me how to get to the airport and then didn't believe me when I told him numerous times in several different explanations which cost more time.  I was happy to get out of town again climbing the popular Iron Horse route over Molas pass to Silverton.  The climb was good and there was some tailwind or headwind depending on which direction the switchbacks were facing.  Downhill was crazy with the wind swirling and switching directions.  I had to slow down because I felt like I might crash.  The views were spectacular.

Kiviok had to pull out at Silverton which I had never seen happen before.  He was obviously not feeling well on the climb and was totally bummed.  He had a tough week of hard training.  Obviously too much.  He waited there for his wife to pick him up.

I was feeling good so I resupplied with water and Gatorade ate a lunchable and pressed on over Red Mountain Pass and descended down to Ouray then to Ridgeway.  This section was beautiful and Ouray is a very picturesque town.  In Ridgeway I stopped at a Coffee shop and had a veggie breakfast burrito which was great.

Leaving Ridgeway I was making great time.  At the Dallas Divide climb things slowed down considerably.  The wind had dramatically picked up at noon just like the forecast predicted.  I was in my lowest gear standing during most of the climb.  Even though this wasn't one of the big mountain passes it worked out to be the toughest climb that day.  There were no trees to block any of the wind.  When I stopped to take a picture the wind was blowing me backwards down the hill.

There was no reward when I finally reached the crest and started to descend.  The wind was so bad that I had to still pedal with considerable effort down the hill.  I was looking at the elevation graph to make sure I was still going downhill and it showed I was descending but it didn't feel like it. There were broken limbs in the road and an aspen tree.  Looking at the trees getting rocked by the wind I started to worry about one landing on me.  Then it started to rain but there was not a cloud in the sky close to me.  Rough section that day!

After the turn and climbing toward Telluride the wind was still horrible but was more intermittent.  In Telluride I resupplied and grabbed a pizza slice at the Conoco station and immediately started the climb to Lizard Head pass in an effort to beat the sunset to the summit.  There were a lot of elk alongside the road in this section.  I never could figure out why the grass is so much tastier there as opposed to the millions of acres of nation forest nearby.  I arrived at the top of the pass just after dark.  It was brutally windy and cold.

After two elk ran directly in front of me in the dark on top of the pass I became skeptical that I had sufficient light to spot wildlife on the descent.  That became a non-issue on the descent since the wind was blowing so bad I couldn't get going a high speed anyway.  The descent was cold and it rained lightly until I hit Rico.

After Rico my wife Dani showed up to follow me to Dolores.  How cool is that?  The extra light was great.  I could see the numerous limbs on the road from the wind.  The last section required continued effort even though it was mostly downhill due to the constant wind.

I arrived in Dolores around midnight.  It was great to be done even though it was an awesome ride!  Just after finishing the rain really started coming down.  Glad I missed that!  Legs still felt pretty good at the end but the neck mussels and hamstrings were a bit sore and I was glad to get off the saddle.

I would definitely recommend this as a bucket list ride.  If not one day, take your credit card and do it in three or four days which would still be difficult.  It can be done faster than this but I took time to check some things out and was not riding at a race effort.  There is a race on this loop as well and a three day tour also called the Death Ride. http://www.deathridetour.com/about.php
Overall the ride is not as tough as a 24 hour mountain bike race solo effort in my opinion but it is still very difficult.

Check out the stats:


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/89085325

What I took:

On the bike:
3 water bottles
2 tubes
pump
Adapter to fill tires at a gas station
Blinky
Put on my mountain bike seat (since that's what I always use)
CO2 cartridges
Tools
Tire levers
TP
Velcro straps
Light on my bike (Aye-up 6 hour)
Garmin 705
Rechargeable external Duracell USB battery for Garmin (Get at Wall Mart)
Feeder bag by stem for energy food
Feeder bag by seatpost for trash
Jando frame bag.  These are sweet!  Take the weight off your back!
Extra parts: Bolts, cleat and screws, zip ties, duct tape
Small bottle of chain lube
Blister pads
Phone in a waterproof bag
Driver’s license
Cash & credit card
Camera

For me:
Rain jacket (strapped to the bike stem)
Arm warmers
Knee warmers
Wool socks
Warm gloves
Summer gloves
Clear glasses
Sunglasses
Head beanie

Fuel I started with and consumed throughout the ride:

3 bottles of HEED

1Tube of Hammer Gel

2 Honey Stinger chews

3 Honey Stinger waffles

6 Advil

3 Natural enzymes

12 Endurolytes

Fuel I purchased during the ride:

2 Egg McMuffins, water and some Powerade in Durango

1 Lunchable, water & Gatorade in Silverton

1 Veggie breakfast burrito, water & Powerade in Ridgeway

1 Slice of Pizza, water & Gatorade in Telluride

4:30 am start in Dolores

Sunrise just before Mancos

McDonald's in Durango

1st pass

2nd Pass

View toward Silverton from Molas pass

Lost of snow still

3rd pass, Red Mountain

Motorcycle went over the side on Red Mountain, they just winched it up on the trailer from down below

Cool shot of Ouray

Waterfall between Ouray and Ridgeway

Coffee shop in Ridgeway

Ralph Lauren's ranch outside of Ridgeway

Riding to the other side of those mountains

Not a pass but was tough with the wind that day

Telluride is in the distance

4th pass, in the dark

Finished!

Mountain bike ride around McPhee Reservoir in Dolores Colorado

Did a local 67 mile ride around McPhee reservoir on Sunday.  The recent snow made the singletrack trails to muddy to ride so we stayed on the graded roads except through Sagehen where the normally cool trail dropping down to the river was a mudfest.  The rest of the ride was very scenic and pretty mellow sticking to the graded roads circling the lake.  Kiviok and I started from my house through the town of Dolores on 145 and 184 to the turnoff for the reservoir.  Then through Sagehen down to the lower Dolores river to Bradfield bridge.  Normally we take the trail up along the lake to Dry Fork but that would have been muddy.  A big climb up to Salter Y then past the pump station and onto the Boggy draw trail back to the house.  Lots of wildlife!  Singlespeeds geared 32x18.
Stats http://connect.garmin.com/activity/87653055 

Left the house at 9.  I'd fix it up a little but I needed some new parts for my bike

Riding through Dolores

Road next to the lake on the way to Sagehen

Kiviok carrying his bike through the mud

Mud!!! Kiv's bike standing by itself

Couldn't even ride downhill, there was to much mud on this normally great section dropping to the river.  I resorted to dragging my bike by the seat for a bit

Cleaning up

Washing the bike in the Lower Dolores

 

Which way should be go? Bradfield bridge, the 2500' climb up

 

 

 

 

Nice few of the mountains

Boggy singletrack

67 Miles

White Rim in a day, 102 miles on the singlespeed

Last Weekend Kiviok and I did the annual White Rim in a day 102 mile ride outside of Moab Utah on singlespeed mountain bikes.  Normally that weekend we would do the Kokopelli Trail race KTR but this year I was recovering from a rib injury and Kiviok from the flu so we decided to skip the KTR and instead do the White Rim.  This was my 7^th time doing the White Rim and 5^th one day ride.  Both of us used 32x19 gearing on 29rs.  See Garmin stats at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/86155888

I rolled out of Dolores and met up with Kiviok at 5:10AM and we continued to Moab where we ate breakfast at Zak’s.  After eggs and bacon we drove out and parked down the Mineral Bottom road at the top of the big climb out.  I like parking there because, when riding clockwise, you knock off the lame 14 mile road and 8 mile pavement section right away and at the end it’s nice to know the vehicle is just at the top of the steep Mineral Bottom climb.

We ended up having to go back to the vehicle twice to get something we forgot.  The second time it was for the Canyonlands Entrance fee.  The official start was just before 9:00am.  When we actually got to the entrance 20 miles later we were informed that about 60 miles into the route the road was impassable due to the green river’s high water level.  After talking to another Ranger (2^nd opinion) it appeared that currently bikes could get around the closed section but if the water level got any higher bikes could not pass either.  In true renegade fashion we decided to go for it anyway.  Anyone who has been on the White Rim knows that once you drop in on the Shafer switchbacks there is no way out on a bike until the end 102 miles later.

The weather was great and the ride was fantastic as usual.  Great majestic views.  There were a lot of bikes going the other direction on the multi day trips, motorcycles and 4wd traffic early in the ride but nothing after about 30 miles.  We ate lunch on Murphy’s Hogback which is always my favorite spot.  When we finally arrived at the flooded area it was pretty unimpressive.  While it was obviously impassible by automobiles it was easy to portage around on the bike in a couple of minutes without even getting our feet wet.  On the remainder of the ride we encountered a small sandstorm then climbed the always painful Mineral Bottom Switchbacks up to the finish.

We loaded up and headed to the Moab Brewery for Beers and dinner.  I arrived back at my house in Dolores that night around 10.  Full day!

Check out this video of the ride stuffed into 18 minutes and pics.

White Rim in a Day, Moab Utah, Singlespeed mountain bikes, wriad from Shawn Gregory on Vimeo.

12 Hours of Mesa Verde Newspaper article, 2011

Check out this article in the Cortez Journal covering the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde race 2011.  http://www.cortezjournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=15380 

Press on the 2011 12 hour Dawn til Dusk race podium finish

Kiviok and I got some nice press in the newspaper for the 12 Hour Dawn til Dusk finish. Check it out at http://www.cortezjournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=15153 . I road 21 miles at Boggy yesterday. Felt better after Kiviok's miracle chiropractic work and I also wore the kidney belt from my old moto gear for support. Still hurts to sneeze!

 

1st in the Singlespeed solo 40+ category at the 2011 Dawn til Dusk 12 hour race in Gallup NM

Tough race conditions!

It turns out I finished 1st in the Singlespeed solo 40+ category at the 2011 Dawn til Dusk 12 hour race in Gallup NM.  At first I thought maybe I ended up in 3^rd place, then I stood on the podium in 2nd and now after some lap errors were repaired I ended up 1^st. 

How is this possible?  NASTY WEATHER, having no pit crew to keep track of anything and some kind of results posting problem.

Check out my garmin stats at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78596308

Race results are at   http://www.dawntilduskrace.com/?q=node/8

Overall I ended up 4th out of all the solo categories including the geared racers and the fastest geared solo finished less than 5 minutes in front of me.

Living in Colorado I have definitely been caught in snowstorms during bike rides but I can't recall having raced in full on blizzard conditions.  The race was actually called after 10 hours.

It also turns out that it really isn’t a good idea riding 100 miles in wind, rain and a snow storm when you are not quite recovered from a cold yet.  People must have thought I had a screw loose being out there the way I was coughing.  Then they saw I was riding a singlespeed and probably thought “He’s not right in the head anyway.”

I gambled on going with harder gearing than the previous year on the Trek Superfly (32x19).  I still don’t know if that was the right choice.  With the wind and added weight from the mud I think the 20 might have been more appropriate.  The Schwalbe Nobby Nic on the front and Schwalbe Racing Ralph on the back worked perfect on all the different trail conditions encountered throughout the day. 

I’ll start at the beginning.  Kiviok and I loaded up the truck in Dolores Colorado in windy but tolerable weather.   North of Gallup we went through a nasty windstorm which was very similar to blizzard conditions except with sand.  Now I can see why it looks like a beach without an ocean on that stretch.  Check out the sandstorm video while driving to Gallup.

We arrived in Gallup and quickly saddled up for a spin on the course in high winds but moderate temperatures.  Luckily the winds died down a little and we set up camp, got our pit situated and headed out to packet pickup and pre-race grub.  Check out this video of the first climb on our preride.  It was the first time I used this helmet cam and it's not the ideal angle.

At 5:30 I woke up and downed breakfast then finished some last minute race preparations and headed for the 7am start.  The temperature wasn’t bad, in the 30s for that time of day.  At the starting line I was surrounded by a slew of tough racers who all had a chance to win.  Tough competition!

Right off I saw Dan Durland and Mike Melley take off down the graded road used for the mass start.  Those tall guys can really spin there legs fast with those comparatively short cranks.  I spent the next few miles spinning out on the singlespeed while geared guys appeared to effortlessly pass me in masses.  Toward the end of the road I was able to make up time when we hit some climbs.  After entering the singletrack it became apparent that either there were a number of racers that blew themselves up on the starting road section and decided to coast on the singletrack or there were road bikers who could hammer on the road but lacked the skill on the singletrack.  Either way, things slowed down considerably and I used a lot of extra energy trying to pass racers in the soft dirt alongside the packed trail.

Surprisingly, the majority of racers from the Kokopelli Bike & Board team were all clumped together on the first lap.  Dan and Mike appeared to have successfully made it past some of the congestion we were dealing with.  The strategy of not taking a pit the first lap paid off by gaining a few spots for myself and fellow teammates Kiviok Hight and Paul Adams who were right on my tail.  The first couple of laps I couldn’t shake Paul or Kiviok.  Just when I thought I gained some distance on them they showed up in the pit just when I was leaving after getting another bottle of Hammer HEED, Gels and Perpetuem solids.

I spent the following laps trying to catch the guys in front of me and put some trail between myself and Kiviok.  Just when I thought I had a safe lead Kiviok shows up right behind me.  I really stepped it up at that point but he stayed on my tail and after taking a faster pit pulled ahead through the timing tent.  Kiviok really took off up the hill and I thought he might be uncatchable until I started gaining ground and eventually passed him back while he was dealing with some cramping on a climb.  With a new burst of energy I was able to step it up and put a couple of minutes between us by the time I crossed the finish and found out they called the race.  I almost went out on the 9^th lap until a spectator filled me in on the race cancellation as I was starting up the hill.  It was slightly disappointed because I thought I was in 3^rd and the previous year I ended up moving from 3^rd to 1^st in the last lap by turning a fast lap time and I felt I had one in me this race.

Kiviok finished right behind me in 2^nd in his first singlespeed race.  He is a strong racer in his other disciplines (Primal Quest, etc.) so I would expect nothing less in this race.  In his own words “It pays to be tough”.  Nice job Kiv!  Looks like I have another racer to watch out for.  Just let me know and I may pull over for you.

In the end there was less than 19 minutes between the first 5 racers in my category and with some late in the race mechanicals (Dan flatted) and slower lap times for the race leaders I was lucky enough to get the win.  Dan Durland and Charley Hayes really turned some impressive lap times.  I guess you never know until the end (or days later) who will get the win.  10 hours is a long time!

Mike Melley really hammered to get the overall (geared & singlespeeds) and the 0-39 SS solo win.  Apparently the same spectator who told me about the race being called wasn’t around when Mike came through and he ended up doing a 9^th lap that didn’t count.  Tough luck!  You think they might have mentioned that when you rode through the tent.  For a guy who lives in Phoenix he rode strong in the blizzard conditions.  After riding down there in 95 degree weather I have a new respect for those guys training in that.  Nice race Mike!

After packing up, getting the wrong award, some post race talk in a tent filled with people who chose to drink free beer instead of suffering out in the cold (Maybe the smarter ones like teammate Jeff Hemperley) we headed out for some vitamin M (Mexican food) and blazed back to Dolores in the snowstorm.

The mass start, Photo Katie Koppenhafer

The Kokopelli team at the start, Photo Katie Koppenhafer

Pit Stop, Photo Katie Koppenhafer

The Climb, Photo Katie Koppenhafer

At least I still have a number plate.  Some racers lost theirs in the wind, Photo by Kiviok Hight

Kiviok's pit, Photo by Kiviok Hight

Packing up the pit, Photo by Kiviok Hight

Loaded up and ready to go home, Photo by Kiviok Hight

 Jeff Hemperley's van the morning after, Photo by Jeff Hemperley

The Dawn till dusk 12 hour mountain bike race is coming up this weekend in Gallup NM

I'm recovering from a nasty cold which will hopefully be gone by the Dawn till Dusk 12 hour mountain bike race in Gallup New Mexico this coming weekend.  It looks like I'll need to bring some crappy weather gear as well.  I'm already having flashbacks from the old pueblo race.  Fond memories!  I hope it's not a repeat of two years ago where we went to bed after a short preride and woke up to snow everywhere and an unridable trail resulting in the race cancellation.  The year before that I got frostbite on both my thumbs by wearing inadequate gloves for the first lap.  I won't make that mistake twice!  

 

The Superfly is pretty much ready.  I'm going with a Schwalbe Nobby Nic on the front, it should be the perfect tire for those corners.  I'm still on the fence as to what gearing to use.  Watching the weather, the wind and rain could be a factor with the gearing.


The competition is going to be huge.  Both age groups are stacked with racers that have the potential to end up on the top of the podium.  Should be fun?

Day Night Scattered T-Storms / Wind High 44°F Precip 60% Wind: From SW at 26 mph Humidity: 44% UV Index: 8 Very High Sunrise: 6:51 AM MT Avg. High: 64°F Record High: 80°F (1996) Partly Cloudy Overnight Low 18°F Precip 10% Wind: From WSW at 13 mph Humidity: 59%       Sunset: 7:43 PM MT Avg. Low: 23°F Record Low: 11°F (1993)

Last Updated Wednesday, Apr 6, 8:06 AM Mountain Daylight Time