- - - - - - - - - - -   Death Ride 2002   - - - - - - - - - - -

by Gilbert Martinez

Brutal! That's the best way to describe the 2002 Death Ride. Lynn and I arrived on Friday afternoon in Markleeville and found the temperature hovering around 100 degrees. At mid afternoon the sun was beating down on Markleeville with an intensity equal to anything I have felt in Sacramento.

Friday afternoon the assault of the sun gave way to huge billowing black clouds and a thunderstorm provided some relief from the unusually high temperatures in the Tahoe area. The rain gave us some heat relief and a ray of hope that we'd be spared equally high temperatures on Saturday.

We arrived at Turtle Rock park and started the ride about 530 a.m. on Saturday morning with our spirits high and a cool wind blowing up from Markleeville. We spotted a couple of Wheelmen at the start of the ride; Dave Carlson and Dan Kennelly. We began the Death Ride with a quick drop down to Markleeville and a short trek along the Carson River. A left turn onto Highway 89 led us to the first climb up the front side of Monitor Pass.

The early morning coolness and a comfortable pace delivered us to the summit of Monitor pass just as the sun crested the surrounding peaks. In a race against the sun we decided to blow past the rest stop at the top. Larry Mesa happened to look up from his duties at the tech support station just in time to yell out words of encouragement as we pushed past.

The descent down the backside of Monitor was fast and furious. The view, which is normally clear and expansive, was cloaked in a shroud of smoke. A result of the numerous wild fires in the West.

The Rest stop at the turn around point was awash with Wheelmen; Doug and Laurie Wainwright were on their way back up along with Steve Lausmann. Still milling around at the bottom we found Sandy Yarrow, John Hockenbury, Jeanne Ennis, Dave Leonard, Dan Kennelly and Stacie Deal. Everyone was in high spirits and ready for the ride up the backside of Monitor.

Our tandem was experiencing some mechanical problems; I wasn't able to shift into the little chain ring! As luck would have it the tech support person was just finishing up with another bike and was able to get my shifting problem taken care of with ease.

The ride up the backside seemed to go quickly and comfortably. It's one of the more interesting climbs because of the fact that the riders on the way down are flying by at speeds that are scary fast. We moved over and hugged the white line on our side of the road because I'm positive that a majority of those coming down at high speeds are relying more on faith than skill. Again, at the rest stop at the top, we chose to blow by in an effort to avoid as much of the sun as possible. And again we heard Larry Mesa shouting out to us.

The ride up Ebbetts Pass was in stark contrast with both sides of Monitor Pass. Ebbetts has several switch backs and is narrow with more trees to provide shade. Along with the narrow roads on the front side of Ebbetts come a few more ruts and buckles on the descent down the backside.

Starting at the base of Ebbetts, every rest stop became important; rest, water and food were more important than staying ahead of the impending mid-day heat. The climb up the backside of Ebbetts proved to be the shortest climb -or at least it felt that way. It also proved to be the point in the ride where the temperature became a factor.

As we dropped down from Ebbetts toward the lunch stop it was evident the mid-day heat was going to take its toll. The lunch stop was situated in what, on a normal temperature day, would have been a shady forested area, however, on this day it proved to be a dusty and hot venue. The ride organizers did a great job of making the best of a hot situation by providing shade tents and plenty of fluids. In fact it has to be among the best support I've experienced on a ride. Lynn was happy about the vast selection of clean porta-potties at every stop.

With four passes behind us, the long trek to Carson Pass awaited. Not only were we exposed to the sun the entire distance to the next stop in Woodfords, but we also had to pass by the start at Turtle Rock park. The temptation to pull over and pack the tandem away and call it a day was almost overwhelming. Lynn and I agreed we would reassess at Woodfords.

Iced water, water misters and cold watermelon doled out by an enthusiastic support crew in Hawaiian shirts convinced us that the climb out of Hope Valley to the next rest stop at Picketts Junction was within reason (well...I was convinced, Lynn wasn't quite so sure!). Never mind that the sun was at its merciless worst or that we now shared the road with eighteen wheelers, RV's with cars in tow, trucks with horse trailers all spewing exhaust and burning brake fumes. Given all this we joined the procession of riders heading toward Carson Pass.

Picketts Junction was the last rest stop before ascending Carson Pass. Shade tents were set up with water misters and chairs. We found two empty chairs and joined the almost full house of riders and shared our misery and conviction that we could do it -the goal of five passes was now within reach. Well, maybe conviction is too strong of a word, more like hope.

The toughest part about climbing Carson Pass is that the peaks surrounding the pass can be viewed from an incredibly long distance. Looking up from Picketts Junction we were treated to an intimidating view of the road leading to Carson Pass. The ascent seems to go on forever. But cresting the top of Carson Pass is a sensory explosion. The cool wind rushing off the peaks into our faces, the release of pressure from our last crushing pedal stroke, the washing away of doubt, we had made it....FIVE PASSES.

All that remained was a delicious chocolate covered ice cream bar and a fast descent back to Turtle Rock park.