California Sierra Trail 400

[B_Bock]

Sean Allan has put together a beautiful race course through the Auburn Ravine/Western States/Lake Tahoe Area which started this morning in Auburn.  There was a little smoke lingering at Raleys this morning, but the racers were excited and determined.  I am back in Truckee and the air is clear.  Let's hope the wind keeps blowing the Rim Fire smoke south of the Tahoe Basin.
Posted by Maggie Bockius

[B_Bock]

The photo is showing up as an attachment.  Does anyone know how to include the picture in my post?  I am new to all this online communicating.
Maggie

[Kallus]

Hi Maggie, I think that you can use the attachment function to include a photo. Trying it now with a photo from this morning...  

[tubeSSnapper]

Almost sunset....
These guys have crushed some serious miles. I'm excited to see what happens tonight. Don't be fooled by the low altitude, those early miles are on some tough terrain. The rubicon at night seems to be a fearfull thing. Even in road daylight it is a trials style ride, I know from my own experience on it, fricken tough.
I'm ringing my cow bell boys...go,fricken go!

[B_Bock]

Hi Kallus - Sorry for my tech ignorance but I click reply than I choose filr and the file shows up in the small attach box at the bottom of the reply, than I click post but the picture doesn't show up like your beautiful picture, I love the flag. Ideas?

[aaron w]

The field is spreading out now!  Sean's already at the lake.  Hopefully the smoke situation isn't too bad.  Kallus, who are the guys in the picture?  I recognize Forest.  I'm super impressed with the riding he's done this year.  I'd love to see more pictures.  Hopefully you can get it figured out Maggie.  Sorry I don't know how to post pictures either!    <<<we need a guy like this ringing a cowbell.  Positive vibes to all on the course!

[Sean Allan]

Sorry to report I'm calling it quits this a.m. I thought I'd have a chance of putting together a good race, and the legs seem to agree. Unfortunately my shoulders just won't allow me to do this( for those that don't know I've had 5 shoulder surgeries). I stopped last night for couple a of hours to give them a break, and it helped. This morning though after 8 hours on the bike and two here in Tahoe City with 1000mg of Ibuprofen and a Vicoden, I'm still in a lot of pain, plus it makes riding techy stuff downright scary. My shoulders are the reason I crashed out of AZTR this year and I don't want a repeat this weekend.

I guess I'm a tourist now......

Good luck to everyone!

[Kallus]

Oh, no! Sean, so sorry to hear about the shoulders- You were flying!!
There's only so much Vicodin that one can take, though. Congrats on putting together a great inaugural race, despite the fires. Hoping to see more in the future.

I'm attaching another shot from y'day morning.  From R to L, I think the subjects are Rob, Sean, Blake, Forest, Dave.... but I'm not sure about the two riders on the left... Greg or Jeremy??

P.S. Maggie, I PMed you instructions for uploading photos. Here's a screenshot that might help:  http://prntscr.com/1oo0jn

[B_Bock]

Smoked out! Guess I'll have to give it another go. Sorry to hear Sean is out too.
Good luck to the few that are left out there.

[Buttermilk]

I split from Foresthill. Lost my rear brake and other minor technical issues. But more the issue was excuses to stop overpowered my will to push on. Thanks Sean for you're effort in putting this together (& hospitality). I will come back and ITT it at some point. Bummed to hear about your shoulder, you and Blake were motoring. Nice riding with you in the morning too, Blake. Bummer about the smoke.

Push on Rob, Greg and Dave!

[Sean Allan]

Jeremy, So bummed to hear that, you were so jacked up about the race it's a shame not to be able to run it with everyone else.


Blake, Sorry to see you drop, I was looking forward to watching you tear it up. I must have missed any smoke, didn't see any till I got to Truckee and was hoping you all would have a good day. I watched the sun rise from Stanford Rock and it looked pretty good, I could see all the way to South Shore. I'm sure all it took was s small wind shift to fix that.

I guess it's up to the three amigos to finish this beast. I've got an e-mail out to Forest to make sure he's all right but have not heard back yet.

Certainly a tough first day. I clocked 157 miles and 23,000' of climbing in my first 24 hours, all on very hard terrain. This was the easy route, the original course would have added another 8,000' the first day and 4'000' the last day. Surprisingly the Rubicon wasn't that bad at 3am. It's funny how things seem so different when you don't have any visual cues. It still took what seemed like forever to do that 17 miles though, somewhere around 5 hours, ouch.....

Pretty hot out there as well, the smoke was an issue, but not one that was going to stop anyone, tough mofos....

I'll be interested to see what people think. Blake and I have done every inch and I believe we feel it's a quality route, very tough first day through some rough country that's for sure.

I'm hoping Rob just forgot to reset his SPOT this AM.

[forest_on_bike]

Hi guys,

As you could probably tell by my dot, I sctached this morning. I went over the bars last night while trying to decsend the trail that dumps out at the Rubicon. Probably the biggest crash I've had in a long time. Nothing seemed broken, but I woke up with a really stiff neck and sore shoulder and elbo. It was OK on the bike, but it was a problem when I had to HAB. When I got to Ice House Rd, I took a right and headed to hwy 50 and got picked up.

As an aside, the heat while climibing Mosquito Ridge was brutal. I think I walked almost 2,000 ft of it. Had stomache cramps and tried my best to avoid heat stroke.

Sean, thanks again for putting this together. Out of all of the races I did this year, this one got me.

Forest

[B_Bock]

Jeremy, So bummed to hear that, you were so jacked up about the race it's a shame not to be able to run it with everyone else.


Blake, Sorry to see you drop, I was looking forward to watching you tear it up. I must have missed any smoke, didn't see any till I got to Truckee and was hoping you all would have a good day. I watched the sun rise from Stanford Rock and it looked pretty good, I could see all the way to South Shore. I'm sure all it took was s small wind shift to fix that.

I guess it's up to the three amigos to finish this beast. I've got an e-mail out to Forest to make sure he's all right but have not heard back yet.

Certainly a tough first day. I clocked 157 miles and 23,000' of climbing in my first 24 hours, all on very hard terrain. This was the easy route, the original course would have added another 8,000' the first day and 4'000' the last day. Surprisingly the Rubicon wasn't that bad at 3am. It's funny how things seem so different when you don't have any visual cues. It still took what seemed like forever to do that 17 miles though, somewhere around 5 hours, ouch.....

Pretty hot out there as well, the smoke was an issue, but not one that was going to stop anyone, tough mofos....

I'll be interested to see what people think. Blake and I have done every inch and I believe we feel it's a quality route, very tough first day through some rough country that's for sure.

I'm hoping Rob just forgot to reset his SPOT this AM.

It was one hell of a ride while it lasted. The smoke while not intense, really affected my sinus. My ears where plugged and I was having a hard time with my balance and equlibbriam. The conditions became worse as the day continiuned. The Lake Tahoe air quality is rated severe to unhealthy for today and this evening. I hope the rest of the riders are treated to clear sky's tomorrow.
This is one tough course you have put together. I look forward to having another go at it next year

[Sean Allan]

Hi guys,

As you could probably tell by my dot, I sctached this morning. I went over the bars last night while trying to decsend the trail that dumps out at the Rubicon. Probably the biggest crash I've had in a long time. Nothing seemed broken, but I woke up with a really stiff neck and sore shoulder and elbo. It was OK on the bike, but it was a problem when I had to HAB. When I got to Ice House Rd, I took a right and headed to hwy 50 and got picked up.

As an aside, the heat while climibing Mosquito Ridge was brutal. I think I walked almost 2,000 ft of it. Had stomache cramps and tried my best to avoid heat stroke.

Sean, thanks again for putting this together. Out of all of the races I did this year, this one got me.

Forest

Forest,
Glad you're home safe. Welcome to the club it would seem. Sorry to hear you won't hit for the cycle this year.

I had one goal for day one, get the the bottom of the Hunters Trail in the daylight. Blake had talked to his wife somewhere between the Hunters Trail and Loon Lake and he mentioned you were on Hunters Trail, this was around 10 pm. I think I actually said out loud "I hope he makes it down ok".

 I think that is what makes this route hard, there is so much terrain both up and down that is ride-able, but just barely, so you make decisions to ride something maybe you shouldn't have and sometimes it bites back. I know I told myself literally dozens of times to get off and walk things that were within my skill level on a good day, but had the potential for disaster if I didn't get it right.

 The heat was brutal going up Ralston Ridge, I know I walked a fair amount of that and still suffered cramps for the rest of the day. It seemed that whatever speed I rode or walked I had an equal tailwind that made for dead, hot air all around me. Once again that is one of those deals that looks entirely ride-able on paper but becomes pretty tough when you actually do it.

Looks like Greg and Dave are continuing along nicely. Greg is somewhere in the heart of the Rubicon, which is really pretty in the daylight, so good for him. Dave looks to be making his way from the bottom of Hunters Trail to Loon Lake which is all pavement so he's getting a nice break. Still no update to Robs SPOT. I sent an e-mail out to him this AM offering to come get him if he has scratched. Hopefully he's motoring along on the Tahoe Rim Trail having a blast.

Of course we have rain and lightening here in Foresthill today, the first time I can remember rain in Sept since I've lived here(13 years). Maybe this thing was cursed from the start. Hopefully it is making it's way to some of the fires in the state.

[Sean Allan]

Email from Rob from yesterday that I somehow missed. He's out at Tahoe City as well, something about hardtails and a tough course :icon_biggrin:It's too bad that we all did the hardest part of the course and then bailed when it really gets to be world class riding and views. I may have to come up with a shorter version that only incorporates the Lake Tahoe segments......

[forest_on_bike]

Sean, you said it! Hunters trail is no joke. And even the road climbs are no cake walk.

Also, I just ran out of water as I approached the waypoint for the spring. The waypoint is a little off (too soon), so I ended up spending about 20 minutes hiking in the woods along the road searching for it. Having given up, I was so happy to come across it about 1,000 feet up the road. I'll send you the waypoint I marked. Hopefully it's a little more accurate.

And I wasn't expecting the rain and lighting that night. I didn't bring my tent or a bivy because of the sunny weather forecast. I was just sleeping in my bag on a ground cloth. At least the thunder woke me and gave me some advance warning that rain was coming. With just under 2 hours of sleep, I quickly packed up and pushed further down the trail as the rain hit. As they say, the weather can change quickly in the mountains. I was an idiot for trusting the forecast.

I hope Greg, Dave, and Rob manage to slay this beast.

Forest

[forest_on_bike]

Oh bummer - I just saw your post about Rob.

I agree with modifying the route. I wasn't looking forward to heading back into the hellish foothills section after making it around Tahoe.

[B_Bock]

Email from Rob from yesterday that I somehow missed. He's out at Tahoe City as well, something about hardtails and a tough course :icon_biggrin:It's too bad that we all did the hardest part of the course and then bailed when it really gets to be world class riding and views. I may have to come up with a shorter version that only incorporates the Lake Tahoe segments......

Sean,
This is a tough course, but I think it's worth keeping the original route. As you said there is some world class riding around Tahoe. Like most of these Bikepacking races there are some torcherous sections and some epic sections. Let's see how Dave and Greg do as they lay down a more reasonable pace. I think most of the races like the TDR, AZTR and the CTR have a low success rate in the first year.
Blake

[Sean Allan]

Sean, you said it! Hunters trail is no joke. And even the road climbs are no cake walk.

Also, I just ran out of water as I approached the waypoint for the spring. The waypoint is a little off (too soon), so I ended up spending about 20 minutes hiking in the woods along the road searching for it. Having given up, I was so happy to come across it about 1,000 feet up the road. I'll send you the waypoint I marked. Hopefully it's a little more accurate.

And I wasn't expecting the rain and lighting that night. I didn't bring my tent or a bivy because of the sunny weather forecast. I was just sleeping in my bag on a ground cloth. At least the thunder woke me and gave me some advance warning that rain was coming. With just under 2 hours of sleep, I quickly packed up and pushed further down the trail as the rain hit. As they say, the weather can change quickly in the mountains. I was an idiot for trusting the forecast.

I hope Greg, Dave, and Rob manage to slay this beast.

Forest

Good to know you found it. I didn't have any data for it, been to it hundreds of times but never thought to waypoint it. It's location was simply a guess in the mass of reroutes done leading up to race day. I figured everyone would hear the water coming out of the pipe as they got closer and there is a big H2O sign on the road. Being off early was the worst thing I suppose, you would have seen/heard it if the waypoint was after.

Fear not, the return route is not nearly as hard as going out, my guess is it's nearly twice as fast. You really only had one more tough stretch to go (Rubicon) before you got to the goods....

[forest_on_bike]

I should make it clear that I really, really appreciated the fact that you marked the water supply options. It such a pain to go through all of that research and guesswork for the other bikepacking races. Thank you!