The 2024 PMC: CBS

Earlier this year, our good friend Chris Spear passed away suddenly. Beth and I had known Chris and his wife Laura for almost 40 years. We were very close when we all lived in Massachusetts - they were "bests" at our wedding in 1992. Chris started riding the PMC in 1989, recruited by John K. By 1990, he was working on recruiting me! I had never ridden any significant distance, and I was riding an old Fuji 10-speed which he scoffed at. He convinced me to buy my first racing bike, a Cannondale R600 (same bike he had). With some help from John K, Chris clued me in on the finer points of group cycling, drafting, climbing. We went on many rides, including some long training rides around the Wachusett reservoir near Boylston, MA. By 1991, I was riding my first PMC (the photo below was one of Chris' favorites). Chris loved to ride. He traveled a lot for business, and took a bike with him most everywhere he went. He did a cross-country ride, crossed Glacier National Park, did multiple famous Tour de France climbs (I've only done one), and not too long ago, he rode in Maui from sea level to the peak of Haleakala (about 10000' over 36 miles)! Whenever he was in the bay area, we'd try to connect, and I'd take him out on some favorite rides. And of course, there was the PMC. We rode a dozen PMCs together in Massachusetts, and with John K, took the same photo year after year (several below). There are so many fond memories and stories from those early years. Here are two. The first day of the traditional PMC route is a mass start. In 2004, Chris and I started near the front. Apparently, he let on that he had never led the ride. This had to be corrected! So I pulled him to the front where he led for a time. Yearly, at Bourne, folks would start talking about what time to be on the road the next day. I'm not a morning person, and I almost never ride in the dark... even 5:30 is too early for me, but Chris always wanted to be first. Like 4:30. We'd ask why. "So I can finish first." But it's not a mass start. It seemed like something of an "ours go to 11" sort of argument from someone who wasn't a bit competitive, was he? But you know, in retrospect, it got him on TV a few times, and he was a fine spokesperson for the event! As you can imagine, he had a bucket list of rides. So in addition to the usual late summer ride, there will be a chapter 2 when I do one of his bucket list rides in November: the Death Valley Century (formerly the Furnace Creek Century) in Death Valley National Park. Stay tuned for that. Chris was a cancer survivor; he never succumbed to it. He meant a lot to so many people, and he will be missed. This year's ride is dedicated to his spirit. You can click on any image to get a bigger version. If you've already read Chapter 1, you can click on Chapter 2 to jump ahead.

1991 - Chris, John K, and me. It's 5:30AM, and I don't even have a proper windbreaker!   1999

Chapter 1 - Pre-ride This was a pretty good cycling year, albeit a bit up and down with training. To start we need to go back to December, when I test-rode a bike I had been hearing about for some time from my friend Richard. It was as good as advertised, and I bought myself a late birthday gift - a Specialized S-works Aethos with a SRAM Red drivetrain, wireless electronic shifting, disc brakes, carbon wheels, and a pretty snazzy paint job. It is super light, almost a pound lighter than the BMC which I've been riding for 11 years. And so far so good - it's a really nice ride. I managed to accumulate a little over 2000 miles and 150,000 feet of climbing before the September ride. That's a little ahead of last year's pace, and I'm hoping to keep up that trend. For the PMC, I looked at a number of different rides, including a Yosemite rematch on the 10th anniversary of that ride in 2014. We couldn't make that one work, but ... someday. It's been a while since I put Eureka Canyon on the ride - it was on my first remote PMC in 2005 and appeared again in 2012. Part of this route gets close to the coast, so if it's a hot day, there's an opportunity to cool off before the big climb. Plus it has one of my favorite roads, Old Santa Cruz Hwy (climb on the way out, descent on the way back), and another favorite descent, San Jose - Soquel Road. And I'll throw in a new segment which I've never ridden before. So, for the first ride, let's go to Corralitos and back. My ride partners are unavailable, so looks like I'm solo! Here is the plan below with map and elevation. About 78.5 miles and 6500' of elevation gain over 6 climbs. Let's go!   Specialized S-Works Aethos   Paint Close-up

Route map   Elevation profile

Ride day: Lexington Reservoir to Aptos The weather was not exactly inspiring on the morning of the September 10th. We were fogged in up to 2100 feet at 7:00, so I decided to push the start time back from 8 to 9 for safety. Even with the delay, it was cloudy and cool at the start, maybe 58 degrees. It's been months since I needed the windbreaker. It's been so hot recently, 58 just seems cold. Starting with a loop around the Lexington Reservoir is a nice warmup. There are no official climbs here, but it's not flat - lots of rollers and a few stingers. The photo to the right is from about half way around, with a glimpse of Highway 17 at the left. After 6 miles, a right turn onto Aldercroft Heights Road is where the climb starts. The first half mile is about 9% which is a tough way to start the day's climbing - and my legs still hadn't warmed up. This leads onto Old Santa Cruz Highway which parallels 17. It's a nice steady climb in the redwoods which I've done many times. Over about 4 miles, it nevers gets particularly steep. It's another road that is very quiet outside of rush hour (or accidents on 17). By the top of the climb at Summit Road, I was finally warming up. After a quick pit stop at the Summit Store, the San Jose - Soquel descent is next. This is a well paved, very fast descent where I can average over 30mph for about 4 miles. Not much work, and not much traffic on a Tuesday. A little over 8 miles down SJ/Soquel, the route turns onto Laurel Glen Rd. It's a nice connector back towards Hwy 17, with a very tough climb of 9-10% for the last mile. I passed one other lone rider, and said "This one never gets any easier, does it?". She laughed. At the peak of Laurel Glen, you can descend towards Santa Cruz, or climb a bit more on Rodeo Gulch Rd. As I've never done that, why not? I had previewed it with Google maps street-view, and it looked pretty gentle. In reality, Rodeo Gulch starts out steep! It climbs for another mile and a half, and the first 1/4 mile is a stout 12%. The reward is a nice view from the top - here, you can see the fog starting to dissipate. From the peak, it's about 3 miles down to Soquel. As it's my first time down this descent, I took it at a very easy pace, at least near the top where there are a few tight bends and one switchback. Arriving at Soquel Drive, it's a left turn towards Aptos. This segment is in common with the 2019 ride - not surprisingly, it's one of my favorites. It starts out as a wide boulevard and passes Cabrillo College. After a little construction traffic, I got to Aptos Village. Aptos has a long history with railroads in Santa Cruz County, which you can read about by following that link. The old Trout Gulch crossing is now Trout Gulch Road, where I turned left for the next segment.

Morning at Lexington   View from the peak of Rodeo Gulch   Aptos Village

Aptos to Corralitos

Hazel Dell at Mt Madonna

Corralitos Market - sporting the 1999 jersey

Eureka Canyon

Eureka is really 2 climbs and 2 descents, and it's really two roads: it eventually turns into Highland Way. The first 5 miles or so is flat to slightly up, following the Corralitos Creek. It was so quiet, I could really hear the creek. I kept the pace pretty high here. The first climb starts about 4.5 miles from Corralitos center. It's about 4 miles at 5% average and makes up about 70% of the 1800' of elevation gain in this segment. Early in the climb, there are a few sections at 8-10%, but most of it is in a more reasonable 4-6%. The first peak is at the intersection of Eureka, Highland, Buzzard Lagoon, and Ormsby Cutoff (I am not making these up). Then, there's one of those choppy descents. County Roads has done a lot of work here, but there is so much more to do. Certainly based on traffic, it's not a high priority, but I wish they would at least fill in the deep potholes and smooth out some of the whoop-de-doos. A half-speed descent at maximum concentration isn't much fun.

The trailhead for the Soquel Demonstration Forest is just about the start of the last climb. Near the top, the route gets somewhat repetitive. There's a wide open unshaded section, followed by a short climb, then a sharp left turn, then a right, and repeat. This is the most difficult part of the climb. It can get hot, though today it's only in the 70s, nice. And I still felt strong after 65 miles, though my neck and shoulders were sore. Up here, several sections of the road have been repaved, which makes it a little nicer. I stopped to take a selfie (we all know I'm not skilled at that). Out of breath from the last climb, it's the best I can do, with the demo forest in the background. The epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake is not far from here. Also, this forest is a mountain bike mecca, but it's currently closed weekdays due to forest management operations. Another good reason to ride today (less vehicle traffic)! It borders the Forest of Nisene Marks state park, the entrance of which I passed earlier in Aptos. If you like mountain biking, these two are not to be missed.

From the peak, it's still 5 more miles to get back to the Summit Store! It starts out with some rollers hugging the canyon walls, until it finally turns downhill. The descent starts out choppy, but smooths out at the Burrell Fire station so I can finally coast at 30mph again. Passing the Summit Store, it's about 2.5 miles back to Old Santa Cruz. The delayed start means it's the beginning of rush hour now and Summit can be busy - and there's no bike lane. Most of the traffic is opposite, though, but it was still a relief to turn right onto Old Santa Cruz for 3 miles of well paved descent, the reverse of this morning's climb. In this direction, I pass by Aldercroft to go direct to the car - I'm not exactly sure how to get back across Highway 17 if I did the reservoir counter clockwise - probably a dirt path. So, straight down Old Santa Cruz to the Bear Creek overpass. There one more stinger in there by the Lexington School, one final quarter mile at 9%, then it's basically downhill to the finish.

 

Out of breath - top of the final climb near the Soquel Demo Forest

Lexington Reservoir - big difference 6 hours later

Post Ride Number 1

I saw a quote recently that "Dana Farber investigators played a substantial role in developing more than half (51%) of all cancer drugs approved by the FDA in the last five years". That is a great statistic, and reinforces my admiration of DFCI.

As of September 12, I've raised a bit over $12000 with the help of my awesome sponsors, on the way towards my $15000 goal by October 31. The PMC's goal is $75M - they crossed the $1B-since-1980 line back in July. This first of 2 rides was a solid challenge, the next one in November will be longer but with less climbing; typically in the 70s in Death Valley in November, but... we'll see. Stay tuned for that chapter.

As the PMC says, there's a lot riding on us, and I'm glad to do my part.

Thank you so much for your support!
 

Chapter 2 - Death Valley Century, November 16, 2024 After the September ride, there wasn't much time to relax. I took a few days off and then started training for the November century ride. Some rides were pretty average, but others were really fast. At the end of September, I set a new recent (15 year) record on my benchmark short ride. Then, October was the biggest cycling month of the year, outpacing June by a few miles. The last October ride was a 60 miler with almost as much climbing as the upcoming century, with the sort of pace I haven't seen in a long time. So I was feeling pretty fit. Even better, by early October, I had surpassed my goal by more that $2000, exceeding $17000, thanks to my great sponsors! And on top of all of that, I'll be just 60 miles short of 3000 miles after the DV century! It's been a very long time since I rode that much in a year. Sadly, in the midst of this training, our beloved cat Kooky succumbed to cancer. He had a very tough time early in September, but he powered thru and had a really good last month. He was 16-1/2. A real athlete, he was able to climb our 7 foot cat tree to the very end. He was a real people person, and he will be missed by many.

The good life

DVC week

We stayed at a new lodge, the Firefall Ranch, owned by the same folks that own our favorite place to stay, the Evergreen Lodge. They did a nice job. It's about 20 minutes from the west entrance of the park, and the main restaurant Yova is terrific! Unfortunately, snow means closing Tioga Road, so it was an extra 135 miles to get to Death Valley. Oh well.

We haven't been to Death Valley for about 10 years. The weather forecast had been all over the map the week before, but as we closed in on ride day, it was looking like a high of 70 degrees and sunny skies. We arrived on Thursday, a day early for check-in, to have some time to relax and drive/hike around the park. We stayed at the Oasis at Death Valley which was the home base for the ride. We opted for a cottage, which was very nice.

Check-in was Friday night. I can't remember the last time I checked in for an organized ride. Maybe the 2006 PMC? The national park limits the ride to a maximum of 300 riders, and about 210 signed up. Beth signed up to volunteer at the last rest stop. The ride itself has 7 turns not including getting into and out of the home base at the Oasis Ranch. The route map and elevation profile are shown below. As you can see, there's one big climb in the second half, however the first half has about as much climbing stretched out over 55 miles. In total, there's about 5000 feet of elevation gain. I thought I might be able to do 6 hours. How'd it all work out?
 

DVC Route map

Elevation profile

Badwater As you can see above, the first part of the ride is an out-and-back to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the US at 282 feet below sea level. The organizers are subject to a very extensive set of rules and restrictions provided by the park service. One of the rules translates to releasing riders 20 at a time at 2 minute intervals at the start. I was in the 7th group, so more than half of the riders were out on the course when I started. The ride starts with a climb up to the intersection with Badwater Rd. Once on Badwater, it was a quick trip to the first rest stop at 27 miles. In fact it was the fastest 25 miles I've done in decades. I covered the first 20 miles in 1 hour. I was thinking this couldn't possibly be a sustainable pace... Almost immediately after the turnaround at the rest stop, there were headwinds. It was forecast to be breezy, but not like this. These were 10 to 15 mph sustained winds. I've ridden with winds before, but rarely like this. Seriously windy without a break. The terrain is pretty much the same out and back, maybe fractionally more climbing on the way back. But this wind was a real anchor. Places I should have been doing 20mph, I was doing 15; slight climbs, maybe 12. This continued all the way back to Furnace Creek. I found various small groups (one or two or three other riders) to try to form some pace lines, but sometimes they would drop off the back, sometimes I would. After 2 hours, my pace dropped to 18mph. After 3 hours, 16mph. After 57 miles I arrived back at Furnace Creek, beat. It's a lot of work fighting the wind! It took 1-1/2 hours to get to the first stop and 2 hours to get back. Big difference. Hoping for less wind on the climbing half of the ride, I continued on.

Starting line Badwater Basin First stop. Great scenery!

Hells Gate

Well, there's hope and then there's reality (ain't it the truth). Turning left out of The Ranch, the wind was still there, perhaps not quite as bad as Badwater. The direction had changed to a left-to-right cross/headwind. This stuck around for another 13 miles - pretty much until we turned off 190 to climb up to Hell's Gate (the summit of Daylight Pass). The climb itself starts at about 70 miles, out on 190. Two right turns (onto Scotty's Castle then Daylight Pass Rd) begins the steeper part of the climb. It might not look it, but it's about 6% average the entire 7 miles, climbing a little over 2000 feet. Not super steep, but steep enough. Once on Daylight Pass Rd, the wind had just about stopped. Don't know why, but it was certainly a relief after fighting it for 43 miles. The dozen or so riders I saw in this section were all happy for the lack of wind. I set a reasonable pace. Maybe half way up, I backed off a bit more, as my legs and back were acknowledging the effort with all of the wind.

Then, without warning, with around 2 miles left to climb, the wind returned with a vengeance! Maybe the same sustained speed as earlier in the ride, but much more gusty, some about 25 mph! (Conveniently, there's a weather station at Hell's Gate.) Beth told me later it had been like that at the summit of Daylight Pass all day. One rider called it a real slap in the face. Some riders dismounted and walked. I was riding a 7% grade at a speed I usually do on a 14% grade. Anyway, the last quarter mile had howling winds, and I was zig-zagging to keep the bike upright. I finally arrived at the stop around 1:45PM, exhausted. It took over an hour to climb Daylight Pass. The pace wasn't as bad as it felt, maybe 85% of a steeper local climb. Beth was there to get some photos and bring me water, a Coke, and some Cheetos. In the photo below, you can see the wind in action. And although the average temp was only 68 degrees, that's not sunscreen around my eyes. That's salt.
 

Start of Daylight Pass

Strugging at the top of Daylight Pass / Hells Gate

At Hells Gate, where Beth was volunteering. You can see how windy it was!

Final Sector

We were all looking forward to the likelihood of tailwinds, at least on the flat part of 190, but first there's one more challenge to go - the descent from Daylight Pass to 190 on Beatty Rd. This is a really really fast descent, though I'm not sure why - it's only 6% - but in about 5 seconds, I was doing 45. Normally, not a big deal. But the bike did not feel right. A combination of the tailwinds and crosswinds and the surface created what's known as a speed wobble. If it's never happened to you, it can really scare the daylights out of you. Even if it has happened before (which it has for me), it is very unsettling. Without boring you too much with the science, it's an oscillation of the steering assembly at the bike's resonant frequncy. I tried a few tricks to dampen the vibration which didn't work, so the only mitigation is to slow down. Too bad, as it's an otherwise straight, non-technical, fun descent. Once again, the wind had its day. (After the ride, I talked to a lot of riders who had speed wobbles on the descent.) After a few more intermittent wobbles, I got back to Highway 190, and turned left for the last 11 miles back to Furnace Creek. Finally a stable tailwind! I covered the last 20 miles (including the descent) in 55 minutes. Total riding time for the day was just under 7 hours.

Post ride Number 2

This was a very tough ride that I really underestimated. I knew it wouldn't be hot, but I had no idea it would be so windy (not sure anyone did). Although it was cool, I went thru 5 water bottles (2 with electrolytes) and about 1300 calories of Clif bars and Gu (and Coke and Cheetos). The ride gets an A+ for scenery, that's for sure. A nice, cool, sunny day. But, oh, that wind - we were in line for dinner at the saloon with some other riders and everyone had the same thoughts. Good group of riders, good water stops, the best volunteers I was very sore after the ride, not surprising given the distance and wind.

The following day was a planned recovery day. We did a half-day off-road excursion, a few short hikes, and ended the day at the Mesquite Dunes, a few miles from the base of the Daylight Pass climb. A few photos below. The sunset over the dunes was a fine way to end the trip.
 

The Ranch at DV

Echo Canyon

Mesquite Dunes at sunset

Closing Thoughts

I'm not sure what attracted Chris to the DVC ride. I know when I first learned about this ride decades ago, I figured it would be super hot. Now I know that it's in November, and not. Maybe it was another ride in a national park, as he had done a few of those? Regardless, it certainly was a challenge, moreso than usual. In total, the two rides were 180 miles and 11500 feet of elevation gain. That's a pretty good PMC.

As mentioned earlier, I exceeded my goal, raising $17078, thanks to all of my great sponsors. The PMC also hit their goal, presenting a check for $75 Million to Dana Farber on the same day as the Death Valley ride. It took 44 years to raise their first billion. I wonder if it will take a quarter of that many years to double it.

Thank you again for your support!
 

 
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