California Sierra Trail 400

[trebor]

Hey All!

WHAT AN AMAZING ROUTE! Tough beyond tough.

Sean made mention somewhere along the way, either here on BP.net or his emails about this being a course suited to a full suspension bike. I blew past that bit of info without another thought. There was my first error. I was using Ambisol by 1 AM to manage the growing pain in my shorts.

The second problem I had was the 2nd track segment would not load....... I was about a mile past the spring (cold and delicious, by the way) and I sat on the side of the road not knowing how I was going to continue. I sat there for well over an hour hoping someone would come along. I was hoping to ride with someone since I'd never figure out the route without it. When it dawned on me.... I had the original file (pre fire route). I loaded that and made a guess that i was on course if I just stayed on pavement to French Meadow. Then, flub #3 happened somewhere in the single track of French Meadow, I lost 2 liters of water. The bottles were gone from their cages when I got out on the pavement.....

Panic was then on the menu! I had no clue how to get to Lake Tahoe, in terrain I've never seen (and noticing how many drainages and creeks were dry out there), and not be able to carry at least 3 liters. Resourcefulness then made it's appearance. I was digging old water bottles out of the ditch on the side of the road! I kid you not!

The first ditch-found-bottle came to an early death when it fell out of the cage and I ran over it and crushed it..... I screamed out into the woods in frustration.... but pressed on. I found a Gatorade bottle later on in the bathrooms at Loon Lake. SCORE!

Then by the time I was entering the first set of camp sites at the end of the Rubicon (and heard someone say "what the f#$k is that?" from one of the fine jeepers....) at sunrise my rear was pretty raw.

Riding (walking) the Rubicon was an interesting experience. Some nice people, some not so much, and a ton of HAB on those uphills. I honestly walked 75% of the uphills. On the big push up from the river I came across a nice guy coming down in his red jeep. Offered food and water and told me "my buddy" was just up ahead. Motivation!! He said he (Sean or Blake maybe?) was at the start of the FS and the Rubicon up the hill.... then the jeeper was kind enough to let me know "Well.... He's probably in Tahoe by now. You still have a long way to go." Deflated......

By the time I got to the lake, I decided that another 250+ miles and my rear was going to be in too poor of condition. I really learned my lesson last year at TD and I don't want a repeat of that kind of pain.

The course is really fun. Hard as hell, but it is fun.

No regrets on stopping. I have a ton of knowledge now. But if the original route is 8 hours slower.... Oofa!!

[Sean Allan]

Funny stuff there Rob. You had it licked and there was (somewhat) easier riding ahead. I know that ass pain is not something that goes away or gets better with additional miles, good call.

The boys are still motoring along. Greg has made it to the food and motel haven of Tahoe City and Dave is soldiering along going up towards Stanford Rock. Great job!

I'm already getting emails about doing it again in a couple of weeks, sick bastards....

[B_Bock]

Looks like Greg is forgoing a warm bed in TC and pushing into the night. I wander if Dave is going to try and ride down to ward canyon. That would be a sick downhill in the dark. Think I'd be walking a good portion of it.
Rob,
I remember meeting the guy in the red jeep. I woke him up as I went by early Sunday morning. I had quite the misshap as was hike-a-biking on the rubicon trail. A mile or so after I passed Rubicon Springs I noticed that there were two sets of tire tracks. I had been following only one since Sean passed me during my slumber. I kept thinking who would be crazy enough to ride up here at night besides us bike packers. I also thought maybe you or Forrest must of passed me. But when? I hadn't seen the second track earlier. Yes you guessed it the track was mine. Somehow I got turn turned around and was heading back twards Loon Lake. I only realized it when I returned to Rubicon Springs. The mind does funny things out there in the dark.

[Sean Allan]

The boys made it to Mount Rose today, glorious singletrack riding now for the next 100 miles! Looks like Dave took a right instead of a left at the TRT intersection with Courcheval Rd and bee-lined it to Tahoe City. I don't think anyone's getting relegated in this race so we'll just make a notation. I'm sure they will let me know if they were off course anywhere. Great job Guys!

[forest_on_bike]

Great to see these Greg and Dave doing well. And, if they enter the foothills tomorrow, it looks like it will be about 10 degrees cooler than when we were outbound. Way to hang in there guys!

[Sean Allan]

The boys are doing great, just now slogging up Wrights Lake Rd. to likely stay in the campground tonight. It's going to be a slow day tomorrow with Barretts and Two Peaks trails. They are tough mothers for sure!

I may be able to sit out back and cheer them on as they pass my house on Sat, that would be cool

[B_Bock]

Dave turned around last night and is heading back twards wrights lake. Hope he's ok.
Greg made a nice push though the night. Looks like he wants to finish today tonight.

[Sean Allan]

Yeah, that's not good, he was nearly to Two Peaks trail last night. Hopefully he is O.K. and will be moving again today. I would guess we'll have a winner today as Greg made a nice push yesterday/last night. Mostly downhill today with the few climbs that do come being pretty easy.

[B_Bock]

Is anyone planing on meeting Greg at the finish?

[JosiahM]

looks like Dave has hit his help button.... 3 times.
is someone around to go check on him?

[B_Bock]

I called the Ranger. They are going to check on him. He is very close to dark lake and Wrights lake so they should be able to reach him soon.

[Sean Allan]

Just saw this..... I'm at work with pretty weak service and Trackleaders won't load for me. Any news. I'm in Placerville so I could get him today.

[JosiahM]

he appears to be making slow progress again... I don't know if maybe someone got him what he needed or if he gave up on waiting for help.  would be interesting to know what happened.

[B_Bock]

He's back moving the other way. Not sure what's going on. I haven't heard back from the rangers office so I assume he's ok?

[Sean Allan]

Well Dave is certainly moving again. I hope all is well. Very tough section of trail he's on right now, right up there with the toughest he's seen.

I'd go down and meet Greg when he finishes but his tracker is updating so infrequently I have no ides where he is right now.

[Sean Allan]

Looks like Greg finished up last night sometime after 10pm, Congratulations on the win!

 I received a cryptic e-mail from Dave yesterday saying he was dropping out due to bike problems, but he has since moved through the Two Peaks Trail and is headed back towards Auburn, not sure what to make of it......

Very smokey today and nearing 100 degrees in the Valley, high 90's in Auburn. If Dave can push through tonight he would be better off.

[forest_on_bike]

Congrats Greg! Way to stick it out under such tough conditions.

I was worried about you on day 1 when your gps wasn't showing the track. Glad it all worked out.

Have a good drive home,

Forest

[dkirk]

Hi everyone,
Back in Yakima. all's well. Accidentally pushed the help button instead of giving my wife an OK message. I do this before I stop to sleep so she won't worry. Man, did I give her the opposite effect! That really got confusing trying to find the trail out there. On my end I had the track too far zoomed in and had troubles getting everything to line up. Seeing as we were on4x4 track that was what I was looking for, not a primitive trail only marked by an old mark on a tree 25 yds off the track. Very hard to spot in the daylight, congrats to Greg doing it in the night!
I had the misfortune of having my rear derailleur getting slammed into my rear wheel spokes just shy of granite slabs. Turned it into an SS but it was loose. Not great for trail riding. Called it quits at that point.
Really a varied course with all types of people to boot. Had to laugh at the posts of the Rubicon sightings! I too had my encounters including the good the bad and the ugly. (One drunk wanted to know if Lance wanted to come over and kiss his nipples) I kept it light, and got the hell out of there!
Really had little trouble with the smoke. Only had a bit a couple of mornings, but the winds would then pick up and clear it out.
Congratulations to Greg for getting this done. Several nights I would see his lights and then I'd take a wrong turn and he'd be gone. He really plugged along.
Thanks to Sean for putting this together. It was a blast seeing a different part of the country. Such incredible trees! And granite! I think I've seen enough granite waterbar drops to last me for a while.
Take care everyone
Dave

[trebor]

Congrats Greg!

Dave - you really had this route by the short hair. Too bad on the rear derailleur.

"Kiss his nipples...." what the hell?!?!?

[Buttermilk]

the lone finisher...congrats Greg! way to stick to it and I know you had a great adventure.

Dave, well done on your push as far as you got. mechanicals are a bummer of a way to bail. Great effort!

glad there was at least one finisher on this inaugural year of the race. tough ass race course Sean...and I only saw a small part of it. 

long live CSTR!!