Confronting (not whipping) The Devil (DMD)

Confronting The "Devil", April 26, 2014

The Devil Mountain Double Century (DMD) is one of the more difficult doubles on the California Triple Crown (CTC) calendar. What makes the DMD difficult is all the climbing and, at times, some pretty steep climbing.

Reports of total elevation gain in the DMD are as varied as GPS elevation correction algorithms. If you finish it and buy the jersey, the jersey says its 20,000+ feet of climbing. So, whenever anyone asks, I always quote that number ;)

The DMD includes some great Bay Area climbs. It starts (2012 route) at the San Ramon Marriott and goes over Mt. Diablo (often with near freezing temps on the descent), Morgan Territorial, Patterson Pass (often with 20+mph headwinds), Mines Road, Mt. Hamilton (which can be very hot or snowing at the top), Sierra Road (with stretches at 13-15%), Palomares and Norris Canyon arriving back at the San Ramon Marriott.

DMD Elevation profile and key summits

Mt. Hamilton Challenge (another great century+ ride in the Bay Area) riders pass DMD riders going opposite directions along Mines Rd. around mid-day. I did the DMD with a good friend of mine, Steve Capie, who only just last year started riding again after being away from cycling for close to 25 years.

My goal wasn't so much to "whip" the Devil as it was to confront (and survive) it. I had anticipated around 22 hours and was surprised to have completed it in just over 19 hours. Cool temperatures (it didn't go above 60) along with all our training and preparation really helped. Here is how we did it.

Training for the "Devil"

For my 50th birthday gift to myself, in May of 2013, I rode the America By Bicycle (ABB) Fast America cross-country tour. I blogged about that ride here. While it may not have been essential preparation for the DMD, there is no question that it helped. If nothing else, it improved my base fitness and confidence in tackling a challenging ride like the DMD.

We trained between 100 and 250 miles per week. Probably the most important training we did was to ride all of the climbs in the DMD as well as long segments of the actual route. By the time we actually did the DMD, we just about had the route memorized. I took some video from these training rides (summiting Morgan Territorial, wind on Patterson, heat on East side of Hamilton).

If you live close enough that its an option for you or can come visit the Bay Area for a long weekend or two, I highly recommend training for the DMD this way, particularly if you are unfamiliar with the key climbs like Diablo, East Mt. Hamilton or Sierra.

In early March, about 6 weeks before the DMD, we also did the Cycling Escapes Santa Monica Climbing Camp. We blogged about that here. Other than getting our tails waxed by several strong (and Naked) women riders there ;) that was a great experience and great training. The camp includes several climbs that are also in the Mulholland Double Century. For me, the only downside of the camp is a southbound stretch of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in Malibu. With two lanes of 65 mph traffic on your left and parked cars with doors opening taking up the whole shoulder on your right, it just doesn't feel very safe. This short video gives you an idea of what it looks like on the northbound side.

Another training tool I highly recommend is Joe Friel's "The Cyclists Training Bible". Some of the key things Friel's book emphasizes is the importance of rest and periodization as well as goal setting and careful planning as part of a training program. His book, however, uses the word "race" a lot. Since I don't fancy myself a racer, whenever I read his book, I just mentally have to replace "race" with "ride".

I also tried to loose some body weight. I am 6'1" and nominally weigh 185. I would have liked to have been down to 170 the morning I started the DMD. But, I think I was in the low 180s. If I had it do do over again, I would make every effort to get down below 175 for this ride. Just 5 pounds out of 200 is a 2.5% advantage and that can make a difference near the end going up Sierra Rd with 160 miles on your legs.

Planning Your Attack

I had planned on taking a leisurely pace right from the start of the DMD anticipating a 22+ hour total ride time. However, they have a time cut-off of 8 hours to reach the Mines Rd. rest stop at 91 miles and about 9,000 feet of climbing. So, even though they give you 24 hours to complete the whole ride, they expect you to complete almost half the ride in 8 hours, one-third of that time.

However, if you ride at a pace that gets you there in 8 hours and then have the misfortune of a flat in the last few miles before Mines Rd., then you risk missing the cut-off. So, you have to plan some cushion for the unexpected. We planned for an effort that would get us to the Mines Rd. cut-off at 12:30 pm. That gave us a half-hour cushion for anything unexpected like flats, falls, cramps, other mechanicals, etc.

Since we had done the first climb, Diablo, many, many times we knew a moderate effort would take about 90 minutes for that climb. Including the 10 mile ride from the start hotel to the base meant we should arrive at the top of Diablo about 2 hours into the ride or 7am. We did similar calculations over the rest of the course and arrived at the plan below.

Given our target of 91 miles in 7.5 hours, thats an average speed of 12.2 mph. So, I set my Garmin 405 cycling computer to display, among other things, total average speed. I also had auto-pause turned off so that it would include in that calculation all time, even time at stops. As long as it displayed better than 12.2 by the time we reached Mines Rd., we would be at or ahead of schedule.

The other parts of the plan involved keeping tabs on and preparing for the weather and deciding what to carry and what to have shuttled forward on the route for late in the ride.

Within a few days of the ride, the forecast was for cool temperatures (low 40s at higher elevations and high-50s elsewhere) and somewhat windy conditions (15-20 mph from the west) but no rain.

Ordinarily, I ride with aero bars. However, of the 200 miles of this course, I think less than 25 are amenable to that style of riding. So, I removed them. In addition, I planned to carry two tubes, two CO2 cartridges, two water bottles, some food for between stops, S-Caps, a small 250 lumen handlebar mounted flashlight and my cell phone (note: for most of Mines Rd, there is no cell coverage). I planned to have some more food and additional lights (and batteries) sent forward to the Crothers and Pet-the-Goat stops.

"D" (MD) Day

Checking in the night before

The night before, we chatted with several riders to get any last minute tips. They all said the Diablo descent is cold! Scott Halverson reminded riders of the importance of hydrating, even in the cold temps, and to remove layers on climbs to reduce sweating and so you don't freeze on subsequent descents.

To last for any ride over about 8 hours, I have to turn off GPS on my Garmin 405. So, my data doesn't include a map or elevation profile. Still the data I do get, heart rate, elapsed time, cadence, distance and speed (from counting wheel revolutions), is sufficient for navigating with the route sheet and for managing my effort and schedule.

My wife, Sandy, wishing us off in the morning.

Start temps were mid-40s at 5am. I started with only one water bottle full and re-filled at the junction on the way up Diablo. We summited Diablo by 7am, right on schedule. There was a beautiful crescent moon and clear sky all the way up Diablo. Wind chill at the top was below freezing. The overall average speed my Garmin displayed at this point was around 8.5 mph, well below the 12.2 needed to make the Mines Rd. cut-off. I knew that my overall average speed would improve after the descent.

Just after starting the descent I had a bad chain jam between smallest rear cog and frame. Two weeks earlier, I had to replace the rear wheel and even though I asked for a 130mm rear hub, what I got was a 135. I think the tiny bit of extra space made a chain jam of this kind all the more likely. For the rest of the ride, I was cautious about shifting into my smallest cog.

Even though I had on a few layers, the Diablo descent was chilling! I was shivering so much at times the front wheel would wobble. It felt great to get down to flat land, warmer air and sun on my back. But the cold had sapped my leg strength a bit. My legs just didn't feel strong and reliable.

By the time I started Morgan Territorial climb, my Garmin's average speed was 13.5 indicating I was a bit ahead of our plan. The Morgan Territorial climb was pleasant. When we arrived at the top, we were about 10 minutes ahead of our plan. The descent was fast and still on the cold side. With 15-20 mph winds from the west pushing us, we covered the flats through Livermore and over Altimont quickly. Steve did a big pull over Altimont at an average speed around 25.

Unfortunately, after that long pull from Steve and push from the wind, we had to turn into the wind and climb up Patterson and that infamous Oh-My-Gosh summit.

Patterson Pass and the OMG summit

We summitted Patterson around 11:40 am. Even though I was wearing full UA legs, I was still a bit cold. My quads felt sluggish. I tried to warm them a bit keeping a brisk pace to the next stop at Mines Rd. Along the way, completely by coincidence, I ran across my sister and her husband out for their regular Saturday ride. So, they joined me and we road together to the Mines Rd. stop. We arrived there about 10-15 minutes ahead of our planned arrival of 12:30pm although I felt like I had expended a little more energy than I would have liked at this point in the ride.

Steve and I road together at a more relaxed pace along Mines Rd. We saw many Challenge riders going the other direction. At one point, our wives drove past in a car and ahead to a convenient spot in the road to stop and cheer. That was great. Later, my wife explained it was fairly easy for them to identify us because we both were riding with Cygolite HotShot 2-Watt rear red flashers and they were visible from a great distance! I highly recommend this flasher. It lasted for the whole ride on blink mode and at less than $30.00 its a bargain.

Steve leading us up Mines. Rd

Happy for the cheers from our families.

We arrived at the Mines Rd. Junction Cafe just before 3pm. We spent about 20 mins at the stop.  My legs just didn't feel like I could push them much. Ordinarily, I climb Hamilton in my middle chainring. But, today, I used my triple and I still struggled. Steve climbed away from me and I didn't see him again until the Crothers stop. I struggled up Mt. Hamilton, stopping 2 or 3 times to rest and eat. I carried Stinger wafers, Stinger honey packs and Power Bars. Eating a power bar in these temps is like chewing cement.

Some hot chicken soup at the Crothers stop buoyed my spirits for the next big climb; Sierra. The minute I turned onto Sierra I went into my triple. Its a 24 tooth triple with a 12-30 cassette on the rear! So, I could keep a pretty decent cadence 60+ even though I wasn't moving very fast. A bunch of volunteers and cycling enthusiasts made two rows of cheering sections on each side of the road for about a 100 yard stretch. They chimed bells and cheered and gave us all sorts of encouragement. It was fantastic! When a nearby rider mentioned he wasn't familiar with the climb I cautioned him about the false summit and the fact that after a short downhill, Sierra hits you again hard for another 1/2 mile. He appreciated the heads up.

We summited Sierra around 7:30pm expecting to see a rest stop right at the top. In fact, its another 2-3 miles down the road; the infamous Pet-the-Goat stop. There we gathered up lights, removed old clothes and put on new clothes for cooler night temps. The hot chocolate there was great. I carry a 1000 lumen handlebar mounted Monster flashlight and a 500 lumen head mounted, zoomable LED light. They both use field-replaceable 18650 rechargeable Lion batteries and I carried 4 extra.

The descent down Calevares at night was exhilarating! There are no street lights. There are no turn speed indicator signs. But, my lights together with Steve's lit up the road well and my helmet mounted light, because I could aim it allowed us to see around turns. This was probably the most enjoyable part of the whole ride for me! Riders from the Mt. Hamilton Challenge completing their circuit had climbed this section of Calevares several hours earlier in the day.

We arrived at the Sunol stop about 9:30pm. The hot dogs smelled great! But, I didn't dare eat one because I wasn't sure how my digestive track was going to respond to it. We rested for a bit and then left for the last two climbs (Palomares and Norris) and 25 miles of the ride.

There is a 6 mile segment from Sunol to Palomares that is on Niles Canyon Rd. (aka Highway 84). At 10pm on a Saturday evening, it still has a lot of car traffic and no shoulders. There were riders a few hundred yards ahead of us and some more behind us. Overall, I thought the car traffic did a good job of giving the bikes a lot of space. Still, I was happy to get of Niles Canyon Rd. and onto Palomares.

After summiting Palomares, my handlebar mounted Monster flashlight broke off in my hand. So, I had to stop for a few minutes to try to fix it. All the riders I was with moved on ahead of me. My helmet mounted light was dimming. So, I took the opportunity to replace its battery. It was eerily pitch black. The sound of frogs and crickets was amazing. I felt totally alone with no light from anything nearby. I pocketed my main light and decided to ride the remaining 15 miles with just my helmet light.

Up until this point, all the turns on the course were well marked by white spray painted "DMD" signs on the road surface. However, those markings were painted over on a couple of important turns from Palomares. At one of these intersections, and for the one and only time on the ride, I had to stop and consult the route sheet. Eventually I made it onto Crow Canyon Rd. in Castro Valley and found Steve waiting for me on the side of the road. I was really glad he waited for me because I wasn't completely sure I was still on course until I saw him.

We road the last 10 miles together. It was a tremendous feeling getting over that final climb on Norris canyon. There are some short sections on Norris canyon that are a little steep for legs with nearly 200 miles and 20,000 feet of climbing! We arrived back at the hotel just after midnight fully 3 hours ahead of what I had anticipated would be our time.

It was an incredible experience to have completed this challenging ride. The support staff was terrific. The food at the stops and lasagna and salad at the end was awesome. I highly recommend this ride but, as the ride web site says, the course shows no mercy! Be prepared for a long, long day in the saddle. Here's the official finisher's list.

Thanking Scott Halverson for such a great ride!