Check out the rest of my Eastern Sierra pics

 

Hey, hey, boys & girls.

The COURSE: The 2006 Eastern Sierra Double Century is now history. It was a great weekend of riding, as to be expected from this beautiful course.  The air was clean and the views were spectacular. The raging waterfalls coming down from the Eastern Sierra mountains into June and Grant Lakes was a sight to behold. All the lakes were filled to capacity. June Lake water temp was at a chilling 38 degrees. According to the fishermen/women that we stopped to talk to, the fish were not biting.

 

The WEATHER: The morning temps were cool & brisk. It made the climbs very comfortable. Perfect climbing weather. There was hardly any winds. It did not warm up until we got down to the Chalfant Valley at Benton Hot Springs. The descent from Sagehen Summit to Benton Hot Springs was warming up in the 80's and a fast ride with an average of 23.5 mph, even taking into account the long stretch of rollers in-between. The 36-mile return from Benton to Bishop though a bit hot (average temp of 93 degrees), was aided with a tailwind that propelled us back at an average pace of 24.1 mph. Pretty fast compared to my 'solo' run last year at 18.1 mph against a stiff headwind.

The RIDER: Average HR for the day was 141 bpm. I felt good all day, but I stuck to my plan of going conservative early in the day to conserve energy for the last climb up to Sagehen Summit. I established a PB (Personal Best) for Ride Time and Avg Ride Speed. However, because of unusually long stays at the CP (rest stops), I missed my PB for Total Time by 10 mins. This year's total rest stop time was 42mins 46secs LONGER than my 2004 PB times. This also created problems restarting the legs after cooling down for so long on some of the later rest stops. This could have been my 1st sub-12-hr Eastern Sierra DC. However, this experience tells me I can shoot for a sub-12-hr next year. I now know it is realistic for me, even with a moderate amount of time spent at the rest stops. That would be my goal for 2007.

The GROUP: It was a GREAT ride! We were able to keep our group of 8 riders together + 1 rider from Torrance, So. Cal. (from left to right): Chuck Caroulis, Joe Carter, Mike Hileman, Stephanie Bissonnette, Jason Landberg, Vic Miera, Jeff Jonas, myself, and Tony Wang  . One regret is Don DiLuccia, Dave Mirich, and Gary Sedlack got separated from us, so I was not able to spend riding time with them as they were just minutes behind us all day. 

The RIDE: This is Drago's (CALFEE DragonFly) first flight since he was stripped down to bare naked carbon. Equipped with some of the best go-fast and superlight parts, he tipped in at 13.75-lbs. It definitely helped in the climbs. However, I did notice that he was not as fast on the descents (free-wheeling) as Elvis (De ROSA King). Probably a combination of less weight and less aero frame/wheelset.  The American Classic Magnesium 300 wheelset squealed every now and then because it was so new, the coating on the ceramic braking surface has not completely worn out yet. The Zero Gravity 06 TI brake calipers with Kool Stop Zinc-Chromium pads did the job. It was the 1st time I had used an all carbon saddle, the German made AX-LIGHTNESS Endurance. I had only put in a total of 76 miles in 2 days on the saddle the week before this ride. So, towards the end, specially since it was mostly flat and I did not have much opportunity to stand, I could feel the effects on the long miles on my behind. Nothing surprising and just part of the new saddle adjustment process. Overall, Drago performed flawlessly.

   

See you again in 2007.

 

----- 2004 REPORT ---- I have returned from back-to-back weekends of the 2004 Davis and 2004 Eastern Sierra double centuries. The Eastern Sierra double has lots of climbing but it is SO VERY BEAUTIFUL!! (see pics below: I'm the little guy in the middle :-) paceline/Grant Lake and fishing/June Lake). This is my hardest double so far this year, and I am very tired. But I accomplished 5 - 1st-time-goals I set out to do and established a couple of personal bests in the process :

1. 1st-time - Back-to-back double centuries.
2. 1st-time - Using only the 53-big-ring (Davis DC).
3. 1st-time - Eastern Sierra double.
4. 1st-time - In the 12hr. category.
5. 1st-time - Under 60 mins. total pit-stop-time.

The  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Elevation Chart is courtesy of California Triple Crown, http://www.caltriplecrown.com/images/ESProfile.jpg and created by Mike Sturgill during the 2002 event with his Ciclosport CM414 Alti-M.

Outdoor scenery pics on this page are courtesy of Planet Ultra, http://www.planetultra.com/easternsierra/index.html and taken by Chris Kostman.