My best encounters were with the friendly people along the way: the father and his apparent 12 year old riding a tandem, a couple who rode a tandem over all 6 peaks, and the many people who offered to help with the flat, and most of all the great attitudes that folks displayed. Some were clearly not prepared to take on such a huge task, but they put their minds to it and went for it. Others that were prepared I stand in awe of, particulalry those who made it over all 5 peaks. This is a goal for me in the future.   Terry Gannon

(Alas, I had to tell Bill that Chain Reaction does not, in fact, have anything official to do with the Death Ride.  After all, if you compare it to our own Sonora Pass 2000 ride, it's far too wimpy.  Just kidding!!!  But the official DeathRide page, from the people putting it on, is at www.DeathRide.com) 

Indeed I did climb and yes I remember every pedal stroke. I can still vividly remember almost every tree, rock and bush along the Kings Klimb! But mostly I remember the color of the asphalt. Black!

Not much conversation was exchanged as comrades in cleats trudged upward. But the Tag Line I will always remember was related to me by a rider nest to me after climbing up the 3rd and steepest turn in the experience. He said " We did great! We were travelling 2 mph, and didn't fall over!"

True story.

Happy trails

Jack Wilson  Truckee, CA 

I attempted the deathride first in 1999.. I was 226lbs and had an old and heavy (nearly 40lb with the bike lock! yeah ! I took that along also) bike. One water bottle cage and no cammel back.. I had done zero (that is 0) miles training for the ride, I had never been at altitude before and It had only been 2 years since I gave up two packs of smokes a day..

I finished one (1) pass.. That is 42 miles, front of Monitor only.. I almost died doing it.. The only thing that got me there and back was pure pig headedness and nothing else. This year was better. 1500 miles and 70,000 feet, 200lb and a really nice Airborne bike.. I only managed three passes.

I am going to go for improvement next year.. Hopefully all passes.. But any improvement will be great.

I do NOT recommend anyone to do what I did back in 1999.. Be prepared. Do not underestimate the ride its hard.. But its fun.

Siamak Mirnezami

Chuck Wilkerson, El Segundo, CA 

Jerry Barrack 

I expected to be much more muscle sore (legs and back), and stayed at a hotel that had a spa to soak in after the ride (which is one great way to end the day). I'm 47, and targeted my heart rate for the ride to 150 +/-, 75 to 80 % of my actual max, which I maintained until Carson Pass where I started to fade into the 130's. Not riding the high altitudes very frequently, I wonder what the equivalency would be for a sea-level heart rate exertion to a given altitude, say at 8000 ft, the equivalent exertion would increase the heart rate by 10 or 12 %. The food and drink was good, especially at the needed locations, top of passes and at the half-way points up the long grinds, Ebetts and Carson. The only additional food I would have liked to have eaten other than the lunch stop was a sandwich, be it turkey, ham, or chicken at some of the other rest stops. The power bar - gels get old real quick.

The rest stop support was fabulous, the volunteers at Y2K and the half-way up Carson Pass would come up and ask, can I take your bike, get you something to eat, drink, what would like? The ice cream - popsicles at Carson Pass was a surprise, and for an ice cream lover, this was seventh-heaven.

The comraderie with the riders was great, everyone talked and told stories. A group of us riding up Monitor from the East side told stories which appeared to get other riders interest and attention. Even though this was just a ride, there was one rider taking this ride (race??) very serious or shooting for a PR, while riding up the back side of Monitor, someone riding down yelled, "out-of-the-way" very harshly, and a female rider behind us said "God, it's just a ride..", which is just what this was.

The decent down Ebetts Pass appeared short, which made the ascent an elusion, the ride back up was longer than it appeared. The Y2K leg was not as hard as it was talked up to be, round trip was 45 minutes from the rest stop. There was only one short spot of a 24 % grade around a curve that required standing or getting out of the saddle.

The last pass of the day, Carson, was a long up-hill, head wind grind. This was close to two hours (a long two hours) to grid up this pass. What helped was everyone else rode the same pace, or drafted to save what energy we had left. The ride down Carson was a blast, on the straight stretches, it was fun to ride at 35 - 40 mph. At the bottom, several of us (about 8 or 10) were strung out and coasting at 45, yea, I said coasting. Then we turned down the home stretch, up a hill at 8 mph, for last 3 miles. That was quite a transition, coasting at 45 to a hill grind of 8.

Would I do it again, you bet, I'll be there next year.   Mike Heaton  Danville, CA

For more info on the Markleeville Death Ride, check out our DeathRide page at www.ChainReaction.com/markleeville.htm.  

The "official" DeathRide page is at www.DeathRide.com (but it's not nearly as much fun as ours!)

And to answer that commonly-asked question is "Has Mike ridden the Death Ride?"  Well, yes, a couple of times, but it was "back in the day" when it was held on a Sunday, when our Redwood City store is closed.  This year I did have the opportunity to inspect the ride from 30,000 feet, as I was in a plane on my way to France for a week (during the Tour de France).  Maybe next year?   --Mike--