Ygduf

Rode 34 miles yesterday to work out some of the stiffness. DOMS today, and general fatigue. Will do a few easy rides this week, then a very easy WCC double metric on Saturday.

milliron

I've got doms in the back part of my shoulders and the back part of my upper arms. Legs feel a lot better then I thought they would.

spingineer

I find it interesting, on the DMD web site, on the last paragraph on "Tips for Whipping the Devil":

THIS SHOULD NOT BE YOUR FIRST DOUBLE! This is a VERY TOUGH RIDE. On average, riders who have done the Terrible Two say the DMD takes two hours longer. The staff will do all they can to pamper you at the rest stops but THE COURSE WILL SHOW NO MERCY! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

So much for following tips, eh?

motorider

It was my first double century however I decided to do it simply because it is the nearest double I can find. Talking about minimal overhead.

But yes, the warning stands. I suspect I should've finished one or two hours earlier if I hadn't made DC rookie mistakes --- getting excited too early.

DXchulo

Trust me, you don't have to be a rookie to make that mistake. I think we've all done that at some point when we should have known better.

I see why they put that warning on there. It's a nice way to cover their ass and I'm sure in a perfect world they'd love an event where everybody finished and nobody got sick or injured. Physically, the doubles with lots of climbing are tough and it takes either a lot of training or a healthy appetite for suffering to finish them.

On the other hand, I find them a lot easier mentally. There's just no time to get bored and it's easy to break the ride down into segments. It's easier to focus on the task at hand and I don't find myself counting down the hours. It's more like "I'll get to the top of this climb, then I'll worry about the next one." I've done some flat doubles in the Midwest and they can be pretty boring.

If we really want to get nitpicky, I'd say you'd be much better off having a 150-mile, 15,000-foot ride in the bank than a 200-mile ride without much climbing. The spirit of what they are saying makes sense, though. There are always going to be exceptions to the rule, and we see two of them in this thread.

bikingshearer 

To everyone who did the ride - Congrats . Doing Diablo, Morgan, Patterson Pass, Hamilton and Sierra all in one day - with Mines Road thrown in for good measure - is impressive. Making it up any one of those climbs is a solid day's work for me.

To the volunteers - thanks for making event rides possible. Good on y'all.

To LanceOldstrong - are you sure that DMD jersey is suitably, um, "flamboyant"?

To me - there is still no way in God's green Earth that I would so much as think about attempting the DMD. Even if I had the strength, there is no way I could do the climbs fast enough not to get pulled. As Dirty Harry once said: "A man's got to know his limitations." But I can admire those of you who do such things.

200miler

A huge "congrats" to all who finished! I have to note that aside from the chilly weather on Diablo at the start, it was a pretty fine day for riding a bike. Our staff ride on the 23rd did without the frigid factor over Diablo but was pretty much the same for the balance of the day, a pretty considerable event for DMD. Usually the staff ride weather SUX big time and the public ride has perfect conditions.

I was sorry not to meet all the faces that go with the monikers here, save for Curtis who I met when I "swept" thru the Mines Rd stop. I had missed him the Saturday before at the staff do. Spingineer, wished I'd known you were up on the mountain; I'd have liked to at least given up a "tip of the Quack hat"! [I presume that both you and Curtis collected one in your swag bags; that's the only way to get one!]

As for the rest of you folks, in hindsight it's probably a real good thing we didn't cross paths, as I was doing the sweep duties up until the top of Hammy. Then it was shuttling riders in to the hotel, and making some emergency repairs out on the road. Neither of which are a good way to introduce yourself!

JourneyLightly - All unclaimed drop bags were delivered back to the hotel after the respective CP's closed. They were all in a pile in the meeting room when I stopped by Sunday morning prior to heading back to the desert. An e-mail to Scott will suffice to get back to you.

Finally, I have to ask......, how many of you guys had a chili dog at Sunol? How about the Miso Soup? Just curious; I had both, but then again I wasn't heading for Palomares and Norris Canyons, on a bike that is!!

Don't forget! Knoxville is only about 22 weeks away!
Y'all come see us now!
YMMV
-dg

Lanceoldstrong

A good old plain dog with tons of mustard for me. My first hot dog since last September at Knoxville.
There is just something about a Quack Dog. Yummy!

bayareawheeler

great job to all, I was telling my wife about the suffering that was taking place right about the same time I settled down into this position my arse hurt just thinking about it!

JourneyLightly

A plain hotdog was so good at Sunol! I'd been craving one most of the day.

PS - I think I've tracked down my drop bag. I'll know for certain in the morning. Thanks again for a great event!

ahmose

I had the hotdog at Sunol (Mustard, no chilli) and it was great. However, the cup-o-noodles at the Pet-The-Goat stop truly hit the spot. I was convinced to give it a try and i'm glad i did.

Beaker

Huge kudos to all who took part and had the physical and mental stamina to tough it out to the very end. It amazes me how in the space of 4yrs since I started hanging around this place we've ended up with so many of the BF "regulars" doing insane rides like this (and I mean insane in the nicest possible way).

Hats off to you all.

cccorlew

Psychologists have terms for a group that supports and even encourages this sort of behavior:
Co-dependents and enablers.

Lanceoldstrong

I prefer to think of us as a cult.

MetinUz

I met ahmose and Lanceoldstrong on Morgan Territory Road and rode with them for the most part. Here are a few pictures:

Patterson Pass


Steep section of Mt Hamilton, with a cattle guard at the switchback


Sunset at Sierra Road

colinmcnamara

My belated ride report -

I rolled out of the house at 4:30 in the morning with the goal of being at the start by the 4:45 rider briefing. The one thing I hadn't taken into account was that the delicate setting on my drier leaves clothes just a tad bit damp. So, at 4:30 in the morning I get to do the decent down bollinger / norris canyon with wet clothes...

I roll up to the Marriot a bit early and start circling the parking lot looking for people I know. I spot Jacks car and say hi, and then notice that Matt is right behind me. I roll up the to overhang and position myself towards the back so I don't get caught up with the "fast" people. The leader of the quacks takes off his hat (interesting mad scientist hair) does an invocation for Jim, and gives us the rules of the day.

Rolling out in the dark I have my new bikeray 3 headlight on low, and see perfectly fine. I chill out and let most of the people pass me as I repeat to myself I will not chase, I will not chase, I will not chase.

In my mind I have two competing ideas circling my mind. The first being not to go to hard. The second being that I cannot miss the 1:00 pm cut off. These idea's will keep going back and forth in my head until I pulled into mines.

The ride up Mt Diablo I ended up chatting with a couple people, and while I I went up about 6 minutes faster then my target pace I felt pretty good. I ran into Matt and Jack at the top. That was the first sign that I was going waaaay to fast.

I took a note from Jack's book and did a quick turn at the top of diablo before I started to freeze up. I left before Matt, and Jack. Coming down I passed Susan Foresman who was had flatted her front tire as I was coming up, and got behind some people who had no business descending a technical downhill. After two turns I got impatient, forgot about the broken ribs and took the downhill at a pretty fast pace. By the time I got to that little uphill section on northgate my legs were shaking so hard that I could not level the cranks without them shaking back and forth.

So, to get warm I started picking up the pace. I linked up with a few other guys we made our way through clayton. We pass Jay and I say hi to Christine, and then get routed through downtown (including getting routed through the center of a farmers market...). As we started up the first hill to morgan before the right turn I was keeping a pretty aggressive pace, though I was feeling great. I kept that aggressive pace through the rollers of morgan entered the single lane climbing section.

At the point where it gets really steep I hear someone behind me chatting away. I look back and there is Jay. note, this is 50+ miles into a hilly ride and jay is just passing me. this is yet another hint that I am going waaaaay to fast. I chat with Jay for a couple minutes, and then Jay goes on ahead. Matt catches up shortly after and then heads ahead to attack the hill.

I run into Matt Jay and Jack again at the top of Morgan. Jay heads out first, and Matt and I head out together. Again I bomb the downhill, ducking under the mirror of a giant truck taking the entire road going up hill. This got me amped up and I ended up riding off of adrenaline for the next few miles.

I went way to hard through livermore / altimont, burning way to many calories unnecessarily. I probably only saved 5-10 minutes by fighting the wind that hard. Not the smartest of ideas. I looked at the time then, and saw that I was completely and utterly ahead of schedule. I could have walked to mines at that point and made it by the cut off. With that in mind I took it easy coming up patterson, and really enjoyed that climb. Matt caught up with me again at the mini stop before the final climb while I grabbed water and some fruit for my pockets. I think then I was starting to get the hint that I was behind on calories.

I rolled into the mines rest stop 1hr 15 min before the cut off. Again, Jay was there being smart and pacing himself. (throughout this entire ride I would mention to Matt every time I saw jack, saying there is captain consistent demonstrating how a ride is supposed to be ridden). Instead of spending some time grabbing a huge dose of sugar and food I grabbed a few items and rolled out.

I went up the wall and at mile marker 8 utterly and completely bonked. My teeth started tingling, heart was racing, negative thoughts filled my head. I slowed down, ate the food that I had on me and focused on making relentless forward progress. Thank god there was a tailwind up mines. It gave me enough of a push to keep going, all though every weekend rider that would draft me, and then eventually pass was really pissing me off (bonked brain gets grumpy).

I ran into Trina at the mini stop on mines, grabbed more water and granola and then rode on. Pushed over the two ridges and then rolled into the junction. At that point I figured that hydrating and unbonking for 30 minutes would be a smart thing to do.

I ran into Matt at the junction rest stop. I honestly can't figure out who got there first ( think it was me, though not entirely sure). I drank a couple sodas, ate some muffins, and let my body absorb fuel. Matt followed my lead and put his legs up and hydrated and fueled also. after 32 minutes it was back on the bike rolling out.

As we were getting ready to roll out, captain consistent had rolled in and rolled out. Again, I mentioned to Matt about how that is the key to being successful. Matt and I discussed rolling at a slower pace as we continued to digest food. We passed Susan shortly after leaving the junction which was surprising. She is super strong, and must have bonked herself earlier in the day trying to make up time from her flat tire.

As we made the right turn towards Hamilton Matt is able to keep a higher pace in the hills and starts inching out of sight. I keep my pace under control and let him go. Again, I make up time on the down hills and pull into the rest stop a the bottom of Hamilton at about the same time.

Once we start up Hamilton it is obvious that Matt is in his happy place and just floats off like a butterfly. I take it at a deliberate pace, saving a bit for Sierra. About half way up I hear a weird sound from my handlebar (turns out it was a creaking brifter). I pull over and get my toolkit out to check my stem and handlebars. Susan passes me. I pack everything back up and continue the climb. I pass Susan and two other people on my way to the top. Again, I was feeling kinda great. My sugar levels had returned to something semi functional, and my brain was functioning in a positive manner.

As I was coming up to the top I chewed up the rest of a GORP bag, and rolled over the top with one bottle left. I figured that I just might be able to catch back up with Matt if I kept my pace up on the decent. Holy crap, that road is rough after the winter. My hands, feet and butt are still sore from it. I made it up the small climbs out of Henry Coe park and climbed into the corothers rest stop.

I didn't see Matt there, but figured he had made good time and sailed on through. I took another 30 minutes to recharge my batteries and eat a bunch of crap (mountain dew in the water bottle). As I was leaving I ran into Jack again, demonstrating how a double is supposed to be done.

I made my way to the bottom of Sierra, ready for the crux of the day. I was still not in perfect shape. I couldn't get my heart rate to rise above the pure aerobic zone (no tempo) and was pretty dehydrated. I figure the HR issue was because I bonked so hard earlier that I didn't have the reserve glycogen to support the higher level of effort. Either way, I had to make it up this climb. I shifted into my granny gear and stood up.

It looks like doing hill repeats on derby on my big dummy made a difference. Sierra was hard but doable. I made it to pet the goat and sat for a just a few minutes to down a coke. After my coat I fed the goat some snacks, and made my way down felton and across calaveras.

I pulled into Sunol as the sun was going down. My wife and kids had camped out there with signs and Cowbells cheering me on. My five year old didn't quite get the fact that I was still pretty lost in my head and needed to get to the food first. It was pretty awesome having them there to cheer me on though.

I grabbed the best endurance food I could find, a Chili Dog. it was SOOOO good. With that and a Coke in me I turned on my light and headed down Niles Canyon. Luckily I didn't have any problems from cars and made it to the turn off without incident.

At the turn off I was pleasantly surprised that somebody had cleared the gravel out of the way. Way to go quacks !!. I made my way in the dark up palomares, tracking another rider in the distance who was climbing just a tad faster then me. As I passed the last left turn before the downhill the climber was long out of sight. At that point I turned my light on high and through 1000 lumens at the problem. It literally turned night into day. I didn't use the brakes once and caught up with the climber within a minute or so. He pulled over to the side, thinking I was a car. I slowed up so we could ride together and both benefit from increased visibility.

Once we entered the flatter part we encountered a huge bronco with it's emergency flashers on. After being puzzled for awhile we passed it and found a woman with a couple small lights hiding in it's headlights going slow as sin. I mentioned that she should hop on and ride with us but she looked petrified. I figured she had bigger issues to deal with and rode on with the climber (his name was Fred). We snaked our way under the freeway and attacked Crow Canyon.

Apparently we could both smell the barn, because I went up Crow Canyon in my big ring. The lack of consistent shoulders sucked, but again Crow Canyon wasn't too bad. We made the turn up Norris and rode into San Ramon together.

I rolled into the finish at 10:23 for a total of 17hr 23 minutes. Jay was in the room all bundled up and comfortable, and I proceeded to devour some lasagna and costco muffins. We bs'd for a while and then Jack strolled in. I left shortly after to go home and have cake with the kids and try out my new socks and jersey

Again, great ride. I can't wait for next years opportunity to shave some time off.

--Colin

colinmcnamara

Chilidog for me at Sonol. It is probably the worst endurance fuel I could eat, but holy hell it was awesome.

Midland

Congratulations to all the riders and people involved in the 2011 DMD.
Special shout-out to buddy of 25+ years LanceOldstrong.When that man set's a goal, bet on it.It's as good as done.
Had a lot of fun trying to keep up with him on some pretty cool training rides.

chidonchea

My first DMD. I never thought I would ever do it. Here is a 9 1/2 minute video of my ride.

motorider

Thanks chidonchea for the video! What a great memory!

Embedded your video for convenience...

Lanceoldstrong

Right at the end at 8:59 you can hear my son go Wooo! and ring his cowbell, then my wife says "Congratulations". You also got a lot of footage of me going up Diablo. Thanks for making this and sharing it.

JourneyLightly

Great video! Did you have more than one camera?

chidonchea

Thanks! Just one camera. All the shots were hand held with a small strap around my finger. Kept the camera in my jersey pocket.

uspspro

You captured me at the Morgan Territory Rest Stop. Kind of in a bad mood at that point, since I snapped my front derailleur at the base of Diablo (had to remove it), then got a flat near Clayton.

I am in the black jacket at 3:05.

Bostic

https://www.quackcyclists.com/Dmd11/2011DmdResults.cfm