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Sierra Spring Tour
Spring Tour in the Sierra 05-06 June 2006 Summer came late this year with plenty of rain in April and May. On average, temperatures have been cooler than usual as last spring. This time I wore long sleeves for the whole trip. Richard Mlynarik and I headed for Sonora on Tuesday, 30 May, to stay at the Sonora Gold Lodge motel as these trips often have over the many years that I have undertaken them. Sonora lies at the base of the Sierra at about 1800ft elevation and is on the intersection of HWY49 and HWY108, convenient to making a loop over Ebbetts, Monitor and Sonora Passes. After a good nights rest at the Sonora Gold Lodge we got on the road at 06:00 as planned. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday 31 May 2006 At 06:00, with little traffic we headed up the hill to Columbia (2143ft), a historic gold mining town with preserved gold rush buildings, from which Parrots Ferry Road descends into the canyon of the Stanislaus river to connect to HWY4 at Valecito. We stopped to take pictures of the "new" Parrots Ferry bridge that spans the high waters of high bridge, (not shown on the attached map) at Parrots Ferry (1100ft) spans the backwaters of the New Melones reservoir that inundated this beautiful white water river. http://tinyurl.com/clw2y The bridge is worth mention because, after it was built, the center of its graceful arch broke and hung there from it's reinforcing steel about five feet below where it was designed to be. It was repaired by splicing huge reinforced concrete beams under the arch that now has a flat dip in its center. This time swallows that built mud nests under the bridge were already busy collecting insect out of the early morning sky. We climbed up the other side past moaning Cave Rd. so named after the Moaning Cavern that makes a low groan when large atmospheric changes make the cave exhale through its oddly shaped mouth. At Vallecito, a wide spot in the road, we turned east on HWY4, the Ebbetts Pass route, back up at 1800ft. We were still in the foothills of oaks with pastel blue-green foliage and willows that marked the abundance of water. While most of the grasses in the valleys to the west were already turning golden, here in the hills they were still green, with small swamps and springs in the middle of fields under the trees. From the bird calls, I detected robins, grosbeaks, woodpeckers, and my favorite, the hermit thrush that warbles with a built in echo, as it were in contrast to its silent winter when they often live in my back yard. http://www.caverntours.com/MoCavRt.htm At Murphys we began the long gradual climb up the western slope of the Sierra. The forest changed from oaks to conifers as we passed through Murphys (2172ft),Hathaway Pines, Arnold, Big Trees, and Camp Connell. Above Arnold (3960ft), the trees are a lovely mix of Red and White Fir, Ponderosa, Sugar and Jeffrey Pine, Incense Cedars, Douglas Fir and many Dogwoods blooming in the shade of the big trees. The road breaks out of the forest along a ridge near Black Springs (6400ft) that gives a panorama across the North Fork Stanislaus Basin, a huge rugged area called Hells Kitchen and crisscrossed by many roads remaining from logging and mining, including Hell's Half Acre Road that crosses to HWY108, the Sonora Pass road. The faint aroma of Mountain Misery, reminiscent of artichoke was everywhere. http://tinyurl.com/dda2u We stopped at Hells Kitchen Overlook (6778ft) to take pictures of the expansive panorama with the Dardanelle Minarets across the gorge near the Sonora pass road that we would see from closer tomorrow. The meadows around Bear Valley (7073ft) were mostly covered with snow with Canada geese, as usual, getting ready to continue migrating north. We stopped at the general store for a hot pastrami sandwich and soda pop to carry us over for the next three climbs, there being no other services en route until HWY395. A short climb brought us past the Mt Reba (HWY207) ski area, now called Bear Valley ski area from where it's a cruise to Lake Alpine that was still completely frozen but melting fast. The 30 foot snow pack we read about in the papers was nowhere to be found. It was an average snow pack, the big piles (if they existed) apparently having melted the previous week. At Alpine lake the road becomes narrower loses its center stripe as it makes the short steep climbs to Pacific Grade Summit. These are first indications that this is no longer an average state highway and it soon gets reinforced by the 24% grade signs farther on. Nothing exciting happens until Mosquito Lake and Pacific Grade Summit (8087ft) with a breathtaking view over Pacific Valley and Pacific Creek. The road dives downward through a set of steep ess bends that cross many contour lines in short order. We stopped at the bridge where Pacific Creek looks as though it might jump over the road as it cascades over huge boulders between snow banks. http://tinyurl.com/nl8yp Although less steep, the road makes some wonderful whoop-de-doos that can be taken in true roller coaster fashion on the way down to the Mokelumne river (7069ft) that drains Pacific and the much larger Hermit Valley. From here the road climbs gradually, with a beautiful view to the south into Hermit Valley, to Ebbetts Pass (8731ft) that itself has no view to either side. Oddly, it has a cattle guard as though there were range cattle here in the midst of this high forest. We met many bicyclists who were "training" for the Markleeville Death Ride, something I suppose would beat be done by going for bicycle rides in places of interest. None of these riders had any baggage, so it was obviously not a tour they were making. A swift descent got us out of the woods with a view across Kinney Reservoir and the rugged canyons beyond. Kinney Creek joins Silver creek and both raging cascades find their way quickly to the floor of the canyon far below as the road stays high before finally descending in a set of four large traverses with sharp hairpin turns to end the unusually steep section. No signs warned of the hairpin turns with their precipitous drops to Silver Creek, far below. Much of HWY4 in from Alpine Lake to the bottom of Silver Canyon has no center stripe or warning signs for such curves. One of these (at the Noble Lake trailhead) is known by locals as "Cadillac Curve" for the car at the bottom of the cliff that was too fast for the curve. A pickup truck joined the Cadillac some time later. Of course this has all been cleaned up years ago. http://tinyurl.com/7lstf We descended along the now docile Silver Creek to its confluence with the East Fork Carson River, that like all major rivers in Nevada, flows into the desert to evaporate. We had blue skies and pleasant temperatures with a pleasant breeze from behind most of the way. We turned up Monitor Creek on HWY89, an oddly small stream for such a large drainage. In contrast to former years, it was visibly clear water although probably unfit to drink for all the runoff from the mines along the canyon. The road levels off at Heenan Lake (7084ft), from which Monitor Creek flows. http://tinyurl.com/7cowp Toward the top of the climb, we left the sparse conifers and rode through groves of aspen. I remembered to check my altimeter at the false summit and again at Monitor Pass summit (8314ft) to find that the two summits are not the same height as they appear, but differ by about 100 feet and are about 3/4 mile apart. This broad nearly flat summit has Leviathan Peak (8942ft) overlooking the plateau as in the old days, when these fire lookouts guarded against wildfires, something done today by satellites. We took pictures of the stone summit marker in the grove of aspen before heading down across the broad gently sloping plateau to the Mono county line a mile and a half away. With the brisk tailwind this and the lower part yielded high top speeds as it often does. We saw few birds, probably because the pleasant tailwind kept them in the bush. I found a brilliant mountain bluebird that appears to have its own light source, but it had been killed by a passing car. Clear air gave us a broad panorama of Antelope Valley below, framed by snow capped mountains at the county line. On this steeper long runs heading east high speeds were reached with the wind that was more apparent on the opposing runs into the wind than here. It was a swift run to the narrows of Slinkard Creek just before reaching HWY395 (5084ft). Here our tailwind became a side wind on the nine miles on HWY395 up the valley to Walker (5400ft). Where we stayed at the Toiyabe Motel that I especially like because the front and back windows can be opened to let the cool mountain air blow through. We had unit 11, the one farthest from HWY395, with its many trucks. We got a great night's rest after a great pizza and salad dinner washed down with a couple of beers. 119 miles, 13600ft climbing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday 01 June 2006 In the morning we got a great breakfast with an all around omelet that had the whole kitchen in it, with spinach, potatoes, sausage, olives and other goodies. From here it was 14 miles up the canyon of the West Walker River with a fairly stiff downstream slope-wind, typical of mornings. When we reached Sonora Pass JCT (6909ft), the wind was gone as we rolled downhill to cross the Walker river again. On that stretch, we were not disappointed in that there were many yellow headed blackbirds in the marsh as we had hoped. From here we passed the Marine Mountain Warfare base and began climbing the steep whoop-de-doos of Sonora Pass to get to Levitt Meadows. After tanking up on drinks we attacked the 26% curve just above the Pack Station and cranked on up the hill. Anyone who tells me one should spin up this grade in low gears hasn't tried it. I have never seen anyone spin or come close to that description in the 50 years that I have ridden that pass with all sorts of great local racers. http://tinyurl.com/quvbc After following the north side of the valley, the road abruptly heads up Leavitt Creek with some bumps of 18% grade, leveling out at the site of the former Leavitt Meadows Store. Just past the Leavitt Meadows Pack Station the road makes a sharp right turn into its steepest grade of 26% and lets up to about 20% for another quarter mile. The half mile from the curve is probably the most challenging part of this side of the pass, the rest being a moderate grade between steep sections and a couple of descents. About three miles from the top, the road heads up Sardine Creek with a jolt. A sign at the junction warned of 26% grades and one of these is a surprise bend for descenders, an ess curve hidden behind a verge for downhill traffic. I had encountered this one years ago between snow walls that were melting onto the road. No one crashed but we were close to it. This curve is not trivial even from below because unsuspecting uphill traffic should get into low gear and doesn't. Because this section is short it probably doesn't leave the bicyclist with a lasting impression as does the section at Leavitt Meadows or the last half-mile to the summit. However, descending this curve is memorable. As was the case on Ebbetts pass, there was little snow on Sonora Pass until we reached 8000ft and then it wasn't anything unusual for the time of year. At the summit, snow walls were as high as 15ft in a few places. Pavement was surprisingly good compared to some for the disintegrating places on the other passes. This last section crests a small apex, in a curve and descends through a dip that appears to be the maximum 26% grade on either side, from where it relaxes to a 12-15% grade to the summit. Descending this section is the only place where I have exceeded 50 mph without wind and had to brake hard while coasting up a 26% grade to safely round the curve at the top. It's an exciting road in both directions. http://tinyurl.com/ceo7b After a photo session the summit of Sonora Pass (9624ft) we descended toward Dardanelle. The road descends gently for about a mile next to Deadman's Creek before it dives down the Golden Stairs past the 9000ft marker and around a pair of ess bends to level off at 8000ft briefly before the next steep section. The road was in excellent shape with little traffic. We were down to Kennedy Meadows (6500ft) in no time as we passed the uphill challenges of the west slope at speed. Kennedy meadows lies at the bottom of the steep climbs from where the road makes a few rollers along the Stanislaus River before the Dardanelle Store (5265ft). We stopped for some eats and drink before continuing to Clark Fork JCT where the road suddenly looks like a regular state highway again with gentle curves and mild grades. I made a point of photographing the powerful reel-type snow plow whose plow and blower motor was about twice as large as those of large bulldozers. From Clark Fork JCT (5671ft) a gentle two and a half mile hill got us to Donnells Vista Point (6291ft) with a 1500ft near vertical drop to the surface of Donnells Lake (4800ft) on the Middle Fork Stanislaus River. Across the valley, the Dardanelle Cones (9524ft), ancient volcanic formations, stand high above with large skirts of scree. From here, the road climbs to 6500ft and levels off again at about 6000ft with a few more ups and downs before a two-mile descent to Strawberry (5100ft). We stopped at the store for a snack before crossing the South Fork of the Stanislaus up to Pinecrest Junction and on to Cold Springs (5720ft). That's about it for climbing; the rest was mainly downhill to Sonora with a few little bumps before Twain Harte where we turned off down Tuolumne Rd to the city of that name. So we turned west on Tuolumne City road that climbs to Ralph, the former junction of the Sierra Railroad and Pickering (logging) Railroad that had its shops at a huge mill in Standard a bit farther down. The Pickering climbed to Twain Hearte before descending into the Middle Fork Stanislaus crossing Beardsley Dam to the forests on the north side of the river. http://tinyurl.com/adnk2 To get 9off HWY108, that has a lot of afternoon traffic, we turned of onto Tuolumne City Road at Twain Harte and at the bottom made the short climb to Ralph, where the Pickering Logging RR joined the Sierra RR. From here it is mostly downhill to Sonora as we passed Wards Ferry Rd and and got back to the start in Sonora where we loaded our bicycles in the car for the uneventful ride back home. Day one 119 miles, 13600ft climbing. Day two 99 miles, 7300ft climbing ------------------------------------------- Jobst Brandt |
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Sierra Spring Tour
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Sierra Spring Tour
wrote in message ... Spring Tour in the Sierra 05-06 June 2006 Summer came late this year with plenty of rain in April and May. On average, temperatures have been cooler than usual as last spring. This time I wore long sleeves for the whole trip. Richard Mlynarik and I headed for Sonora on Tuesday, 30 May, to stay at the Sonora Gold Lodge motel as these trips often have over the many years that I have undertaken them. Sonora lies at the base of the Sierra at about 1800ft elevation and is on the intersection of HWY49 and HWY108, convenient to making a loop over Ebbetts, Monitor and Sonora Passes. After a good nights rest at the Sonora Gold Lodge we got on the road at 06:00 as planned. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday 31 May 2006 At 06:00, with little traffic we headed up the hill to Columbia (2143ft), a historic gold mining town with preserved gold rush buildings, from which Parrots Ferry Road descends into the canyon of the Stanislaus river to connect to HWY4 at Valecito. We stopped to take pictures of the "new" Parrots Ferry bridge that spans the high waters of high bridge, (not shown on the attached map) at Parrots Ferry (1100ft) spans the backwaters of the New Melones reservoir that inundated this beautiful white water river. http://tinyurl.com/clw2y The bridge is worth mention because, after it was built, the center of its graceful arch broke and hung there from it's reinforcing steel about five feet below where it was designed to be. It was repaired by splicing huge reinforced concrete beams under the arch that now has a flat dip in its center. This time swallows that built mud nests under the bridge were already busy collecting insect out of the early morning sky. We climbed up the other side past moaning Cave Rd. so named after the Moaning Cavern that makes a low groan when large atmospheric changes make the cave exhale through its oddly shaped mouth. At Vallecito, a wide spot in the road, we turned east on HWY4, the Ebbetts Pass route, back up at 1800ft. We were still in the foothills of oaks with pastel blue-green foliage and willows that marked the abundance of water. While most of the grasses in the valleys to the west were already turning golden, here in the hills they were still green, with small swamps and springs in the middle of fields under the trees. From the bird calls, I detected robins, grosbeaks, woodpeckers, and my favorite, the hermit thrush that warbles with a built in echo, as it were in contrast to its silent winter when they often live in my back yard. http://www.caverntours.com/MoCavRt.htm At Murphys we began the long gradual climb up the western slope of the Sierra. The forest changed from oaks to conifers as we passed through Murphys (2172ft),Hathaway Pines, Arnold, Big Trees, and Camp Connell. Above Arnold (3960ft), the trees are a lovely mix of Red and White Fir, Ponderosa, Sugar and Jeffrey Pine, Incense Cedars, Douglas Fir and many Dogwoods blooming in the shade of the big trees. The road breaks out of the forest along a ridge near Black Springs (6400ft) that gives a panorama across the North Fork Stanislaus Basin, a huge rugged area called Hells Kitchen and crisscrossed by many roads remaining from logging and mining, including Hell's Half Acre Road that crosses to HWY108, the Sonora Pass road. The faint aroma of Mountain Misery, reminiscent of artichoke was everywhere. http://tinyurl.com/dda2u We stopped at Hells Kitchen Overlook (6778ft) to take pictures of the expansive panorama with the Dardanelle Minarets across the gorge near the Sonora pass road that we would see from closer tomorrow. The meadows around Bear Valley (7073ft) were mostly covered with snow with Canada geese, as usual, getting ready to continue migrating north. We stopped at the general store for a hot pastrami sandwich and soda pop to carry us over for the next three climbs, there being no other services en route until HWY395. A short climb brought us past the Mt Reba (HWY207) ski area, now called Bear Valley ski area from where it's a cruise to Lake Alpine that was still completely frozen but melting fast. The 30 foot snow pack we read about in the papers was nowhere to be found. It was an average snow pack, the big piles (if they existed) apparently having melted the previous week. At Alpine lake the road becomes narrower loses its center stripe as it makes the short steep climbs to Pacific Grade Summit. These are first indications that this is no longer an average state highway and it soon gets reinforced by the 24% grade signs farther on. Nothing exciting happens until Mosquito Lake and Pacific Grade Summit (8087ft) with a breathtaking view over Pacific Valley and Pacific Creek. The road dives downward through a set of steep ess bends that cross many contour lines in short order. We stopped at the bridge where Pacific Creek looks as though it might jump over the road as it cascades over huge boulders between snow banks. http://tinyurl.com/nl8yp Although less steep, the road makes some wonderful whoop-de-doos that can be taken in true roller coaster fashion on the way down to the Mokelumne river (7069ft) that drains Pacific and the much larger Hermit Valley. From here the road climbs gradually, with a beautiful view to the south into Hermit Valley, to Ebbetts Pass (8731ft) that itself has no view to either side. Oddly, it has a cattle guard as though there were range cattle here in the midst of this high forest. We met many bicyclists who were "training" for the Markleeville Death Ride, something I suppose would beat be done by going for bicycle rides in places of interest. None of these riders had any baggage, so it was obviously not a tour they were making. A swift descent got us out of the woods with a view across Kinney Reservoir and the rugged canyons beyond. Kinney Creek joins Silver creek and both raging cascades find their way quickly to the floor of the canyon far below as the road stays high before finally descending in a set of four large traverses with sharp hairpin turns to end the unusually steep section. No signs warned of the hairpin turns with their precipitous drops to Silver Creek, far below. Much of HWY4 in from Alpine Lake to the bottom of Silver Canyon has no center stripe or warning signs for such curves. One of these (at the Noble Lake trailhead) is known by locals as "Cadillac Curve" for the car at the bottom of the cliff that was too fast for the curve. A pickup truck joined the Cadillac some time later. Of course this has all been cleaned up years ago. http://tinyurl.com/7lstf We descended along the now docile Silver Creek to its confluence with the East Fork Carson River, that like all major rivers in Nevada, flows into the desert to evaporate. We had blue skies and pleasant temperatures with a pleasant breeze from behind most of the way. We turned up Monitor Creek on HWY89, an oddly small stream for such a large drainage. In contrast to former years, it was visibly clear water although probably unfit to drink for all the runoff from the mines along the canyon. The road levels off at Heenan Lake (7084ft), from which Monitor Creek flows. http://tinyurl.com/7cowp Toward the top of the climb, we left the sparse conifers and rode through groves of aspen. I remembered to check my altimeter at the false summit and again at Monitor Pass summit (8314ft) to find that the two summits are not the same height as they appear, but differ by about 100 feet and are about 3/4 mile apart. This broad nearly flat summit has Leviathan Peak (8942ft) overlooking the plateau as in the old days, when these fire lookouts guarded against wildfires, something done today by satellites. We took pictures of the stone summit marker in the grove of aspen before heading down across the broad gently sloping plateau to the Mono county line a mile and a half away. With the brisk tailwind this and the lower part yielded high top speeds as it often does. We saw few birds, probably because the pleasant tailwind kept them in the bush. I found a brilliant mountain bluebird that appears to have its own light source, but it had been killed by a passing car. Clear air gave us a broad panorama of Antelope Valley below, framed by snow capped mountains at the county line. On this steeper long runs heading east high speeds were reached with the wind that was more apparent on the opposing runs into the wind than here. It was a swift run to the narrows of Slinkard Creek just before reaching HWY395 (5084ft). Here our tailwind became a side wind on the nine miles on HWY395 up the valley to Walker (5400ft). Where we stayed at the Toiyabe Motel that I especially like because the front and back windows can be opened to let the cool mountain air blow through. We had unit 11, the one farthest from HWY395, with its many trucks. We got a great night's rest after a great pizza and salad dinner washed down with a couple of beers. 119 miles, 13600ft climbing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday 01 June 2006 In the morning we got a great breakfast with an all around omelet that had the whole kitchen in it, with spinach, potatoes, sausage, olives and other goodies. From here it was 14 miles up the canyon of the West Walker River with a fairly stiff downstream slope-wind, typical of mornings. When we reached Sonora Pass JCT (6909ft), the wind was gone as we rolled downhill to cross the Walker river again. On that stretch, we were not disappointed in that there were many yellow headed blackbirds in the marsh as we had hoped. From here we passed the Marine Mountain Warfare base and began climbing the steep whoop-de-doos of Sonora Pass to get to Levitt Meadows. After tanking up on drinks we attacked the 26% curve just above the Pack Station and cranked on up the hill. Anyone who tells me one should spin up this grade in low gears hasn't tried it. I have never seen anyone spin or come close to that description in the 50 years that I have ridden that pass with all sorts of great local racers. http://tinyurl.com/quvbc After following the north side of the valley, the road abruptly heads up Leavitt Creek with some bumps of 18% grade, leveling out at the site of the former Leavitt Meadows Store. Just past the Leavitt Meadows Pack Station the road makes a sharp right turn into its steepest grade of 26% and lets up to about 20% for another quarter mile. The half mile from the curve is probably the most challenging part of this side of the pass, the rest being a moderate grade between steep sections and a couple of descents. About three miles from the top, the road heads up Sardine Creek with a jolt. A sign at the junction warned of 26% grades and one of these is a surprise bend for descenders, an ess curve hidden behind a verge for downhill traffic. I had encountered this one years ago between snow walls that were melting onto the road. No one crashed but we were close to it. This curve is not trivial even from below because unsuspecting uphill traffic should get into low gear and doesn't. Because this section is short it probably doesn't leave the bicyclist with a lasting impression as does the section at Leavitt Meadows or the last half-mile to the summit. However, descending this curve is memorable. As was the case on Ebbetts pass, there was little snow on Sonora Pass until we reached 8000ft and then it wasn't anything unusual for the time of year. At the summit, snow walls were as high as 15ft in a few places. Pavement was surprisingly good compared to some for the disintegrating places on the other passes. This last section crests a small apex, in a curve and descends through a dip that appears to be the maximum 26% grade on either side, from where it relaxes to a 12-15% grade to the summit. Descending this section is the only place where I have exceeded 50 mph without wind and had to brake hard while coasting up a 26% grade to safely round the curve at the top. It's an exciting road in both directions. http://tinyurl.com/ceo7b After a photo session the summit of Sonora Pass (9624ft) we descended toward Dardanelle. The road descends gently for about a mile next to Deadman's Creek before it dives down the Golden Stairs past the 9000ft marker and around a pair of ess bends to level off at 8000ft briefly before the next steep section. The road was in excellent shape with little traffic. We were down to Kennedy Meadows (6500ft) in no time as we passed the uphill challenges of the west slope at speed. Kennedy meadows lies at the bottom of the steep climbs from where the road makes a few rollers along the Stanislaus River before the Dardanelle Store (5265ft). We stopped for some eats and drink before continuing to Clark Fork JCT where the road suddenly looks like a regular state highway again with gentle curves and mild grades. I made a point of photographing the powerful reel-type snow plow whose plow and blower motor was about twice as large as those of large bulldozers. From Clark Fork JCT (5671ft) a gentle two and a half mile hill got us to Donnells Vista Point (6291ft) with a 1500ft near vertical drop to the surface of Donnells Lake (4800ft) on the Middle Fork Stanislaus River. Across the valley, the Dardanelle Cones (9524ft), ancient volcanic formations, stand high above with large skirts of scree. From here, the road climbs to 6500ft and levels off again at about 6000ft with a few more ups and downs before a two-mile descent to Strawberry (5100ft). We stopped at the store for a snack before crossing the South Fork of the Stanislaus up to Pinecrest Junction and on to Cold Springs (5720ft). That's about it for climbing; the rest was mainly downhill to Sonora with a few little bumps before Twain Harte where we turned off down Tuolumne Rd to the city of that name. So we turned west on Tuolumne City road that climbs to Ralph, the former junction of the Sierra Railroad and Pickering (logging) Railroad that had its shops at a huge mill in Standard a bit farther down. The Pickering climbed to Twain Hearte before descending into the Middle Fork Stanislaus crossing Beardsley Dam to the forests on the north side of the river. http://tinyurl.com/adnk2 To get 9off HWY108, that has a lot of afternoon traffic, we turned of onto Tuolumne City Road at Twain Harte and at the bottom made the short climb to Ralph, where the Pickering Logging RR joined the Sierra RR. From here it is mostly downhill to Sonora as we passed Wards Ferry Rd and and got back to the start in Sonora where we loaded our bicycles in the car for the uneventful ride back home. Day one 119 miles, 13600ft climbing. Day two 99 miles, 7300ft climbing ------------------------------------------- Jobst Brandt Do you ever ride on flat roads? |
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Sierra Spring Tour
In article ,
"Ron Wallenfang" wrote: wrote in message ... Spring Tour in the Sierra 05-06 June 2006 snip Day one 119 miles, 13600ft climbing. Day two 99 miles, 7300ft climbing ------------------------------------------- Jobst Brandt Do you ever ride on flat roads? Jeez, Ron, learn how to pare down quoted material so there aren't three hundred lines of quoted text and a one line comment. |
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The true history of "The Death Ride"
wrote:
There are no small lakes near the top of Ebbetts Pass, although Kinney Reservoir is about two miles down. It is that two mile stretch that gave us the "Death Ride" in response to one of my rides in the early 1970's when I took a bunch of local bicycle racers over the pass from Markleeville, before it was completely plowed. On that Sunday we found two snow plows parked at the reservoir with a five foot wall of snow in front of them. From there I lead the hike over spring snow these last two miles to the cattle guard, the county line, where the road was plowed from the west. I have heard about this ride before, and while it was certainly an adventure, it is not the origin of the Markleeville Death Ride. (The distance from the top of Ebbetts Pass to the far end of Kinney Reservoir - by the dam - is just under 1 mile, not 2. It would seem that cycling lore, like fish tales, have lengths that increase as the story ages.) The Markleeville Death Ride was inspired by a single day of a two week cycling tour called SuperTour. SuperTour evolved out of a series of 3 day "long weekend" rides held in 72, 73, and 74 by the now defunct Diablo Wheelmen. In 75, Carter Squires organized the Diablo Wheelman's first multi-day cycling event, during which people would ride centuries (100 miles) day after day for 8 days. When asked how the tour went, Carter responded, "SuperTour was a failure--everyone finished." If the 75 tour was so easy everyone could finish, GrandTour/SuperTour 76 would be so hard that only a few had the gall to sign up for both rides. In this regard Carter was completely successful--each of the two weeks was 1,000 miles (140 miles/day for the Grand Tour, 127 miles/day for SuperTour) and only 5 of the 27 who had signed up for both tours were able to ride Every *Fine Inch (EFI). (*The "F" does not really stand for "Fine.") One of the interesting features of the early SuperTours were the narrative route descriptions provided by John F. Scott, professor of Sociology at the University of California, Davis. John was an active cyclist beginning in the Dark Ages (before the 1960s) and had either ridden or driven essentially every mile of the route. John wrote the descriptions in sequence order, and despite becoming somewhat inured to the relentless suffering each day represented, he was stopped cold when he saw the route sheet for Day 5 of SuperTour--from Indian Grinding Rock State Park outside Jackson up CA Route 88 over the triple summits of Tragedy Springs, Carson Spur, and Carson Pass followed by an ascent of Monitor pass enroute to Markleeville. 140 miles, 14,000 feet of climbing. It was the absolutely worst day of an extraordinarily awful event. John immediately christened the stage "Der Grosse Totenmarsch nach Markleeville" (The Great Markleeville Death March) and scrawled the runes of the dreaded SS along with the motto on the gates of Auschwitz ("Arbeit macht frei," or "work makes one free") on the gradient map. One of the riders on SuperTour 76 was Wayne Martin. A few years later Wayne had moved to Markleeville, and inspired by that day's ride, created a route that rode up 5 different passes (Kingsbury, Luther, Carson, Monitor, and Ebbetts). He gathered together about 15 other delirious souls, charged them $1 for organizing the affair, and proceeded to climb all 5 passes. Support was supplied by stopping off at the Cutthroat Saloon and replacing body fluids with dubiously helpful assorted liquids. As Wayne says: "Well, about half of us made the damn thing...and The Death Ride was born." The route has changed over the years (now only Carson, Monitor and Ebbetts are ridden, the latter two are climbed from both sides so there are still 5 passes) and Wayne long ago turned over the ride to the Alpine County Chamber of Commerce, but it was that fateful day on SuperTour 76 that provided the origins for the Markleeville Death Ride. Another famous ride in California - the Climb to Kaiser - also has its origins in SuperTour. It was originally conceived as a training ride for SuperTour. Some members of the Fresno Cycling Club did SuperTour and felt a long, well-supported mountainous trianing ride several weeks before SuperTour would be welcomed by the cycling community. Amazingly, given its complete lack of formal organization, SuperTour has continued to put on a tour every year (obligatory disclaimer - I am one of the organizers for this year's tour). You can see details of this year's trip at supertour.home.att.net. Wayne Martin now runs low cost, low support trips (cycling, hiking, and kayaking) and his website is www.nomints.com (obligatory disclaimer 2 - I'm a friend of Wayne and have done many of his trips). |
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The true history of "The Death Ride"
Jeff,
Thanks for your writeup about the 1976 Death Ride. I rode this particular SuperTour, and your presentation was factual and accurate. Regarding Dr. Scott, I rode on and off with him during the 1960's-80's and never tired in listening to his cycling stories, many of which had sociological twists. Besides being an excellent writer, John is an interesting and entertaining individual; the fact that through the years he has acquired many nicknames, some being unprintable, is a dead giveaway as to his colorful (some might say outrageous) personality. I wonder if John's cycling career/stories will ever be formalized into a book? It would make great reading. Jeff Orum wrote: wrote: There are no small lakes near the top of Ebbetts Pass, although Kinney Reservoir is about two miles down. It is that two mile stretch that gave us the "Death Ride" in response to one of my rides in the early 1970's when I took a bunch of local bicycle racers over the pass from Markleeville, before it was completely plowed. On that Sunday we found two snow plows parked at the reservoir with a five foot wall of snow in front of them. From there I lead the hike over spring snow these last two miles to the cattle guard, the county line, where the road was plowed from the west. I have heard about this ride before, and while it was certainly an adventure, it is not the origin of the Markleeville Death Ride. (The distance from the top of Ebbetts Pass to the far end of Kinney Reservoir - by the dam - is just under 1 mile, not 2. It would seem that cycling lore, like fish tales, have lengths that increase as the story ages.) The Markleeville Death Ride was inspired by a single day of a two week cycling tour called SuperTour. SuperTour evolved out of a series of 3 day "long weekend" rides held in 72, 73, and 74 by the now defunct Diablo Wheelmen. In 75, Carter Squires organized the Diablo Wheelman's first multi-day cycling event, during which people would ride centuries (100 miles) day after day for 8 days. When asked how the tour went, Carter responded, "SuperTour was a failure--everyone finished." If the 75 tour was so easy everyone could finish, GrandTour/SuperTour 76 would be so hard that only a few had the gall to sign up for both rides. In this regard Carter was completely successful--each of the two weeks was 1,000 miles (140 miles/day for the Grand Tour, 127 miles/day for SuperTour) and only 5 of the 27 who had signed up for both tours were able to ride Every *Fine Inch (EFI). (*The "F" does not really stand for "Fine.") One of the interesting features of the early SuperTours were the narrative route descriptions provided by John F. Scott, professor of Sociology at the University of California, Davis. John was an active cyclist beginning in the Dark Ages (before the 1960s) and had either ridden or driven essentially every mile of the route. John wrote the descriptions in sequence order, and despite becoming somewhat inured to the relentless suffering each day represented, he was stopped cold when he saw the route sheet for Day 5 of SuperTour--from Indian Grinding Rock State Park outside Jackson up CA Route 88 over the triple summits of Tragedy Springs, Carson Spur, and Carson Pass followed by an ascent of Monitor pass enroute to Markleeville. 140 miles, 14,000 feet of climbing. It was the absolutely worst day of an extraordinarily awful event. John immediately christened the stage "Der Grosse Totenmarsch nach Markleeville" (The Great Markleeville Death March) and scrawled the runes of the dreaded SS along with the motto on the gates of Auschwitz ("Arbeit macht frei," or "work makes one free") on the gradient map. One of the riders on SuperTour 76 was Wayne Martin. A few years later Wayne had moved to Markleeville, and inspired by that day's ride, created a route that rode up 5 different passes (Kingsbury, Luther, Carson, Monitor, and Ebbetts). He gathered together about 15 other delirious souls, charged them $1 for organizing the affair, and proceeded to climb all 5 passes. Support was supplied by stopping off at the Cutthroat Saloon and replacing body fluids with dubiously helpful assorted liquids. As Wayne says: "Well, about half of us made the damn thing...and The Death Ride was born." The route has changed over the years (now only Carson, Monitor and Ebbetts are ridden, the latter two are climbed from both sides so there are still 5 passes) and Wayne long ago turned over the ride to the Alpine County Chamber of Commerce, but it was that fateful day on SuperTour 76 that provided the origins for the Markleeville Death Ride. Another famous ride in California - the Climb to Kaiser - also has its origins in SuperTour. It was originally conceived as a training ride for SuperTour. Some members of the Fresno Cycling Club did SuperTour and felt a long, well-supported mountainous trianing ride several weeks before SuperTour would be welcomed by the cycling community. Amazingly, given its complete lack of formal organization, SuperTour has continued to put on a tour every year (obligatory disclaimer - I am one of the organizers for this year's tour). You can see details of this year's trip at supertour.home.att.net. Wayne Martin now runs low cost, low support trips (cycling, hiking, and kayaking) and his website is www.nomints.com (obligatory disclaimer 2 - I'm a friend of Wayne and have done many of his trips). |
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The true history of "The Death Ride"
Jeff Orum writes:
There are no small lakes near the top of Ebbetts Pass, although Kinney Reservoir is about two miles down. It is that two mile stretch that gave us the "Death Ride" in response to one of my rides in the early 1970's when I took a bunch of local bicycle racers over the pass from Markleeville, before it was completely plowed. On that Sunday we found two snow plows parked at the reservoir with a five foot wall of snow in front of them. From there I lead the hike over spring snow these last two miles to the cattle guard, the county line, where the road was plowed from the west. I have heard about this ride before, and while it was certainly an adventure, it is not the origin of the Markleeville Death Ride. (The distance from the top of Ebbetts Pass to the far end of Kinney Reservoir - by the dam - is just under 1 mile, not 2. It would seem that cycling lore, like fish tales, have lengths that increase as the story ages.) I think you'll find it to be closer to 1.5 miles according to USGS: http://tinyurl.com/cd9r7 Since the ride reports from those days were lost when rec.bicycles broke up into ..tech, ..misc, ..rides, etc, I don't have the article or the year but you can be assured that my rides in 1957 ad later were before any death ride was organized. Peter Rich's Tour of California race in the Sierra was in those days and there was no inkling of century rides of any sort. The Markleeville Death Ride was inspired by a single day of a two week cycling tour called SuperTour. SuperTour evolved out of a series of 3 day "long weekend" rides held in 72, 73, and 74 by the now defunct Diablo Wheelmen. In 75, Carter Squires organized the Diablo Wheelman's first multi-day cycling event, during which people would ride centuries (100 miles) day after day for 8 days. When asked how the tour went, Carter responded, "SuperTour was a failure--everyone finished." If the 75 tour was so easy everyone could finish, GrandTour/SuperTour 76 would be so hard that only a few had the gall to sign up for both rides. In this regard Carter was completely successful--each of the two weeks was 1,000 miles (140 miles/day for the Grand Tour, 127 miles/day for SuperTour) and only 5 of the 27 who had signed up for both tours were able to ride Every *Fine Inch (EFI). (*The "F" does not really stand for "Fine.") The talk of a "death march" was spread by Kieth Vierra, Dave Perry, and another racer who had never tried the Sonora Pass - Monitor - Ebbetts tour before. That was before super tour. One of the interesting features of the early SuperTours were the narrative route descriptions provided by John F. Scott, professor of Sociology at the University of California, Davis. John was an active cyclist beginning in the Dark Ages (before the 1960s) and had either ridden or driven essentially every mile of the route. John wrote the descriptions in sequence order, and despite becoming somewhat inured to the relentless suffering each day represented, he was stopped cold when he saw the route sheet for Day 5 of SuperTour--from Indian Grinding Rock State Park outside Jackson up CA Route 88 over the triple summits of Tragedy Springs, Carson Spur, and Carson Pass followed by an ascent of Monitor pass enroute to Markleeville. 140 miles, 14,000 feet of climbing. It was the absolutely worst day of an extraordinarily awful event. John immediately christened the stage "Der Grosse Totenmarsch nach Markleeville" (The Great Markleeville Death March) and scrawled the runes of the dreaded SS along with the motto on the gates of Auschwitz ("Arbeit macht frei," or "work makes one free") on the gradient map. Among the rides over those roads was one that was done at that time by Bill Henner, Jim Westby, Tom Ritchey, and me which we called "the big loop" and one that I have taken on three occasions, one of which is chronicled he http://www.bicyclinglife.com/Recreat...erraSpring.htm One of the riders on SuperTour 76 was Wayne Martin. A few years later Wayne had moved to Markleeville, and inspired by that day's ride, created a route that rode up 5 different passes (Kingsbury, Luther, Carson, Monitor, and Ebbetts). He gathered together about 15 other delirious souls, charged them $1 for organizing the affair, and proceeded to climb all 5 passes. Support was supplied by stopping off at the Cutthroat Saloon and replacing body fluids with dubiously helpful assorted liquids. As Wayne says: "Well, about half of us made the damn thing...and The Death Ride was born." That may be so but the concept arose from the tour that I described. Jobst Brandt |
#9
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The true history of "The Death Ride"
Jobst,
No one doubts that you called your heroic 1957 adventure a Death Ride. The question before us is, what inspired the current Markleeville Death Ride? The answer is easy to ascertain, since the participants are alive and well and all within range of a computer with email. Wayne Martin was 11 or 12 years old when you did your famous ride--I cannot imagine that an event that occured before he (probably) took up cycling inspired him to start the Death Ride--especially when you ask Wayne "What inspired you to start the Death Ride?" his answer is always "That awful day 5 on the 1976 SuperTour." As to the broader notion that you can "invent" the Death Ride concept, which gives you some sort of (I guess) trademark rights, I disagree as well. Cycling has been big since the mid 1880s, and there have been cyclists doing the absolutely impossible for over 120 years. Would not 6 Day Racing in its original format (12 hours a day for 6 days) qualify as a Death Ride? Or the original Tour de France courses? Or Paris-Brest-Paris, for goodness sakes? "Death Ride" is a natural appellation for any tour of extraordinary difficulty; I cannot accept your "trademark" claim. Perry Stout One of the riders on SuperTour 76 was Wayne Martin. A few years later Wayne had moved to Markleeville, and inspired by that day's ride, created a route that rode up 5 different passes (Kingsbury, Luther, Carson, Monitor, and Ebbetts). He gathered together about 15 other delirious souls, charged them $1 for organizing the affair, and proceeded to climb all 5 passes. Support was supplied by stopping off at the Cutthroat Saloon and replacing body fluids with dubiously helpful assorted liquids. As Wayne says: "Well, about half of us made the damn thing...and The Death Ride was born." That may be so but the concept arose from the tour that I described. Jobst Brandt |
#10
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The true history of "The Death Ride"
Perry Stout writes:
No one doubts that you called your heroic 1957 adventure a Death Ride. I never called my ride a death ride. Don't put words in my text. I clearly stated that riders who crossed the Sierra over unplowed Ebbetts Pass with me returned to Palo Alto and told tales of a death march from that ride. to my dismay sponsors of organized rides soon touted their tour as a death ride. Talk of a "Death Ride" was rife in the years after our ride. The question before us is, what inspired the current Markleeville Death Ride? The answer is easy to ascertain, since the participants are alive and well and all within range of a computer with email. Wayne Martin was 11 or 12 years old when you did your famous ride--I cannot imagine that an event that occured before he (probably) took up cycling inspired him to start the Death Ride--especially when you ask Wayne "What inspired you to start the Death Ride?" his answer is always "That awful day 5 on the 1976 SuperTour." You can call it what you want, but the term of "Death Ride" took shape immediately after our ride with the hike over unplowed Ebbetts Pass starting from Markleeville. This sounds much like the claims of who started the Mountain Bike. You might want to argue that one as well: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/mtb-history.html As to the broader notion that you can "invent" the Death Ride concept, which gives you some sort of (I guess) trademark rights, I disagree as well. Whoa! What's with rights and trade mark? Get off it! I ride bike for the fun of it and not for any other reason. I don't care what people call their ride. My point is that the idea arose from a ride that I recall clearly and the riders comments afterward. Cycling has been big since the mid 1880s, and there have been cyclists doing the absolutely impossible for over 120 years. Would not 6 Day Racing in its original format (12 hours a day for 6 days) qualify as a Death Ride? Or the original Tour de France courses? Or Paris-Brest-Paris, for goodness sakes? "Death Ride" is a natural appellation for any tour of extraordinary difficulty; I cannot accept your "trademark" claim. I think you have a peculiar perspective of bicycling. Jobst Brandt |
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