The (Re)Unified Svihura Website

Looks like the Furnace Creek 508 Roster is shaping up, and my name appears to be on it. I will do my best to honor the race. Less than 6 months to go… I’m already excited.

Not really… But there was snow at the top of King’s Mountain today, deposited during yesterday’s storm. It was about 37° F, or 3° C, at 2000’ elevation. There is even more snow at the higher elevations, but I didn’t get up that high today.

Here’s a picture of my bike frolicking in the snow.

And a picture of Mt. Diablo in the distance across the bay, with its top covered in snow.

Off to the Furnace Creek 508. Follow us here. We’ll have periodic updates, and GPS updates.

The Good–My legs felt pretty good and I finished with practically the same time as I had in 2005, the Quack Cyclists put on another great ride, and the weather was absolutely perfect.

The Bad–Alto the goat was no longer manning Pet the Goat, and a fellow DMD rider collapsed and died while climbing the backside of Mt. Hamilton.

The Ugly–I crashed on Morgan Territory, but was not hurt. I wore some of the course on my jersey while riding the rest of the course.Devil Mountain Double

After completing the Mulholland Double two weeks ago, I was unsure if my legs would recover in time for Devil Mountain Double. I did very little distance the weekend before, and only about two hours of recovery during the week. On Friday evening, I felt as recovered as I could be and ready to tackle the “toughest” double in the Triple Crown Stage race.

I didn’t sleep very well the night before the ride. I planned on starting at 5am, just as in 2005. Even if I took 15 hours, which was my time in 2009, I figured I’d still be done before it got really dark. I brought lights, just in case, but put them in a drop bag at the start so that I could pick them up at the Pet the Goat rest stop.

I arrived at the start by around 4:30, and quickly signed in and got my bike ready. I saw Bryan, who I met during Mulholland, at the start, and we rolled out together. It was a rather large pack, as a record number of people had signed up. (Over 200, even though there was a cut-off of 175.) Bryan and I quickly moved to the front to avoid any problems with people crashing, especially during the rough road section at the start of the Mt. Diablo climb.

The skies were starting to get light just as we reached the Athenian School, which marked the start of Mt. Diablo. The rough road section was as bad as ever, and someone in front of me quickly pulled to the side, perhaps suffering a pinch flat after hitting one of the many potholes. We waved hello at the ranger who had just opened the gates and the climb was on. I let the fast riders go away, and settled into a nice rhythm. My legs felt pretty good, but unfortunately it was too much for Bryan, so he dropped off to find his own pace. I debated slowing down, as Bryan is great company on an long ride like DMD. I decided to keep going by myself as I was very comfortable, with the idea that I would see Bryan later in the day.

As the skies lightened and the sun rose, I could see light haze and fog in the Livermore Valley below me, and as I rounded one hairpin curve, I looked down and saw a long line of bicycle lights strung out on the road. Soon enough, I reached the top at about 6:40. The little steep pitch at the very top was as steep as ever, but I resisted the urge to power up it, and opted to conserve my energy. I grabbed some water and zipped up my vest and jacket and started the descent.

I passed a lot of riders on the descent. Laura Hipp was looking strong as she was near the front of the remaining climbers. Mike Mysza was further down but still looking pretty good. As I made the turn onto North Gate, I still hadn’t seen any of the 6am starters, and took some small satisfaction in that, even though many of them would inevitably pass me later in the day.

The descent was very cold, and my hands were getting a little numb by the time I reached the bottom. I started pedaling to get warm and soon caught up to two riders before reaching Clayton. I quickly stripped off my jacket and soon we were climbing Morgan Territory. That’s one of my favorite roads, and with the beautiful morning sun filtering through the trees, it was particularly nice.

Our small group broke up pretty quickly on the climb, as one of my companions tried to latch on to a group of racers who passed us. I resisted the urge to chase myself, staying within my comfort zone, and soon I was at the top. I refilled my water and energy drink bottles. I also dropped off my cold weather clothing, which would be driven forward to Pet the Goat. It felt nice to be unburdened with all the extra clothing and soon I was on the descent.

Mishap

Morgan Territory is a fast, wicked descent, and one can easily get up to 50mph. With few cars on the road, I was having no problems finding good lines through the corners. However, as I was scrubbing speed to make a right hander, a slight wind gust caught me pushed me over to the left. Since I was already braking, I was very unstable and I knew right away I wasn’t going to make the turn. I locked up my wheels, but I wasn’t able to slow down enough before I went off the road. There was an embankment on the left, so I kind of surfed the dirt. For a brief moment, I thought I might be able to ride it out, but I was still leaning the wrong way and I inevitably crashed.

Once I got over the initial shock, I slowly got up and scanned for damage to myself and my bike. I had actually taken the brunt of the crash on my shoulder and hip. My head had hit as well, but my helmet kept my head from suffering any serious harm. Since the contact was with softer ground, rather than asphalt, the only sign of damage was a smear of dirt across my left shoulder. Throughout the remainder of the ride, many riders and rest stop workers would notice my dirty jersey and ask if I was okay.

I remounted my bike and continued on my way. Needless to say, I was very cautious on the remainder of the descent. I reached the bottom and was soon through Livermore and starting the climb to Altamont Pass. I always like this climb as it’s not steep at all, and I actually had a tailwind. The racers I had seen on Morgan Territory passed me doing a nice rotating paceline. I would have stuck with them but I didn’t feel like doing work on the paceline, so I left them to do their thing. They never really got too far ahead of me thanks to the nice tailwind. The tailwind ended as I made the turn towards Patterson Pass. It wasn’t too strong and there was some shelter from it with the hills around me. It also cooled things off on the climb. I filled up my water just before the summit and quickly reached the top and headed towards Mines Road.

The Wente road race was running at the same time as DMD, and using some of the same roads we were riding on. A group of three female racers passed me, followed closely by a race referee on a motorbike. I figured they must be the front runners, or at least close enough to the front to have a referee nearby. I made sure I didn’t interfere with the racers, although I managed to hook on the referee’s wheel for a while.

I reached the Mines Road rest stop by about 10:45am, which was ahead of my arrival in 2005, so I was keeping a good pace so far. After replenishing my energy drink and water, I started the long gradual climb towards Junction. I must have been making good time, as I was well along on Mines Road before being passed by the fastest of the 6am starters. Going along in the other direction were riders doing the Mt Hamilton Challenge. As groups passed me, I noticed quite a few of my friends, and I took the time to wave and yell my hellos.

At this point of the ride, my left knee started hurting, more than I would have expected at under 100 miles. I must have either twisted it slightly during the crash, or I was compensating for my slightly sore hip with an unconscious change in my position. Either way, it was really bothering me by the time I reached Junction.

As I scarfed some food, I tried to stretch a little to see if that would help. I also took some ibuprofen, hoping that would ease the pain. However, as I made my way down San Antonio Valley Road, it was clear that the pain wasn’t going to go away quickly. Even so, I still enjoyed the profusion of yellow wildflowers blanketing the fields.

There are two short climbs before reaching the backside of Mt. Hamilton. On the first of these, the pain was sometimes excruciating especially when standing. There were moments where I almost stopped, but I tried to spin the easiest gear I had and not stand at all. I made it over the first climb and was able to keep a decent pace to the second one, where thankfully, the ibuprofen started to kick in. I was never pain free, but I could stand when needed, and I felt my pace increase as a result.

The backside of Mt. Hamilton is never easy, rising almost 2000 feet at an average gradient of 8.5%. With a sore knee, it was even less enjoyable than usual. I kept turning the pedals and enjoying the moments when I would pass one of the large mile markers painted on the road. Soon after passing the 2 mile marker, I reached the water rest stop, and topped up my now empty water bottle. From there it was a reasonable push to reach the top, and I was looking forward to resting on the almost 19 mile descent. I didn’t exactly fly down the mountain, mindful of my earlier crash, and also because of all the blind corners and occasional gravel on the road.

As I was descending, I heard the sound of sirens, and a number of emergency vehicles passed me going up. I was hoping that a cyclist wasn’t in trouble, but on Sunday evening I heard the news that a fellow DMD rider had collapsed while climbing the backside of Mt. Hamilton. Despite getting the best help that he could at such a remote location, he died on the scene. His name was Tom Milton, and was an experienced long distance rider. You can more of a first hand account by a rider who was there by going here. It’s very sad, and a sobering reminder to enjoy every day because sometimes you never know what will happen. And even more practical, it’s a reminder to always wear RoadID or carry some other form of identifying information. I hope no one ever needs to use my RoadID on my behalf, but when I pass on, I hope it’s doing something I love like Tom was doing.

Oblivious to what was happening behind me, I reached the Crothers rest stop by about 3:30pm, which meant I was still keeping pace with my 2005 times, despite the fact that my knee was not 100%. I had been keeping my time at the rest stops to a minimum, but I took a little more time here, partly to refuel, and partly because I need to repair the zipper on my seat bag, which had unzipped as I was reaching Crothers. Thankfully I didn’t lose anything, and one of the helpful workers quickly repaired it, and soon I was back on the road. I felt more energized, probably because of the Mountain Dew I just quaffed, and was actually looking forward to tackling the Sierra Road climb, the last of the brutally steep climbs of the day.

Sierra Road is even steeper than the backside of Mt. Hamilton, rising about 1775ft at an average gradient of 9.5%. It starts tough right away and never really lets up. As I was climbing a wild turkey decided to cross the road in front of me. Needless to say, I was in no danger of hitting it going 4mph. I said hello to him as he sauntered across the road, and soon enough, he was in the field on the other side. As for me, I decided to stay on the road. I was starting to get a little tired, but I kept pushing, thinking back to how much I was cramping on this climb in 2009. The gradient eased slightly here and there, providing much appreciated relief, but this climb was dishing out the hurt all the way to the top. With a slightly shallower section through some trees, I knew I was close, and with a final kick, I made it over the top. I powered through the false flat and quickly reached the Pet the Goat rest stop.

Alto 2.0

The Pet the Goat rest stop is so named because the owner of the driveway where the rest stop is located would always bring his goat Alto out and tie him up giving us tired riders an opportunity to pet him, if they desired. Alto was a rather large goat, but he was pretty amiable to getting petted. When I worked the rest stop in 2006 and 2007, I brought him some carrots, which he was quite happy to eat.

Unfortunately, Alto had passed away earlier in the spring, as he was getting up there in age. Nicely enough, his owner had acquired another goat, just a kid at this point, and he was out there for everyone to see. He isn’t quite as pettable at this point, but I’m sure he’ll carry on Alto’s legacy in the years to come.

I took a moment to say hello to the new kid on the block, and then gathered up all my gear that had waiting for me. As I was organizing my gear, my friend Tim Woudenberg arrived on his recumbent. Tim is a very strong rider who is doing RAAM this year. He was climbing very well despite the fact that he was on his recumbent, and the fact that he was hot on my heels meant that his RAAM training was right on track.

It was still only 4:50pm by the time I got back on the road, and I felt that I had a chance to equal or beat my time from 2005. I quickly descended to Calaveras, and was soon enjoying the rolling road alongside the reservoir. A group of three 5am riders as well as Tim caught me and I attempted to hang with them. However, they were flying around the corners and I was still being very conservative in the corners. Even so, after a good effort on the final descent before Welch Creek, I managed to hook up with them again, and they pulled me into Sunol.

I enjoyed a hot dog and V-8, and some Endurolyte capsules, as I was starting to feel some twinches in my legs, likely as a result of trying to keep up to the fast 5am riders on Calaveras. I had been using Endurolytes all day, and I was never in real danger of cramping all day, but I wanted to make sure it didn’t get past the twinch stage with the Palomares and Norris Canyon climbs yet to come.

Soon enough, we were back on the road. Tim pulled our little group to the bottom of Palomares, at which point the climbing started again. I wasn’t able to keep the pace with the 5am riders and soon they receded into the distance. Palomares is only a five mile climb, and fairly gradual, so I was over soon enough. I lost sight of Tim on the descent, and I paused at the bottom to plug my Garmin into the spare battery pack.

It was still light out and I knew I would make it back before sunset, but the question was whether I could get in before 7:30. I pushed on and soon enough I was on Crow Canyon, looking for the turn to Norris Canyon. I don’t like Crow Canyon very much, with all the traffic, so Norris couldn’t come soon enough. One more push and I would be flying down to the finish. I could see a rider climbing in the distance. I was gaining and soon enough I realized that it was Tim. I caught him at the top and we bombed down the other side. He gapped me slightly there but we both made it through the final stop light and reached the finish at 7:32. Just missed 7:30 by two minutes, and slightly faster than 2005, but only by the barest of margins.

I was pretty happy with my ride and being able to finish with an almost identical time as 2005. If I hadn’t had to deal with the knee pain, I might have improved on my time even more, but I don’t think it would have made a major difference.

I saw Bryan come in as I was chatting with Tim and some of the other early finishers. He looked pretty good, and obviously had recovered very well after I left him on Diablo. After chatting and eating some of the post-ride food, it was time to go home, get cleaned up go to bed, but not before Tina graciously cleaned up my wounds. There was very minor road rash, although I’m sure my hip will be sore for a few days. It was very long day and I was happy to get into bed and fall asleep.

Next up is Central Coast in two weeks. Even though it’s not part of the Triple Crown Stage Race, I’d like to at least finish it, having DNFed it last year. The big question is my knee, which stiffened up within about 15 minutes of finishing the ride. As I write this on Sunday, it’s still sore but not quite as bad as in the morning. I will take it day-by-day, but I’m sure it will be recovered completely for Terrible Two, the last remaining ride of the Stage Race.

Once again, the Quackcyclists put on an excellent ride, and if there were any problems supporting a record number of riders, it certainly didn’t show. If the darned thing wasn’t so hard, I’d keep coming back and doing it every year.

Mulholland Double: Well, I finished the thing

Summary I didn’t have great legs for this ride, had to repair a bent chain, and had a nice bonk at the end. I give details below. Maybe not epic by some standards, but given my previous attempt at this ride, it seems about par for the course.Once again I set my target this year to finish the Triple Crown Stage race. This would be my third attempt, having failed to complete the required rides in the previous two years. In 2008, I lost my route sheet and got lost during the Mulholland Double, and in 2009, after completing the Devil Mountain Double, I DNFd Central Coast due to some intercostal condronitis (a painful inflammation of the cartilage in and around the ribs).

This year, as in 2008, Mulholland was going to be the first stage, and I took steps to address the problems that kept me from finishing the stage race in the previous two years. To prevent getting lost, I had a Garmin 705 with the route loaded up and ready to go. I also carried two route sheets in reserve. Also, I had studied the map quite thoroughly, as a result of having to prepare the Garmin. So getting lost was highly unlikely. As for the condronitis, a little Advil would go a long way to keeping this under control. Finally, the weather was looking a lot better than in 2008, when it was hot and windy. The forecast called for an overcast morning, with cooler temperatures for the rest of the day. There would be a seabreeze in the afternoon, but that would be minor compared to the Santa Ana winds I faced in 2008.

My training for Mulholland seemed to going well. I did the Death Valley Double in March, followed by hard training rides on the weekends leading up to Mulholland. I felt pretty good, but to keep my expectations reasonable, the only thing I said out loud before the ride was that I only wanted to finish the thing. I didn’t want to think about expected finishing time, or what placing I would get. That way, I felt I’d be able to handle whatever unexpected obstacles would likely get thrown my way.

The Ride

Tina and I drove down on Friday and got checked into the Renaissance Hotel, which was the starting point this year, unlike in 2008, which started at the Good-Nite Inn. The upside was that the Renaissance is a very nice hotel, The downside was that it would add about 7 miles to the ride. They weren’t hard miles, but it was still a longer ride. We had plenty of time to get last minute breakfast items for me, and to go out and get a tasty meal.

I got a reasonably good night’s rest, and with my bike and gear all ready, I rolled down to the start. My Garmin gave me a little scare by not coming up with the route directions quickly enough. However, just as the race rolled out, it started working, so I could concentrate on riding. The group stayed together for about 20 miles until we hit the first climb of the day on Topanga Canyon. It was there that I could tell it was going to be a long day, as my legs felt heavy and tight. This was unlike in 2008, when my legs felt pretty loose and springy on this same climb. Perhaps the long car drive was a factor, or maybe it was just one of those things. Unlike in 2008, when only about eight rides got ahead of me on Topanga, I watched about twenty or thirty riders go up the road while I tried to find a rhythm that worked for me. After a while I settled into a groove, and I eventually caught up to a small group that seemed to be composed mostly of racers, as they were very strong.

After reaching Mulholland Highway, I settled into a good pace with this group. I didn’t feel strong enough to go off alone in front of the group, but I was also able to keep up with them without too much trouble. This was the status quo until we reached Yerba Buena Road, which is the roughest section of road on the ride. As I descended one section, three guys in front of me went off the road in one of the many turns. As I passed, they were picking themselves up and assured me that they were okay. I slowed down a little, just to give them a chance to catch up. Two guys were still in front but I wasn’t going to take any chance to catch up with them.

The Chain

As I was descended, I tried to shift up to my big chain ring in the front. Because of the rough road my bike was bouncing around, and that caused the chain to fall off on the outside. This hasn’t been a problem for me in the past, as I’m usually able to downshift the front derailleur and get the chain back on the rings. However, the rough road was bouncing the chain around so much that it ended up tangling on the rear derailleur and getting totally jammed. I had to stop and untangle the mess, and the riders who had been caught up in the crash passed me. I got back on my bike and tried to catch up. However, I could tell right away that my chain was not working right, as it was skipping quite severely. In fact, it was so bad there was no way I would be able to finish the ride unless I could fix it. I was also outside any cell coverage so I wasn’t going to able to call SAG for help. So after about a minute of being rather frustrated at this setback, and perhaps not being able to finish, I started working to fix the problem.

I had a multipurpose tool in my seat bag, and I got that out and tried to figure out how to get the chain breaker to work. One link in the chain was bent quite badly, so my plan was to try to break the chain and remove the bad link. My only problem was that I didn’t have spare pin or quick link to put the chain back together again. However, as riders were passing me and asking me if I needed anything, I would ask them if they had a spare link. Most didn’t, but one guy did actually one and he graciously offered it to me. As I was getting ready to implement my repairs, Brian Bowling, the main organizer of the ride, drove by and asked if I needed help. He actually had a spare chain and insisted on using that instead of making repairs to the bad chain. I was not one to turn down the offer, just in case there were other problems with the bad chain. After a few minutes, he cut the new chain down to the correct length and installed it onto my bike, and after a quick test to make sure that there were no other problems with the chain and shifting, I thanked Brian as was on my way.

Back on the Road

I was off the bike for at least half-an-hour, so my legs were a little stiff. I warming up quickly and descended down Deer Creek to the checkpoint just before turning onto the PCH. I had no hope of getting a good finishing time, or finding a fast group to paceline with along the coast. But given that my chain was actually working, I was okay with riding alone now, since I could ride my own tempo. At the checkpoint, I met Bryan, who actually was riding with our group for a while until he passed me while I was affecting repairs on my bike. He had actually taken a wrong turn and so we were able to form an impromptu group of two. Bryan turned out to an excellent riding companion, funny and easy to talk to. After getting separated before the Protrero Road climb, we regrouped at lunch and ended up doing the rest of the ride together.

The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful, at least compared to having to fix a chain. I left my food drink bottle at one rest stop, but that wasn’t too bad as I was eating mostly solid food at the rest stops by now. We got over the super-steep Balcom Canyon climb with no problems, and reach the point were I made a wrong turn in 2008. Not this time, as my Garmin was directing me nicely. Also, there were plenty of arrows on the road to show the way. However, that doesn’t always prevent one from getting lost, so it was good to have the Garmin directing me.

As we approached the coast, Bryan and I would pick up a rider here and there, and they would join our paceline for a while. By the time we reached Decker, we had only one rider left with us. He quickly dropped off the back after we started the climb and it was just the two of us. It was warm climbing Decker, but as the sun was starting to set it was getting a little chilly on the descents or when the wind picked up. We made pretty good time along Mulholland and soon we were on the last climb of the day, the Piuma/Schueren double summit. We both were pretty quiet as we climbed into the dark, and the summit couldn’t come quick enough. There were road markings, barely visible in the dark, that marked off the final kilometer to the top of both summits. The views from near the top were quite spectacular, with Malibu just below us, and the sprawling lights of Los Angeles in the distance. We soon reached the Stunt Road check point and checked in. Tina was working the rest stop and gave me some leg warmers and chemical foot warmers for the descent. As we bombed down the descent, I think I scared a couple of guys as I passed them in the dark, but I wasn’t fooling around as I wanted to get out of the cold as quickly as possible.

After the descent it was just some rollers on the way back. However I started to pay the price for not having my food bottle as I was starting to feel the hunger knock. I tried to fish my Hammer Gel bottle out of my back pocket, but I ended up getting more on me than in my mouth. I found a Clif Bar in another pocket, and scarfed some of that instead. The finish line couldn’t come quickly enough, but once it did, I was pretty relieved more than anything.

Finished

All I can say about Mulholland is that this ride is not kind to me. However, I’m satisfied that I managed to finish the ride even though I didn’t have great legs, had a bad mechanical, and bonked at the end. I might not finish high in the Triple Crown Stage race this year, but I have more confidence that I can deal with whatever fun obstacles come my way in the remaining two stages.