Furnace Creek 508: The Pickled Herrings of 2007.

508 miles with 31,000 feet of climbing through Death Valley – a nonstop ultra cycling race

I have a funny relationship to this race. I am always slipping in by mistake. The first time was in 2001 when Reed Finfrock asked the beginner rider in Visalia if she wanted to ride FC 508 on the tandem. All I heard was ‘tandem’, said ‘Yes, sounds fun” and then had the shocking revelation what I had agreed to and thereby the Bumble Bee was born. Last year, I was coaching Mavis Irwin for the 508, but she suffered from various injuries in training. Lee Mitchell, her crew chief, would have had a nervous meltdown if he could not do his 19^th consecutive 508 crewing, so team Bumble Skipper was whipped up last minute consisting of two under-trained half sick, previous 508 veterans Bumble Bee and Muddy Mudskipper. The team racing was way harder than I had expected and way more fun.

I must have mentioned to a Dane, one August night in 2006, in Stockholm that I was going to race 508. The Dane and I were leading some ‘randonneurs’ out of Stockholm on their way to Gothenburg. We biked out 25 km and were then going to return home. We made a good team, the Dane had a back light and I had a front light. He talked rapidly and without interruptions in Danish. I nodded and smiled, because I could not get in a word edgewise. The dark night hid my smile and my apprehensive look of being led though the night by a Dane, who claimed he knew the way, but kept rotating the map 360 degrees… and unfortunately no stars or moon to guide us, as the drizzling rain reminded us that a night in Stockholm would be cold. Well, The Dane actually guided me home, and somewhere along the road, we had agreed to race 508 as a team. Never trust a Dane!!

I met Jan Christiansen again in Stockholm in May 2007 with Peter Toner (Swedish ultra cyclist) and my sister Susanne. He had just returned from Mallorca training camp, was tanned, charming and talked very rapidly in Danish… I smiled, nodded, and was reflecting on how his brain would look… just full of wheels, derailleurs, cogsets, and miles on the bike. As Susanne and I left the restaurant, I asked her ‘Did you understand him?’ ‘He was hard to understand, but I think he talked about cycling’ reflected my sister.

Last year we had great fun racing against team Red Kangaroo. Our strong competitor Paul Skilbeck was coaxed into being our crew chief. (Smart move to eliminate some potential competition.) Paul’s girlfriend Chase, had successfully crewed for Paul, and made a great support team for us. The totem became Pickled Herring, in honor of the Swedish little raw fish that can bring an expatriated Swede to tears just thinking about it. Foreigners can be brought to tears if they are forced to eat it. Mavis Irwin was not hard to talk into drawing our totem… I get the best for everything!

Training: an important chapter for 508. This year has been hard for me; transitioning from being a Visalian Californian to a Pullmanian Washingtonian. I decided in the spring that in order to make something of this year to ride the Pactour Northern Transcontinental from Everett Washington to Williamsburg, Virginia. That was good training averaging 130 miles per day for 26 days. I just love being on my bike, so after the Pactour camp, it was good to have a reason to be lots of hours on the bike to train for the 508. I started discovering all the roads around Pullman, and have now become used to the rolling wheat fields of the Pelouse, and suffered stomach aches from all the ripening fruits along the roads that just beckons to me to be eaten.

Another challenge of moving from California was that now I would have to fly to the race start. The thought of doing the 508 without my Titanflex hurt my butt just thinking about it. A quick little call to Kerry Ryan, owner of Actionsports in Bakersfield, solved that problem. ‘Hey Kerry… you don’t happen to have an old spare bike that I could use for 508, I can only ship one bike’. ‘Oh yes, I will set you up on the lightest best  climbing bike and get you anything else you need’. Life is just amazingly easy with friends like Kerry. I got his super-light Cevelo, and it was fitted so exactly to me that when I came into the shop I did not have to change anything.

Here we are now, finally getting to the 508. Team Pickled Herrings started the journey from San Francisco where Paul and Chase had prepared the rental sag vehicle with bed, bike racks and all the other logistics.

The team racing in Furnace Creek is performed with each rider riding one leg between time stations. There are 7 time stations, so we both would ride 4 stages. Jan rode the first stage starting at 9 am on Saturday, October 6. He was the second man at mile 23 riding good. As we started to follow him, our crew chief Paul, was calculating the time lost due to not using aerobars. But since he could ride fast and hard up the climbs he was forgiven. Furthermore he took it with grace that we let him get off course twice loosing at least 10 minutes. It was interesting to listen to the crew’s comments about Jan. When I asked Jan what the crew said about me, he told me that they had paid him $40 not to tell me. Sweet!

Recharging                                  Paul- the number guy              Cat in Trona

I rode the second stage, California City to Trona. This is a hard stage to get a rhythm in. As I climbed up to the little ghost town of Randsburg, I felt like I was struggling. The Cevelo and I however immediately made friends, and it felt like Kerry had installed a little power motor in it. I came into Trona having worked hard. Dear old Trona, why would anyone ever go there if it was not for 508? The air must be saturated with dust and borox from mining, and I felt my lungs hurting and coughing after my first leg (maybe it was my average speed of 21 mph that caused that too). Then Jan had his hardest leg including Panamint Valley and the climb up Towne’s Pass to thereafter drop down into Furnace Creek. Our crew complained about Jan and I not eating on the bike, and I think we were going too hard to consume solid food. Even the Clif bloks were hard for us to swallow. The descent down from Towne’s pass was not as fast as we had hoped. Headwinds slowed down the pace down this descent as it had done almost all Saturday.

Jan on his longest leg, and Jan afterwards!

 I took over in Furnace Creek and rode the 45 mile ride through Death Valley. It is a fun stretch undulating around corners of the canyon. I was surprised that I did not catch more solo riders during this stretch. The solo riders started two hours before the team riders, and the previous year I had caught many solo riders on this night leg. As I climbed up Jubilee and Salisberry I was feeling strong and dancing out of the saddle, watching the stars and seeing a shooting star (no, I will not tell you what I wished for). Chase said she liked my butt and Paul said I looked strong, but then again, I had told them that I respond better to carrots than whips, and Jan had been silenced with $40. Two miles from the top of the climb we had to make a short stop, because Jan was stomach sick. As I look back towards the car there was a naked Dane in the bushes by the car (sorry picture was censored). I put on some cloths since the night was cold and windy and the descents were chilling.

We pulled into Shoshone, and a somewhat feverish Dane was put back on the bike to ride the next 50 miles to Baker. Jan biked conservatively, but still strong. As we got into Baker the car needed more gasoline. Since at night the cars needs to always stay behind the rider, we lost about 15 minutes to fill the van. That’s the price we paid for biking so fast that we reached Baker way before sunrise. Then I started the climb up Baker. This was a 22 mile long grade. Last year I was struggling terribly up this climb, but this year, I found the climb going well. Maybe it was that motor in the Cevelo. The road conditions were now getting worse and worse and towards the top of the climb I switched to my Titanflex. This bike takes the road out of the ride. I speeded down to Kelso where Jan was ready to roll onto the next hill. We met race director Christ Kostman at Kelso, and as always commended him on putting on the world’s best weekend ultra cycling race.

Our last legs… in double sense!

Last stage starting at the time station 7: ‘Almost Amboy’. This year’s theme was a graveyard for 508 racers who has DNF’d. I checked around and found that I was not declared dead yet. Good thing, because this last stage, I had to time trial to the point of hurting. Our expert crew chief, who loves statistics and numbers, managed to twist the numbers on me, to make me think that we were border line to breaking the record, and that worked well since he had confiscated my precious $7 watch. I rode strong, but saving some, on my Titanflex up to the last climb, Sheep hole mountain, where I switched to the Cevelo, and dance up the mountain, then a quick switch back to my Titanflex to attack the last 30 miles to Twenty-Nine Palms. Again, the winds were not cooperating, and I fought into the headwinds. A mile from the finish Jan met me on the bike to bike in to the finish line together. With a dry mouth I pant “How are we doing on time?” ‘Oh’ says Jan, ‘don’t worry, we are nearly an hour ahead of Gallus gallus’ course record from last year.’

We pulled out the Swedish flags (yes, I got the Dane to carry a Swedish flag) and rode across the finish line breaking the toilet paper rope with a smile. Time: 27 hours 33 minutes.

After the race I got the joy of seeing Reed Finfrock setting a PR with a time of 32 hours 10 minutes. Mavis Irwin, made me a proud coach with a 41 hour race. Friends to numerous to count made me feel loved and part of the ultra cycling family: Chris Kostman, Cindi Staiger, Sparrow Hawk, Robert Giacin, Paul McKenzie, Lee Mitchell, Mark Patten, Jan Finfrock and so many more.

Excellent race, excellent team mate, great crew! Next year, I wonder what circumstances will bring me back. There seems to be something magnetic about that race. Crew chief Paul has already done some serious calculations about how to break the current record and yes, it does include aerobars. He will have to find himself a fast female team mate.

One part Pickled Herring!

PS.  My team mate Jan said what he wanted me to write… He spoke very rapidly in Danish. I could not quiet catch everything he said, but I think it was something about biking.