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2003 Climb to Kaiser
(Saturday, July 25 in Clovis, CA)
See also my photo album from this
ride.
Adam likes to ride
It fills his big head with pride
Justify fried food
- Sarah
The Climb to Kaiser. Reportedly one of the 10 toughest one-day cycling events
in the country. This coupled with my lack of success with the also
extremely-difficult Terrible Two and Devil Mountain Double found me rather
trepidatious as I arrived in sunny Fresno, CA on Friday afternoon. I searched
in vain for lower gears at the excellent CycloPath bike shop (conveniently
located about one block away from my hotel), then drove over to Clovis to
checkin. I got my rider number, patch, water bottle, and various product
samples. I talked with a woman from Davis who was also doing this ride for
the first time. Coincidentally, she turned out to have the room next to mine
at the EconoLodge. The fellow at the information table was a veritable fount
of knowledge about the ride. He said that the climb up Tollhouse/Pine Ridge
was the crux and if you made it up that, you could probably finish the ride.
I had a very mediocre spaghetti dinner at Perko's Cafe, then retired early,
after noting to my delight that my hotel TV carried OLN so I could catch up on
the Tour de France when I got back from the ride.
I woke up at 04:20 after sleeping as well as I ever do before a big event,
suited up, and drove over to the Veterans Hall in Clovis. It was in the
mid-70s, which at 5am, forecast a rather warm day! I milled around with
everybody else, waiting for 5:30 to come around. At 5:20, a staffer gave us a
little pep & safety talk, and at 5:30 sharp, we rolled out, one large mass
of riders. I initially hung towards the back of one of the lead groups,
wanting to take advantage of the rare opportunity to ride in a peleton. With
so many riders in front of me, speeds of 25mph were nearly effortless. The
police department was blocking every intersection that had a light, so we had
no impedances heading out of town - cool. I stayed with the pack for perhaps
an hour before we encountered some rolling hills and the fast folks threw down
the hammer. I saw no reason to put in any effort so early in the ride, so
I fell back, soon hopping on a very long paceline (at least 30 riders) that
was going a more agreeable pace. I stayed with them until the climb up
Wildcat Grade began in earnest. On paper, Wildcat looked like it'd be a tough
climb, but as it was still early in the day and my legs were fresh, it didn't
feel too bad at all. As I climbed, Felix passed me and we chatted for a few
before he went on ahead, being a much faster climber than I. I continued
along and soon arrived at its summit and the first
rest stop (24.5mi). I saw
Glenn and Tanya from the HP Death Ride team (who I'd also seen on the Sierra double-metric this year) and rode out with
them.
There was a nice little descent out of Wildcat continuing on Watts Valley Rd.
We climbed the Burrough Grade, which wasn't at all difficult, but was lovely,
and then rode through the scenic Burrough Valley. Glenn and Tanya are also
faster than I, and they soon went ahead at a small upturn in the road. After
rolling through the valley for a bit, there was a fun descent to Tollhouse Rd.
A rider crashed on this descent, breaking his hip and femur, I later heard.
Ouch. I climbed a little ways on Tollhouse Rd., passing a SAG motorcycle
pulled over to the side. Being a smart ass, I couldn't resist asking him if
he needed a pump or water or anything. He said he'd see how funny I felt in
20 miles. Not very, it turned out! In short order I arrived at the second
rest stop at the Sierra Elementary School (37mi). They had delicious
cookies here, and a girl was interviewing riders, whether for school or work I
did not know, but I was happy to answer her questions either way. After
sufficient procrastinating, I set back out to attack Tollhouse/Pine Ridge
grades.
Tollhouse climbed, frequently quite steeply, around the side of a mountain,
with a handful of 180° switchbacks. While a difficult climb (its grades
reach a pretty lofty 19%), the views were excellent and the road condition was
superb, so the time passed relatively quickly. There was also an almost-total
lack of non-SAG traffic (this was overcompensated for shortly). I took a
brief rest at a water stop at a ranger station (44.5mi) to mix up more
Sustained Energy, then continued on a very steep half mile to join Hwy. 168.
This is where the payback was for the untravelled roads of the previous miles.
There was a constant stream of SUVs towing boats for the entirety of the 5
mile, mostly shoulderless climb up Pine Ridge. The drivers were courteous
enough for the most part, but their sheer volume made this stretch of road
rather unpleasant to cycle on. While there's nothing steep on this road
(it is a highway afterall), it does manage to gain 1400' of elevation in 5
miles, so its not like you're recovering from Tollhouse on it! After a bit, I
pulled into the much-anticipated
rest stop at a church in
Shaver Lake (50mi). The combined Tollhouse/Pine Ridge climb gained 4100' of
elevation in a mere 12 miles, and I definitely felt it! They had flushing
porta potties with sinks here - ooohhhh! After mixing up more Sustained
Energy and refilling my hydrapack, I rolled out.
Continuing on Hwy 168, the auto traffic thinned out as I rode around Shaver
Lake, then it pretty much vanished when I passed the boat launching area
(which had a long line of cars waiting to launch their craft). A left turn on
Big Creek Rd. shortly thereafter began a short climb to the top of the Big
Creek canyon. A staffer at the top told us to be careful on the descent, as
there was a cyclist down towards the bottom of the ride. Uh oh. The road
descended rather steeply, with sharp, blind corners. I took it easy both
because it was an unfamiliar road and due to the warning about a crash. I
came to the crash scene about 2/3 of the way down and saw one of the worst
sights I've ever seen. The cyclist was covered in a tarp as paramedics and
staff stood by sadly. The rider had not survived the accident, which I later
heard was due to the rider taking a turn too fast and wide and hitting an
oncoming pickup. This gruesome scene would stick with me for much of the rest
of the day. My heart goes out to the rider's family, friends, and the driver
of the car. I continued descending Big Creek at a greatly reduced rate of
speed, as my mind wasn't entirely focussed on the road at this point. Across
the canyon I could see a cut in the mountainside that I presumed (correctly it
would turn out) was our climb back out. A set of large pipes plunged down
into the canyon, feeding a humming power plant in Big Creek. I stopped
briefly at a water
stop in the "town" of Big Creek (61.5mi), then set out to conquer the
steepest climb of the day.
The road immediately turned brutally steep, easily at a near-20% gradient. I
was quickly humbled by the vertical, shadeless climb, which did at least have
the common courtesy to feature some really nice views. I was in my lowest
gear (30T front, 26T rear), slogging along at 35rpm. 34. 33. 32. 31. 30.
Screw this, I can walk faster than 2mph! So, for the first time since the
1999 Death Ride (my first-ever organized bike ride), I hopped off my steed and
did a hike-a-bike. A woman just ahead of me had the same idea, and we walked
together for a ways. I was happy to have some company to distract me from
both the accident and the painful climbing (it wasn't an easy walk either).
Only a couple riders passed us, and we nearly caught up to a rider in front of
us! One of the ever-present and ever-helpful SAG motorcycles talked us
through the next stretch, telling us where it was steep and where it was not.
I remounted my bike on a flatter stretch only to immediately cramp up, so off
I came again. This was an ego-killing climb indeed! After what seemed to be
an eternity, but was probably only 15 hours or so, I got to a reasonably flat
stretch and rode into Huntington Lake. The lake looked like some wonderful
oasis, with its tree-lined shores and deep blue waters. A couple miles of
rolling hills around the lake brought me to the lunch stop (67mi). The crowd
here was definitely thinning out, and I was surely towards the back of the
pack, but at this point I didn't really care so long as I finished. Given
that there was "only" one more difficult climb, it seemed likely I would make
it. I snacked and tried to stretch, but that just resulted in more cramping.
I'd dutifully been taking 2-3 Endurolyte tablets every hour or so, and eating
Tums at every chance, so the only likely reason for cramps was a lack of water
despite my drinking several lakes' worth. I talked to some nice folks on a
tandem (yes there were one or two!) from Oakland/Berkeley. I mentioned my
nervousness about this ride due to my knee problems on the Terrible Two and
they said, "oh, are you Adam Paul?." Apparently they recognized me from my
injuries :) After talking to them for a few, I reluctantly set out to get the
last hill of the day over with.
Another 5 lovely miles along
Huntington Lake Rd. brought me to a left turn on
Kaiser Pass Rd. After passing a gushing water spout, the
road climbed pretty gently for the next 5 miles. It was a wide two-lane road
with plenty of room for passing, and not much traffic. The views to the
right of the high Sierra were excellent. I actually enjoyed this bit of the
climb! Soon after I started the ascent, Glenn and Tanya came down and shouted
hi as they zoomed by. The gentleness of the climb was not to last, however,
as I passed a large winter road-closure gate and the road narrowed to 3/4 of a
lane and got much steeper. I was still feeling OK ("OK" here being entirely
relative to my state on Big Creek!), so of course, the road steepened
accordingly. Oh well, I was under a mile from the top now, and no way was I
going to not make it! Descending riders and the ubiquitous passing SAG
vehicles encouraged me that I was almost there. A nice 18% gradient on a
right hand turn spiced things up a bit, and finally I got to the summit
(79.5mi) to the cheers of the wonderful staffers. It had taken me an
appalling 10hrs 50min to get here from Clovis! They recorded my number and
valet-parked my bike while I sat in a shady chair for a few, refuelling and
relaxing. I didn't feel I should stay very long, though, as I had only an
hour and forty-five minutes to get back to the Shaver lake rest stop, 28 miles
away, with a 1300' climb between me and it.
I carefully picked my way down the old road, which was much too twisty and
bumpy for any real speed, shouting encouragement to the few remaining riders,
then bombed down the modern road back to Hwy. 168. The return route went
around the other (southeast) side of Huntington Lake on 168, which was by this
time, thankfully, lightly trafficked. The next 9 miles consisted of 4 rolling
hills of a mile or two each, happily none very steep. So this was Tamarack
Ridge. I resolved to do my darndest to make the time cutoff, and "hammered"
(again, a relative term here) up the climbs as best I could. They proved to
be less awful than I was expecting, and I soon passed the water stop at the
summit (96mi) and then enjoyed a fast and fun descent to Shaver Lake. From my
calculations, I should arrive at Shaver just before its cutoff time of 18:30
if I kept my speed at 15'ish or more. I passed the boat launch area, now
un-crowded, and heyyyyyyyy a hill! Oh yeah that's right - we descended
a fair bit from the Shaver rest stop to the actual lake in the morning, which
meant, that's right, a climb back up to the stop - argh! The rolling climb
was not at all steep, but I hadn't factored it in to my mental speed
calculations and I wasn't sure how strict they were going to be about the
cutoff times. Most non-Death-Ride rides don't care too much if you're off by
a little bit, and thankfully this ride didn't either as I pulled in to the rest stop at 18:37, 7
minutes past the official cutoff. Nobody made any noise about it being late -
they just noted my number, parked my bike, and asked me if there was anything
I needed. I was now almost surely going to finish - yay! The woman I'd
walked up Big Creek with was here, without lights. Not a problem at this
hour, but she was unlikely to get back to Clovis before dark. I told her she
was welcome to borrow my backup light (a 4AA affair) at the last rest stop if
she needed it. I picked up my Niterider light, topped off my liquids and rode
out.
The descent on 168 from Shaver to Pine Ridge was quite enjoyable. There was
moderate traffic, but I was going about the same speed as it was, so no
problem there. Before too long, I turned right on Auberry Rd. and endured
some more gentle rolling hills before another sweet downhill into the central
valley AKA Hell. The descent on Auberry, while fast and fun, did have several
sharp corners to mind, and the temperature rose very sharply as I descended.
It went from on the warm side of pleasant to sauna in no time flat. I pulled
into the water stop in Auberry (128mi), but they had no water, only ice, so on
I went towards the last stop about 10 miles away. Feeling that the ride would
have been too short otherwise, I took a wrong turn on Frazier Rd (the road
sign was a bit vague as to which road was which - the left one is Auberry),
but quickly saw the error of my ways. Two unchained, unfenced dogs chased me
back to Auberry Rd., and I was back on course. It was a nice rural ride
through an open furnace to the last
rest stop at the Millertown Store (138mi).
They had ice-soaked towels here, which felt realllllly nice on my neck! I had
a soda and refilled my various liquid containers with ice-cold water. The
lightless woman pulled in as I was getting ready to leave, and asked to take
me up on my offer to borrow my backup light. After getting it affixed to her
bike, we rode out to put the last 14 miles, which we were assured were
pancake-flat, behind us. Lumpy pancakes perhaps. The tail end of Auberry Rd.
featured some itty-bitty hills that necessitated the use of my nearly-lowest
gears - I had nothing left to give the hills, no matter their size.
Fortunately after that it really was flat, and I was able to keep an OK
pace (mainly by sucking wheel). I was starting to feel pretty un-well and
parched, but the end was near now. It was full-dark now, and a pair of SAG
vehicles provided us with a rolling blockade, one in front, one in back - now
that's service! They signalled and shouted out every remaining turn, and
provided much encouragement. A couple other riders caught up with us and we 4
rode into the finish together at 21:36 to the cheers of the support crew.
I checked in with a tired-looking little girl, got my finishers pin, and
collected my coveted jersey - woohooo!! In contrast to the very slow ascent,
getting from the top of the pass back to Clovis took only 5hrs 13min. The
staff had a TV set up playing the day's TdF stage, so I got to see how it
turned out, and they even went out and got some pizza for us stragglers when
their food supplies ran low. As I relished having finished the ride, a few
more riders pulled in. One of them looked decidedly ill and just sat against
the wall, motionless and speechless. Some staffers quickly noticed his
condition and summoned paramedics to rehydrate him. After eating a little
pizza and talking to folks, I went back to my hotel and crashed out hard.
This was probably the hardest ride I've done to date, definitely much harder
than the Death Ride (less climbing, but more distance, and waaaaay steeper
grades) and harder than, say, the Knoxville double. Although the memory of
the suffering may well fade with time, as of now, I don't know that I'll do
this ride again! The Fresno cyclists do an absolutely first-rate job
supporting this ride, what with the valet bike parking, ice water everywhere,
proper ultra fuels/pills and snacky foods, sodas, abundant SAG, etc. Other
than the morning stretch from Pine Ridge to Shaver on Hwy 168, the route was
beautiful and lightly trafficked. If you want a challenge, this surely is
one!
"That about sums up that fateful day
When conditions near Fresno made all of us pay
You'd think having done it, I'd be a bit wiser,
But I'll return next year for the Climb to Kaiser!"
- Found on Google groups search for
"climb to kaiser"
Ride Stats:
Distance: |
155.5mi |
Total Time: |
16h 3m |
On-bike Time: |
13h 27m |
Average Speed: |
11.5mph |
Average Speed (including stops): |
9.7mph |
Maximum Speed: |
48.4mph |
Total Climbing: |
13,500 ft |
|
Rating (out of 10): |
Difficulty: |
10 - owwwwww. |
Support: |
10 - cheery staff, valet bike parking, tons of SAG |
|
Food: |
8 - Accelerade, V8, soda, Endurolytes, Tums, Ibuprofen. I suspect
there might've been some actual food too :) |
Route: |
8.5 - mostly quite lovely, although the busy parts of Hwy 168 weren't
too much fun. |
Overall: |
9 - epic! |
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