Stage 3 was an epic ride. I started riding around 4:26pm and I finished at 10:16pm. Here are the statistics:
- Distance: 99.11 miles
- Time: 5:52
- Total climbing: 7,538 ft
- Avg speed: 16.89
Jessica was flying on the prior stage so my term on the bike came a bit sooner than expected. I was still getting ready when she showed up at TS2 in Trona. The TS was in an empty lot in front of a gas station and some type of store. I decided to do this stage on my route bike since it was pretty hilly and the winds were suppose to be quite strong along the way. I got the baton and I took off while the crew stayed behind putting gas on the truck, getting Jessica’s bike in the rack and who knows what else. The initial part of the ride is the mountain section 4 where I climbed up to 1690 ft of elevation. I had a fair amount of tailwind so getting to the first summit felt pretty easy. Then I have a long decent with some fairly strong side winds (which made the descend a bit sketchy) but I felt good as the sun was setting on top of the mountains. At about 6pm I stopped toput the lights in my bike and then I continue but now with the crew and the truck right behind me. At first I felt quite a bit of pressure, thinking that I was slowing them down and I they would have to pass me but I got comfortable after a while. While riding on Panamint Valley road a guy passed with his sag vehicle right behind him, I decided to let him go and keep him at some distance but I promised to myself that I will have to pass him as soon as we start to climb Townes Pass. The scenery once again was astonishing, the there is such a strange beauty on these desolated places, they make you feel small and humble, I can see how this can be a spiritual place. In any case, after riding for about 50 flat miles with the wind in my back and made the right turn into 190 E/Furnace Creek and I started to go up Townes pass. This climb was about 10 with gradient varying between 6% to 13%. I am feeling good and I had to catch that guy that passed me in Panamint which fortunately didn’t take long because he was going backwards. The climb was long and windy and the weather was getting nastier and nastier but I was still feeling good and I was passing lots of people (including some solo riders). My cadence wasn’t very high (as noticed by the crew) but I was still moving and my 6 mph was faster than most of the people in that hill. With about 3 or 4 miles to go I caught up with Michelle, I said hello and I encouraged her. The funny part was that the crew needed to pee and at night car and rider cannot be separated (otherwise dq) so I stopped for them to go. After a short break I proceeded to pass Michelle again and a few more rider. Finally after an hour and some minutes I was at the top, pretty chili and drizzling quite hard. I stopped, got some drinks and vest and some newspaper and I proceeded to descend towards Stovepipe Wells. I bombed the descent probably reaching speed close to 60 mph, the crew was having a hard time following me behind and in a few occasion and I slowed down to let them catch me. Man I was feeling good. Unfortunately that didn’t last long enough and I still had about 29 miles to go. With about 20 miles to go I started to feel crappy, my some stomach was having issues (I think because I had been taking to many electrolytes) and I didn’t want to eat much, which will eventually cause some bonking. Fortunately the crew was there for me they gave some tumbs, some really refreshing and cold water and they encourage me to keep going (I was felling very disappointed and I little bit embarrassed too). Fortunately the rest of the ride was flat and I was able to limp my way into Furnace Creek (which could not come any sooner). I was so happy to see TS3 at about 10:16 pm. The TS was located in a closed gas station. I gave the baton to Jessica, went o the bathroom and I hurry my way into the truck so she could start riding. I run into Leslie in the middle of this place as she was crewing for Dan who was doing it solo, we chat for a few minutes but I needed to leave to avoid delaying Jessica.
I was so happy to be in the truck. I changed clothes and I tried to get some food and fluid into the system to start my recovery. It took me a while to star to feel normal again. I took a nap and after a couple of hours and I was eating some. From there on I would drink only water (no more electrolytes for me).
Dario
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