Furnace Creek 508 Race Report - 2X Tandem

[willy in pacifi]

It’s October so it must be time again for the Long Eared Jerboa (the Mickey Mouse of the desert) to head for the desert. This will be my 5th time heading out to participate in this fantastic race. The true measure of a great race is one in which you have no idea if you will be able to finish it. I have done many other long distance events and had no worry about finishing them. But at the FC508 you just never know what to expect and this leaves you with a good chance of DNF’ing.
In 2006 I raced it with my buddy Jim G as a two man relay. In 2008 I crewed for Jim when he finished the entire race solo and he returned the favor by crewing for me in 2009. However, in 2009 I got blown off my bike after almost 300 miles and DNF’d. I had an entire year to think of that DNF and returned in 2010 to get the monkey off my back by completing it solo.
I have decided that I am going to try to compete each year in a different category so this year thought I would try to put together a two tandem mixed relay. Now all I have to do is find three other suckers to team up with me. Best bet is to find rookies who have no idea what they are signing up for.

Deb Is a riding buddy who I have ridden thousands of miles with during the many Bay Area brevets. I officially met Deb about two years ago on a 400k out of Davis when she was riding with her “Sweetie” Tom. Tom was the designer and owner of Sella Anatomica (SAA) Saddles which allows many of us long distance riders to do what we love to do in comfort. Tom passed away a week later while riding the Devil Mountain Double. Both Deb and I recently returned from Paris where we rode Paris Brest Paris for a second time on singles. To get ready for the 508 Deb and I did a few tandem test rides. Deb and I only rode four times before this race but they were rides of 90, 190, 240 and 140 miles each. We seemed to get along fantastic on the bike as we both liked the same cadence and worked very well while standing.
Steve & Julie Now I just need to talk another tandem team into joining us. I put the word out to a few e-mail lists and rec’d a few responses including one from Steve and Julie who live in Orange County. Their resume included many crazy rides on their tandem including the Death Ride and the Climb to Kaiser. I figured I may be able to talk them into riding Townes Pass so asked them to join us. Apparently, Julie had asked/told Steve that what she wanted for her birthday was for him to contact “Willy in Pacifica” to get on the relay team for the FC508. They are members of the tandem e-mail list and have been reading my crazy ride reports for years and for some reason thought it would be fun to ride on a tandem or in my van for a long weekend with three other semi-adults.
Neither team had met each other until the Friday before the race and luckily we all turned out to be fairly normal folks. We met up at the start hotel on Friday to have our bikes and van OK’d by the race organizer. Then it was off to dinner and the supermarket to get our weekend supplies.
Jim Although officially a four person team does not need a crew, Jim volunteered to crew for us. He has finished the race three times so has the experience and knowledge we will need to better our odds of finishing. In hindsight we should have had two crew members as we all got a bit tired Sunday afternoon. Luckily we all knew we were tired and were able to adjust our crewing style to give each person enough cat naps to ride and crew safely.

Bikemobile Jim and I have been tweaking my bike van since 2006 and each year think we have it down perfectly, only to make it better each year. Bikevan 1.0 was built by my then 6 year old daughter Gabi and me and each year we have improved it to where it is now version 4.0 at least. This year included the addition of new support for the coolers so they did not move while driving the van and the addition of a custom paper towel rack. This will be required to follow riders down some very fast and twisty hills in the middle of the night and everything needs to have its place and stay in that place. The van has to be set up with specific signage to show our totem “Long Eared Jerboa” and safety signage and lighting to allow us to follow our riders at night at slower speeds. It also has the killer rack up top to carry a couple tandems and 5 extra wheels.

Bikes My bike is a fantastic deep blue Bilenky Armet tandem. It is extremely light for a steel tandem and it is very comfortable with a bit extra room in the back for the stoker. We are running daVinci cranks with 52-42-32 up front and an 11-32 nine speed in the rear. I have my beloved SAA up front and Deb is rocking her new Rivet Cycleworks design saddle on back. After Tom’s passing Deb started Rivet Cycleworks to continue supplying butt loving saddles to us long distance junkies. Steve and Julie have an Alum Santana tandem running similar gearing but they also have a rear disc brake which will really help on some of the monster downhills. They have the two longest and fastest downhills each at 17 miles. The Bilenky only has Campy SR brakes so if we end up riding any of their crazy downhills I have brought a backup rear wheel with a shaved down drum brake to take the edge off.

Race Day
We all meet up before 7:00 to watch the solo riders take off. Relay teams start two hours later. It is nice to not have to wake up in the dark to start a long ride for a change. I meet up with my old pal Bill Walton who also grew up in San Diego. I did not know Bill back then but we have made a point of getting together at the beginning of each October here at the FC508. Not sure if he knows about this annual reunion but we get our yearly photo together then watch the solos take off.

[willy in pacifi]

90 minutes later we have to get the van out of town. All support vehicles have to get out on the road before the relay teams so as not to clog up the narrow canyon roads of the first 25 miles. All relay teams will have to fend for themselves if they have a mechanical until they see us at mile 25.

Stage One: Santa Clarita to California City, 83.60 miles. Elevation Gain: 6176'.
Steve and Julie have volunteered to ride the odd stages which leave us the evens. They will ride 30 miles more than us but both teams will ride just over 18,000 feet. They will have to ride up the wicked steep 10 miles and 4,000 feet known as Townes Pass on stage 3 which is made tougher on a tandem.
Jim, Deb and I wait at mile 25 for signs of a tandem making a turn at the bottom of the hill. There are 2 four tandem teams which started with us but have no idea which tandem will be first sighted. Well it was Steve and Julie who showed up first and are looking fantastic as they motor up the final hill before a fantastic long stretched out downhill into the desert. They fly by and we do a quick hand off of empty and full bottles. They are now heading toward a 20 mile stretch of tandem friendly flats before having a 3-4 mile climb known as the Windmill climb. Each of the eight stages has a notable hill and this is that hill for Stage 1. At the top you make a quick decent and an even quicker hard right turn. We race the van ahead to mark the turn and snap some pictures. After this climb is a bombing downhill toward the airline graveyard in the Mojave Desert. The temps are mild in the 70’s which is fantastic for us NorCal folks. We do a few more handoffs and mark a few more turns before Jim gets us to the end of Stage 1 for us to get ready for our first pull.

Stage Two: California City to Trona, 71.2 miles. Elevation Gain: 4212'.
Deb and I get the tandem off the roof and make sure we have on our matching jerseys from PBP. We place an order with Jim at the local Subway shop and wait for Steve and Julie. S&J are in sight and as they round the corner we have to yell for them to stop as they passed us by. We take the baton and we are off like a shot. We have to take it easy as we have a long way to go but we seem to have a decent tailwind and are riding almost effortlessly in the mid 20’s. This goes on for about 15 miles and eventually the van catches up with us as we are climbing one of the many rollers on the first half of this stage. Where were these guys when we were really moving? These rollers eventually stop only to be replaced by a couple of very long gradual climbs. These climbs are 4-5 miles long and climb about 1,000 feet. Not bad if you are on a single but for a tandem it is hard work. Luckily the temps have kept in the 70’s. For each long uphill comes the ultimate tandem payoff … a long and very fast downhill. Not too steep and not a turn in sight. Our terminal velocity on these hills must be 50 MPH as that is as fast as we will go all weekend. The notable hill on Stage 2 is the climb to Randsburg. Once over this hill we have some flat, a couple lesser long climbs and then a fast flat approach to Trona at the end of Stage 2. At 6 PM we are required to switch into night time mode. This requires us to finally put our feet on the ground to mount a front light and to allow the van to get in behind us. The van has to now follow directly behind the tandem until 7am. This means each exchange will be more time consuming as we have to get one bike down and one up before the tandem can get going. If the van is not ready the tandem cannot move. Deb and I had a great first stage. Riding hard enough to move about 18 MPH which is not bad considering the long hills.

Stage Three: Trona to Furnace Creek, 98.19 miles. Elevation Gain: 7538'.
“Yes we have no Burritos” The end of Stage 2 used to signify the eating of the Burritos but the business is now no longer. One of the reasons you ride the 508 is for these burritos and I was really looking forward to enjoying one over the next 98 miles. We are still in night time mode as we finished this stage around 6:30. We do the tandem shuffle and Steve and Julie are ready for their toughest stage. Not only is this stage 98 miles but they have the 4,000 foot, 10 mile Townes Pass to get over. The 40 miles before the start of the mountain is a fantastic 40 miles. It starts with about 10 miles of gradual climbing getting steeper as you approach the summit of the Trona Bump. By now it is dark and we now head down into the Panamint Valley. This is a fantastic downhill for a tandem with smooth roads and sweeping turns. The problem is that S&J get going so fast we cannot keep up. They get around a single bike and Jim has a tough time safely getting around the support van and its rider. We let the tandem go as it is much smarter to wait then to take chances. When we head down fast downhills the tandems have brutal light set ups so we do not have to rely on the vans headlights. Even with the van directly behind the dips and twists in the roads will leave the tandem without the benefit of the vans lighting so you need to have brutal lights on the fast downhills. We eventually catch back on and S&J are now on the flats for the next 20-25 miles. They make quick work of this section and it is now onto Townes Pass. After the race Steve mentioned that one reason he offered to ride the Townes Pass stage was that 15 years ago he rode a single bike up the easier 17 mile, 5,000 foot side. I guess he figured 10 miles would be a breeze and who am I to argue. Well it hurt just to watch from the front seat of my van. I was not going to switch with them but they did a fantastic job getting up there and I am not sure Deb and I would have done any better. The trick is to not stop as it will only prolong the pain and it is almost impossible to restart on this hill. Once over the hill they rolled right over the summit and plunged down the 17 mile into Death Valley heading toward Furnace Creek. We could not keep up at times and were only able to catch back on when the road straightened out. On this decent they hit just under 60 MPH and remember it is completely dark now. But I have to tell you it is a huge rush to ride that fast in the dark. I have ridden down this hill three times in the dark and I know there are no tight turns to sneak up on you, so you can feel free to let it rip. Once a at the bottom S&J have about 30 miles of rolling flats to get to the races halfway mark at the end of Stage 3 in Furnace Creek. I was a bit worried we were heading into stiff headwinds as S&J were slowing down a bit and Deb and I would have 45 miles in the same direction before we turned to climb out of Death Valley. S&J pulled into Furnace Creek and the tandem shuffle began. Steve got off the tandem and immediately fell to the ground into the fetal position. He was completely out of gas and I think he was out of gas for quite a few miles. Just as we pulled in both of the 4 tandem teams pulled in and got out of there before we could. We beat them to time station 3 which is quite an accomplishment since they had fresh legs for the last stage and will be putting fresh legs out for stage 4 as well. We will see them again.

[willy in pacifi]

Stage Four: Furnace Creek to Shoshone, 73.53 miles. Elevation Gain: 6744'.
Deb and I ready ourselves for what will likely be our toughest stage. It is only 73 miles but it has two significant climbs back to back. We head out of Furnace creek and realize we do not have a headwind but either it is a slight tailwind or no wind. This is huge as I thought we were going to have to suffer for the next 45 miles. Anytime I can ride this section without thinking about the winds I am happy. In 2009 this is where I DNF’d while fighting 60-70 MPH headwinds for 70 miles before my legs gave up. Deb and I are moving really well and are hunting down the solo riders.
We started passing the solo riders back before we finished Stage 2 but now we have them lined up. We know a few who are out there and give them lots of encouragement as we ride by. One is Gyrfalcon, aka Nicole Honda. Deb and I were hoping that if we caught her it would be on our stage. In 2009 she was riding on a relay with her fiancé Jim when he passed me on Townes Pass. As their van passed me I heard a woman yell out “we love you Willy”. I did not know who it was at the time but it had a big effect on me that someone would yell that to me when I was having such a hard time. Nicole was supposed to be celebrating her wedding by spending her honeymoon in Paris while riding PBP. Unfortunately her fiancé Jim S. was killed while riding with Nicole on the San Diego 600k earlier this year. She has her own totem but chose to use Jims and ride in the Classic division in remembrance of him. The ultra-cycling community is a small group and everyone just about knows everyone else. I rode quite a bit of a 1,000k with Nicole and Jim last year and we helped keep each other awake by just having a nice conversation. Today luckily it was dark and I was in front because I always get emotional thinking of friends like Jim, Tom and another friend we lost last year Don. If ever I think of quitting I just think of them and remember that I am riding for them and they would love to be out here with us.
There are also a few relay teams out here that we keep leapfrogging now and again. The first 45 miles of this stage are relatively flat with a few tandem rollers thrown in. Deb and I stand well and attack some of the hills and accelerate up and over them. I cannot tell you how much fun it is to be so in sync with your tandem partner. We also put tunes on before we started this stage so we are “Rock’n & Roll’n” along sometimes signing at the top of our lungs. Luckily we have the music up high enough we cannot hear ourselves sing. Just before we hit the first hill we got a big boost of tailwind and we are now flying, catching singles and just motoring around them. After 45 miles the fun stuff is over and now we have a 4-5 mile hill, followed by a 1 mile decent, and then another 9 mile hill. These uphills are taking forever compared to riding a single but we are not doing too bad. We actually pass a few singles and regain the lead over one of the 4 tandem teams. Deb and I had to stop three times on this stage each time to let the crew pee. Remember, if they stop we have to stop. As we near the top of our final climb the sun starts to rise. Just at the top the clock turns 7:00 so we send Jim ahead with S&J to get ready for our arrival in Shoshone for the switch. Our final 15 miles comes with a couple of great downhills and some fast flat sections.

Stage Five: Shoshone to Baker, 56.2 miles. Elevation Gain: 2186'.
S&J are waiting and ready to go when we arrive. They do not have to wait as it is after 7:00 am and they have no turns for their 56 mile stage to Baker. As a matter of fact we do not have another turn for the next three stages. This stage can be the fastest or be brutal depending on the weather. If you have tailwinds you will make great time. Last year this was a brutal stage with headwinds keeping me at 8 MPH in 100-110 degree heat. Luckily this year we have tailwinds and the temps are fantastic only getting up to the mid-80’s. During the second day the crew has the option of leapfrogging or following directly behind the riders. The traffic can be fast and the shoulder is narrow or non-existent so we follow for most of the stage until we realize we are all starting to fall asleep while driving slowly into the heat of the sun. We decided to play leapfrog by driving up 10 miles. We would pull over and close our eyes to get a cat nap while waiting for them to pass us. I would set my alarm for 25 minutes to be sure we did not over nap. With 15 miles to go we loaded up S&J with fluids and then booked on into Baker, the home of the world’s tallest thermometer.

Stage Six: Baker to Kelso, 34.93 miles. Elevation Gain: 2920'.
Deb and I agreed to wear my 2010 FC508 finisher jerseys to look sharp. A race photographer took tons of pictures so hopefully we might show up in next year’s program.
We were planning to share a sandwich but with the fantastic tailwinds S&J had they arrive before we got to the Subway. So we did the tandem switch and Deb and I took off. We made Julie promise to get us a sandwich and bring it to us on the road. This will be our shortest stage at 35 miles but it is 25 miles up followed by a rough 10 mile decent into Kelso. At first it is a mellow tilt but as you get further and further into this stage the road tilts up more and more until it is quite steep. At first we were reeling in a bunch of singles but as the road got steeper some of those singles passed us back. One was a local friend “Pudu” Jason who has relayed this ride twice but was riding solo this year. He brought along his cyclocross bike just for the 10 mile rough decent at the end of this stage.
At the top we finally jumped off the bike for a break since one team was offering cookies. I remember it being brutal last year and was worried about descending on the tandem and heating up the rims. This section of road looks as if they did a great job of paving it then went back and threw tons of loose rocks on it which melted halfway into the pavement. But for some reason it was not as bad as I remember it. We were being ginger about getting up too much speed and trying to dodge rocks. But I could not tell a sharp rock from a dull rock and decide that all the rocks were likely smooth due to the traffic driving over them for so long. So we let it rip and hit mid 40’s. With the 28mm tires the long bike soaked up all the rocks and we bombed down to the end of stage 6 in Kelso just over the RR tracks.

[willy in pacifi]

Stage Seven: Kelso to Almost Amboy, 33.78 miles. Elevation Gain: 2280'.
I told S&J that is all they had was 18 more miles. The stage is 34 miles but the last 16 miles is a fast downhill. This put a big smile on Julie’s face as she could smell the barn. But they have to get up a 12 mile hill followed by about 6 miles of meandering around at the top before the fast downhill. This hill went by fairly fast and I was comfortable the entire way. Oh wait, I was in the van, which of course was comfy and air conditioned.

Stage Eight: Almost Amboy to Twenty Nine Palms, 58.28 miles. Elevation Gain: 4170'.
This last leg I did in the dark last year and I remember riding through this fantastic tree-lined neighborhood after 40 straight hours of riding. Well this year we got there in the daylight and there is not a tree or home in sight. Deb and I had one notable hill to go and it was a 10 miler. We took the hand-off in Almost Amboy and had about 15 miles of flat before hitting the final tough hill. We were riding very well and again had the tunes Rock’n. However, the hill was relentless and like most of the others got steeper and steeper as we progressed up. By the time we got to the top it was steep and my legs were yelling at me. There were also at least two false summits which added insult. Once up it was now Sunday night and it was dark o:clock. I seemed to remember a few turns on this decent but then again I remembered homes and trees also. As we rocketed down this 5-6 mile hill I realized there were no turns so we just let it rip and had a great time. At the top of the hill I kept testing my brakes whenever I saw any kind of yellow sign ahead. Once I realized there were no notable turns I let loose and it was as if someone gave us a huge push down the hill. I kept waiting to slow us down as I am not use to going this fast especially at night but could not come up with a good enough reason to slow down. I figured crashing at 50 is not much different than crashing at 40. In the Bay Area you do not get much practice riding down long straight downhills as all our hills are steep and twisty requiring lots of braking. But I have to tell you the long fast downhills on a long fast bike are fantastic. The tandem handled like it was on rails and did everything asked of it. Neither team had so much as a flat the entire race.
Once down the hill we still had 30 some odd miles to the finish line. It is on the worst road of the race and there is enough traffic to have to worry about it. The road is slightly uphill but you cannot tell unless you are paying attention to your speed. We caught up to George “Red Eye Vireo” who was finishing up his 6th solo race in a row. He was inducted into the FC508 Hall of Fame this year which requires you to complete 5 races in any division. I am hoping to get in in 2014 as this is likely the only HofF that will ever let me in. We let George go as we only caught him as we were coming off the hill and he will likely beat us in. This section just goes on forever and we finally all stop for a pee break. I do not have a computer on the tandem so figured we must have 10 miles to go only to be told by Steve it is 18 miles which just let all the air out of me. But in reality we only had 8 to go. While we were on the side of the road an 18 wheeler turned onto our road from a side road and made too wide of a turn and turned into oncoming traffic. Right in front of us a car locked up all four tires and all we could see from our angle was a car that was either going to hit this truck head on or miss it by driving off onto the shoulder. Luckily there was enough room for the car to move over and just like that it was quite again as if nothing had happened. Except for the unmistakable smell of burning rubber.
We finally managed to get to the final turn with a couple 3 miles to go. With a quarter mile left we got S&J’s tandem off the roof so we could ride in together.

It felt great to get off the bike knowing we would not have to get back on. We milled about and waited for Chris to bestow on us the coveted FC508 jersey and medal we had worked so hard for. Before the race I thought the 50+ mixed tandem relay record was 32 hours. But that ended up being the 40+ record and we should have been shooting for 38:40ish. Well, without even trying we set a new course record of 37 hours, 6 minutes so next year we will be able to see our names in the 2012 program.

Well, my goal of always having a great time while working as hard as I want to worked like a charm again this year. If someone told me I had to race as fast as possible it would not be nearly as fun as making sure you 1) finish and 2) be sure to enjoy yourself. Our new found friend Steve and Julie were a blast to hang around and easy going. We could not have asked for a better team and company for a weekend in the desert. Of course we did not really have to hang around them most of the weekend as either they or us were on the road : ) Also a huge thanks goes out to Jim who singlehandedly crewed for us and only got yelled at three times. (Jim move to the right). I cannot wait until next year when I am hoping to either ride it on a mixed two person team (Deb that means you), a mixed four person team (Deb that still means you) or a 4 tandem mixed 50+ team (Deb, Steve and Julie that means you guys). BTW, there is no record yet for a mixed 50+ 4 tandem relay team.

[weisan]

2x Wow~!!!

[PoppaWheelie]

Congrats Willy...thanks for sharing.

See ya out on the road, /Bryan

[RudAwkning]

Great to see you out there Willy. Inching closer to that 508 HOF! It was a real morale booster for me to see you guys on Stage 6. I was on the CX bike with 32s for the descent and it felt like I was riding on pillows. Poor little Andi Raimer was having the ???? shaken out of her. I think she took 15 minutes off the saddle at the base of that descent just to gather her senses.

I can't wait til next year. I've heard rumblings of a 4x mixed fixed, or a 4x classic. Maybe a 2x fixed with Melville. And I eventually wanna go solo classic in tribute to Jim Swarzman. So many options...it pains me that this race only happens once a year!

If you get Gabs out there, I think she'll go down as the youngest 508 finisher ever!