Most of you know that from October 7th thru 9th, I completed the Furnace Creek 508 – a 508-mile bike ride starting on the outskirts of LA, heading north through Mojave and traveling down thru Death Valley, Baker and 29 Palms. It's billed as the toughest 48-hours in sports, and with 35,000 feet of climbing and a usual 40%+ dropout rate, I'll just say that it's a tough 48-hours of sports.
No surprise that I'm writing a long race report…I apologize in advance for that and for the choppiness of the writing. I've had trouble putting this experience down in words. As I think I've mentioned before, sometimes, you want to keep certain parts to yourself. And so, I've forced myself to write about certain things that I thought would be interesting.
Some of you may recall an email I sent in March after I completed my 200-mile ride in Death Valley. Seems like ages ago, and I was at the time very new to these ultra rides. After another double century in March and a triple in June, I started getting more experience. While my bike volume stayed relatively high, given that I had Ironman Canada in late August, I was always balancing that training with that for the 508. When you factor in 2 weeks of tapering pre-Ironman and a couple weeks afterwards, I wouldn't say that the training program was ideal, but I had enough volume from the early season that would benefit me. It turns out that my less-than-ideal Ironman came back to help me in a couple ways, one of which I wouldn't have expected.
To set the scene for the 508, there are ~75 solo riders and about 30-40 2- and 4-person teams. Each solo rider and team had 1 support vehicle. This is your main, if not only, source of support, food, water, rest, etc. I think having all these support vehicles out there makes the event something very different than anything I've ever seen. You have all these "units" getting through the course together. Very cool. I should've taken some pics of the vehicle (my mom's minivan), because it was full with a couple coolers, shelves and containers of food and clothing, an extra bike, extra wheels, and anything else I thought I might want/need during this ride. I'll talk a bit more about my crew later, but my crew ended up being my sister Mitra and my dad.
The pre-race meeting on Friday was my first interaction with the other participants. Someone near my sister made the comment that the participants were a wholly-diverse group (I'm definitely on the younger end of riders). We happened to grab seats near a couple legends – the first is Ken Souza, a former duathlete I used to follow in the 80s and the prior year's winner; total stud. He's unbelievable humble and mellow. Next to him was seated 73-year old Gerd Rosenblatt. If you recall my March email, this was the dude who beat me. He is also the age-group record holder at the 508. The fact that the meeting started at 6:15pm and ended around 8pm made me aware of how different ultra riding is vs. triathlon. No way in heck do triathletes tolerate a meeting until 8pm the nite before – "I need to eat my meal and be back in my room and rest." Both groups are type-A, no doubt, but the ultra riders are type-A in a more reserved way, if that makes any sense.
Race morning began for me at 2am, as I hadn't been sleeping well in the prior week and an Ambien me much. After some final preparations at the start location in Santa Clarita, I said a short good-bye to my crew who had to get to the 25-mile mark to wait for me. With the first few miles run under caution as we get out of town, it's the only opportunity I had to draft off others but more importantly to chat with other cyclists. I met a UCLA ph.d. student who needed to get done in 36 hours so that he and his crew could get back to work – I checked later and he dropped out before the halfway point. Not sure what happened. I also got to chat with Ken Souza for a couple minutes. Turns out he DNF'ed as well. Then a left turn at mile 4.7 and we started the first climb.
Rather than doing a complete play-by-play, I'll try to capture some of what stands out for me:
-for the first day, until 6pm, the support vehicles had to run leapfrog support for their riders, which means that I would bike by my crew, pick up what I needed, and then they would drive by me a few miles and we would repeat. In doing so, I'd leapfrog other support vehicles, who would almost always cheer me on. All the crews did this for the other riders, and this definitely added to why I liked this event.
-As for the riding, let's just say that 35,000 feet of climbing is probably not an exaggeration. While there were definitely times when I was on the flats, of the 10 major mountain stages, at least 4 stand out as some of the toughest climbing I've ever done. One climb was 21.4 miles at a 2-4% grade. 21 miles!! That was day 2, and I just remember thinking, "why is this road here?" The steepest climb is Townes Pass, which is a 10 mile, 3800 foot climb. For those of you familiar with LA riding, Latigo is ~10 miles and 2,000 feet. So, basically twice as steep. My compact crankset with a 34 in the front and a 27 cog in the rear wasn't enough to spin by any sort of measure. Mitra and my dad tell me that I hammered up the climb. Sure doesn't seem that I did. But after almost a couple hours, the top was there. It's just hard to describe what going up these roads was like. Never-ending is one thought. But mostly you just have to settle in and spin away.
-If I wasn't clear earlier, you ride as much or as little as you want, whenever. Which basically means that I rode at nite, through the nite. From 6pm to 7am each day, the support vehicle had to be behind the rider. And each vehicle had to be outfitted with blinking amber lights. When we approached Townes Pass, it was ~11pm on Saturday nite and it provided what for me was one of the coolest images of the race. From a couple miles away, I could see a trail of cars following their cyclist up the mountain. But all I could really see was the car's tail-lights and the blinking lights on top of the car. Then as I turned around, I saw a stream of cars behind me, just the headlights this time, all moving at 10-20 mph. I find it hard to describe, but it was one moment during the race where there were so many riders near one another, and while they weren't visible to me at all, their cars' lights were. It's a set of images I'll always remember.
-so yes, I did ride through the nite. And I must say, I love riding at nite. The support vehicle provides most of the light. Except. Except for when we were descending places like Townes Pass and the road curves and the road dips. So I'm basically descending at 35-45 mph with the minivan as close behind me as possible, and then all of a sudden there's a large drop in the road as it curves down and so it's dark for a split second. Must say it's a scary yet exhilarating thing to experience. And also why I had a helmet light and bike light on the front. But at some level, you are riding on faith for a split second.
-One of the main reasons people drop out of the race relates to stomach problems. As much as I've trained all season and learned how to eat and drink, it's darn near impossible to simulate race conditions – what the air feels like, what it tastes like, how you'll feel on the hills, etc. Nutrition is just really hard. My goal had been to target ~300 calories per hour, which would mean ~12,000+ calories for the ride. As with most things, plans and reality end up slightly different. My nutrition came from a variety of places – SlimFast, fruit, Gatorade, chewy granola bars, fig newtons, chocolate bars, trail mix, gels, etc. I'll have to review my total count (I had a notebook in the vehicle where Mitra and my dad tracked everything I took in), but I figure the caloric intake was around the 12K, ~12 gallons of water, 2 2-liter containers of mountain dew, and somewhere on the order of 120-150 salt tablets. My savior, however, was Tums. With all of the different things I was putting in my body, my stomach was starting to burn from all of the acid. Luckily, we were able to get some Tums from the other crews, as it wasn't something I had planned on taking.
-This is where the less-than-ideal Ironman experience came into play. On the descent from Townes Pass, ~1am, I wasn't feel well, bad enough that I knew I needed to do something. At Ironman, I spent 25 minutes in the medical tent between the bike and the run, mostly b/c my feet were swollen, but it also helped to let my system catch up. And so that's what I did. I pulled over at Stovepipe Wells, and let my system catch up. After ~30-40 minutes of resting, downing a SlimFast and dry cup o' noodles, plus a few salt tablets and Tums, I was feeling much better. I'm not sure what I would've done if I didn't have the Ironman experience, but I will say that the learnings from my less-than-ideal Ironman helped to contribute to my finishing the 508. Amazing how things work.
-sleep. This part will be short. I slept 17 minutes the entire ride. From 6:12am to 6:29am on the morning of the second day. And interestingly, I was never that sleepy. Tired, yes. But not really sleepy. Plus, I didn't want to sleep at nite, b/c 1) it was cooler than during the day, and 2) we had a tail wind thru Death Valley and I wanted to use it as much as I could. It also turns out that it was the right amount of sleep – I wasn't groggy when I woke up and I felt pretty darn refreshed. Plus, I busted out this gem while sitting in the van before getting going on, "you know, this is not easy."
-Speaking of riding at nite, riding thru Death Valley at nite was one of the cooler things I've done. And to be able to wake up after my short nap to sunrise in Death Valley was epic. At the same time, as someone else said, as you're riding along, some random cars pass you and you wonder who the heck are these people and why are they driving thru DV at nite. Then again, they must be wondering why I'm riding my bike at 3am…
-As for passing the time, this one is hard to explain. I told my crew somewhere on Day 2 that I no longer had any cognitive ability. I just turn the pedals. And in some ways, you want that. You don't need to think that much. Just be safe and aware and keep moving forwards. But to pass the time, I threw on my MP3 player, primarily at nite. While some folks had amplified sound from their cars, I liked being in my own world, spinning away to my cheesy 80s music. I would temporarily take out the earphones when my crew would give me food and fluids, but then would revert back to the tunes.
-So how hard was this? There were many when I thought it was just brutally tough. Even before the race, I wasn't sure I was going to finish, particularly since I had been fighting a minor sickness the week prior to the race. But come race morning, I felt pretty good. One of the keys to keeping going for me was bike gearing. Mitra and my dad said that I seemed to be a machine, keeping the same cadence for the entire ride. Watching the video, it seems I did. But the key there was not knowing nor really caring how fast I was going. I had a sense that I would make the 48 hour time limit. But the bottom line is that I just love riding my bike. I think you could do this race without that, but it would be so much more difficult. I have always been at ease and at peace on my bike and so in many ways, I am well-suited for an event like this.
-While the climbs and the distance were all a challenge, the most difficult section for me was the last 25 miles, which probably took 3.5-4 hours to get through. One final climb to Sheephole Summit was never-ending. In fact, every climb seemed to be never ending. The descent down was so cold that despite wearing a jacket and leggings, I was frozen with teeth chattering, and had to stop to get in the car where the heater was blasting. Then despite being 15 miles away ~1am, I just couldn't generate much power anymore. The road was a slight uphill and the wind was blowing in my face. Man, that part sucked. You see the lights in the distance but they don't get any closer. Then you finally get to the lights, only to realize you have another 5 miles to go. And then a couple final uphills just for good measure. As if the course was at 34,950 feet of climbing and they wanted to get to 35,000 feet.
-Rolling into the driveway of the Best Western 29 Palms, there were a couple folks from the race staff holding a streamer finish line for me to bike thru. When I stopped, I turned to my sister and dad and told them that we did it. We, being the operative word. While I may have been the one on the bicycle, there is no way you finish the 508 without a good crew. Luckily, I had a great crew. They were just as spent as I was. Driving 10 mph behind me, or driving 40 mph behind at nite, getting food, fluids, salt, etc. ready for me and handing it off to me as I rode – all this took a ton of physical and mental effort. Add to it that most crews are usually 3 people – it lets one person have a mini-break – with 2 crew members, they were both always on, whether driving, handing off food, videotaping, etc. I'm very fortunate. So, at the Best Western, we got our picture taken with the race director, then just us. I got my finisher's medal, which is by far the heaviest one I've ever received, but is also probably the one I'm most proud of.
-Official time was 43 hours and 39 minutes, which translates to a net 11.8 mph. I don't know what my on-the-bike average speed was.
-We all use the word "amazing" to describe certain experiences, sometimes we use it too often. But there is no doubt that this was an amazing experience. I think it is only now that it is starting to settle in to what actually happened. Much of the ride was just a surreal experience.
-As for post-race, the main soreness I've felt has been not in my legs, but in my neck, shoulders and triceps, as I was holding on to the bars on some of the worst roads out there, on the descents, and helping to pull my way up on the climbs. I've still got a bit of lingering numbness in my extremities but it is slowly getting better. My hunger has been odd – I think because I was so used to eating every 20 minutes or so during the race, I get hungry often but can't put down big meals. The first full nite afterwards, I woke up ~ 5am and needed to put down 500 calories. And while my sleep is just getting back to normal, overall, I'm doing pretty well.
-as for now, it's been a long season. 2 double centuries, a triple. 1/2 marathon and a 10k. 3 triathlons, including a 1/2 and Ironman Canada. Interestingly, with the exception of the marathon at Canada, every event of every race i did this season was a PR. now, it's time to enjoy a bit of off season. Well, until it's time for the Holiday Speedo Run on 12/16...
Thanks for reading.
-Babak
