This is a continuation of the race recap for the Furnace Creek 508. The hand off for the start of Stage 3 occurred at Trona, at 6:02 pm and Franz started the toughest and longest stage of the race. Ahead was riding mostly in the dark for 99 miles with 7,500 feet of climbing. The race started out without too much climbing as shown by this elevation profile. Initially Franz felt strong and passed several riders. Pacing during the night time rules was a bit complicated because the support vehicles needed to stay behind their rider.

By the time of the first climb it was totally dark and Franz could see the lights ahead of a caravan of support vehicles, all following their rider. Unlike the daytime where the various support vehicles would leapfrog the riders and stop and cheer on all the riders, it became dark and lonely. Having a headwind and cool temperatures only made it harder. After the gradual descent in Panamint Valley, Franz made a stop to get more clothes on. The crew offered to put on the outside music using the iPod that Franz had brought along with his own selection. One of the first songs to come over the speaker was “Against the Wind”. That was very appropriate. The music helped a lot and it was fun ridding in the dark, passing some of the riders on the climbs with the vehicle behind you playing your music.

After a right turn, with increased headwind, the climb up Townes Pass started. Franz went up the climb with his double crankset, which was a mistake and should have switched to his other bike with lower gearing. He was also feeling the effects of the 83 mile stage earlier in the day and could not get his heart rate up above 145 whereas he can usually drive it to 165 for a sustained climb. Fatigue was really coming into the picture as Franz would need to frequently stand while pedalling to get some power to the pedals.

At about 3,500 foot elevation Franz made an stop to get even more clothes on because the temperature was now in the high 40′s. The crew offered to get his other bike down from the top of the van, but Franz decided to slug it out since there was only another 1,500 feet to go.

He finally made it to the summit and was too cold to stop with the temperature now 46 degrees. Having already put on the clothes needed for the descent, Franz rolled right down Townes Pass. It was still a strong headwind so it made going down a bit tricky but Franz had a very good BR light that illuminated up the road well, even when the support vehicle was dropping back on the curves. It was a 5,000 foot drop to Death Valley.

Once on the valley flow the temperatures were getting much better, around 70 degrees and it was now a cross wind as Franz headed to Furnace Creek. With over an hour left to bike Franz took another break and drank a coke and ate a donut. It was a long stage he felt. He could now see the lights of the caravan of support vehicles bending toward the right, which meant the cross wind would turn into a tail wind. He finally made it to Furnace Creek 1:19 am.

Everyone was now taking a break and Paul was getting ready to ride. He left at 1:39 am and was not enjoying the benefits of the strong tail wind that Franz had enjoyed for the last part of Stage 3. Paul was riding strong, moving along well over 20 mph.

After a fast and flat long section, Paul hit the climb up Jubilee Pass and the winds were no longer a tail wind.

It was a long climb up, and even after reaching the summit of Jubilee Pass, there was only a short descent before the climb began up Salsberry Pass.

It was then a descent to Shoshone where Paul arrive at 6:43 am. Since the night time driving rules applied until 7:00, Franz had to make a quick switch at Shoshone to get ready to head toward Baker. See the next blog entry for stages 5 and 6.

Categories: Furnace Creek 508
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