Segment 4, Furnace Creek to Shoshone, 73 miles with a long grind to Salsberry Pass.

Greg took off on his Softride and hammered across Death Valley towards the big climb. I was attempting to sleep in the back seat, and must admit I don’t know much about this segment. I do know we reached Shoshone at 3:36am in fourth place, having been passed by the Alligators on the climb to Salsberry Pass.

Stage 5 Shoshone to Baker, 56 miles, mostly flat to downhill.

Art was up for his second leg. Nobody had gotten much sleep, and Art’s stomach wasn’t doing too well. However, he looked pretty good as he started out for Baker. The terrain was gentle, the wind had finally died, and the pavement was excellent. It was still pitch black and Art occasionally passed solo riders as he worked his way through his 56 miles. We were starting to run low on water – we had a lot of ice, but the damn stuff wouldn’t melt! We had enough to get Art through his stage, and he pulled into Baker, still in fourth place, at 8:28am.

Stage 5 Baker to Kelso, 35 miles, with a 20 mile, 2% climb followed by a 15 mile descent.

We were out of water. I ran to the local gas station (there hadn’t been one open since we were in Trona the previous afternoon – this race is really in the middle of nowhere) and bought 3 gallons of water while Trever got ready to ride. We probably burned 10 more minutes in Baker, then sent Trever off.

He was treated to possibly the worst pavement of the entire ride. It looked like somebody had actually cemented the sharpest rocks they could find all over a pretty crappy asphalt road. Luckily, Trever is a mountain biker and it didn’t seem to bother him all that much. He made good time on the climb, reeling in the Alligators as he went, to move us back into a podium position.

We followed Trever in the truck, as required by rule, until 7:00am, at which time we began to leapfrog again (it’s really tedious to drive for hours behind a cyclist, especially going up a hill at 10 mph). When Trever was about 10 miles from the finish, we rushed ahead so I could get myself and my bike ready for the next segment. Trever rode so fast I was still putting on my bike shoes when he pulled into the Kelso time station.

Segment 7 Kelso to Amboy, 34 miles with a 12 mile, 3% climb (see below).

I was concerned about how I would ride on this segment; I had been cramping in the back of the truck all night, and had gotten almost no sleep. I had overcooked my previous segment and was completely depleted when I finished. I had never gotten on the bike in these conditions, and didn’t know what to expect.

I stood to get the bike started, and my right quad immediately cramped. Uh-oh. I sat back down and spun for a couple of minutes to try to get loosened up, then stood again. No cramp – a good sign. I was determined to do better on this climb than the previous one, and pushed myself to LT and held it there. I passed a couple of solo riders on the climb, and got to the top in a reasonable 50 minutes (where my odometer said 14+ miles). I pushed through the rollers at the top, the got on the drops and pushed down the descent. The wind was just starting to come up again, and it was mostly a headwind. That forced me to pedal all the way down, but since this was my last segment, there was no reason to save anything. I finished the 35 mile segment in right at 1.5 hours, arriving in Amboy still in 3rd place at 10:09am.

Segment 8, Amboy to 29 Palms, 58 miles (see below).

Greg was ready and waiting when I hit Amboy, and off he went. The pavement had once again gone to crap, and was almost as bad as the pavement Trever experienced. The wind wasn’t quite as bad as Saturday, but was a pretty stiff headwind. The climb to Sheephole Summit was arduous, and I don’t think Greg had a lot left after that effort. The descent was nice, but the long grind to the finish was tough. With 10 – 15 miles left, the Alligators passed us for the final podium spot. We finished in 29:25:55, shattering the old record by almost 2.5 hours. Unfortunately, the Hammerheads broke it by ALMOST SEVEN HOURS, finishing in just under 25 hours. We ended up in fourth, behind Hammerheads, Yak, and Alligators.

Summary

This was an outstanding event. Any reasonably fit cyclist can finish the 508 as part of a 4 person team, and I would encourage anyone to try it. A four man team can easily support itself. You’ll need a vehicle capable of carrying all your bikes, your clothes, food, and water. We had Trever’s truck that had a full size backseat and a camper shell on a full size pickup bed. The only problem with that setup was the difficulty of getting to the luggage, food, and water in the back of the truck while you are driving. The ideal setup seemed to be a mini-van with the seats removed in back. One rider can sleep in the back, and the food, water, and clothes can be accessed easily in the back also. Bikes on the roof.

Support for a 2 man team would require a crew – probably at least 2 people that were not racing.

Support for a solo team would probably require a 3 man crew to split the driving, navigating, and rider support. The crew would need to rotate to get some sleep at times, especially if the rider is attempting to finish nearly non-stop.

-Craig Long