Archive for the 'Furnace Creek 508' category
Furnace Creek 508 or Bust (or Melt Down)
April 21, 2008 6:16 pmFurnace Creek 508 Video
October 16, 2007 7:31 pmRacing the 508 - Stages 1 and 2
October 12, 2007 12:00 pmThis is a recap of the Furnace Creek 508 race. Franz and Paul on a two man relay team. with the team totem “Prairie Dog”. Russ and Sheila were our crew. We all drove down together to Santa Clarita on Friday, October 5th and had our vehicle and bikes inspected.
We made our way over to the race start on Saturday morning. The race started from the front of the Hilton Garden in Santa Clarita. Our team is shown below, Paul, Franz (ready to ride) and our crew Russ and Sheila.
Franz started at 9 am with a police escort through the streets of Santa Clairta. This stage involved 83 miles with over 6,000 feet of climbing, as shown by the profile below. The route took us through Majave to California City.
This image gives you a better feel of the route.
The van went ahead and Paul got ready to ride when Franz arrived at 1:54 pm.
Franz averaged 17 mph. He briefly passed Joe. from the Nutcracker team, towards the end, but Joe would have nothing with that so Joe went ahead and came in one minute before Franz
Paul then next took the baton for Stage 2.
Paul had a 70 mile route, with 4200 feet of climbing as shown with this profile.
Paul made good time on his route, averaging 17.0 mph.
We stop just before Trona because at 6 pm, we had to change to night time rules and follow the rider. We came to the time station at 6:02 pm. Since we were in night time rules, Franz had all his bike clothes and shoes on and ready to role so we were able to make a quick switch over at Trona. During the night the rider can not go ahead of the van. Franz then took off toward Furnace Creek for Stage 3 about two minutes after Paul arrived. See the next blog entry for Stages 3 and 4.
Racing the 508 - Stages 3 and 4
11:00 amThis 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.
Racing the 508 - Stages 5 and 6
10:00 amFranz, Russ and Sheila took turns getting a little sleep as Paul was finishing Stage 4. With some rest, Franz was feeling much better as he started Stage 5. It was still not yet 7 am as Paul pulled into Shoshone so Franz made a quick switch to get ready to bike and started to bike at 6:45 am. The plan was for the support vehicle to follow for the required 15 minutes, then to switch to a leap frog method.
Franz was now enjoying sunny skies but still cool weather.
It was a slight downhill and a nice tail wind, allowing full speed ahead.
The route was 56 miles with only 2100 feet of climbing, much easier than the first two stages Franz had ridden. The way the stages are placed, the A rider does most of his riding up front on the first day and then it shifts to the B rider on the second day. That was all fine with Franz. Not only was this stage less climbing, there was more descent than climbing as shown by this profile.
The last 15 miles into Baker with flat and fast with a nice tail wind, allowing speeds over 25 mph. Franz ended the stage with an average speed of nearly 20 mph. He pulled into Baker at 9:32 am.
Paul then started stage 6 to Kelso, which was a short 34 miles but had 3000 feet of climbing with an end point higher than the start as shown here.
Franz and crew at stopped in Baker to buy Franz a hamburger (he had a craving for one) and a milkshake for Paul (he a craving for one). We finally caught up with Paul who had moved out fast.
Paul stopped to enjoy his milkshake.
Paul reached the summit and had a nice descent to arrive at Kelso, arriving at 12:16 pm. When we pulled up we saw the support vehicle of Team Monticore. Franz was now checking on his iPhone to see the race standings on the 508 website and we realized that we were now in 2nd place after Monticore. So be sure to reach the next blog entry about Stage 7 and 8.
Racing the 508 - Stages 7 and 8
8:00 amWhen we arrived at Kelso we noticed the support vehicle for Team Monticore. Franz was checking on his iPhone and realized that they were in first place for our division and we were right behind them so we got all ready for when Paul approached.
Franz jumped on his bike and made a mad dash out, with no need to wait for the support vehicle. Franz was now feeling fresh again and was climbing up the hill at a fast rate. This stage was only 34 miles and the final one for Franz so there was no need to hold back and having Monticore ahead to chase made it all the more fun.
Although this stage had 2000 feet of climbing there was again more descent than uphill.
Franz was able to keep his heart rate higher, unlike the climb up Townes Pass.
Franz finished with a fast downhill to Almost Amboy with a total time of 1:34 on the stage, averaging 22.44 mph. That did not give Paul much time to recover before he started the last stage. But we had reduced the 12 minute lead of Monticore to less than 5 minutes. Although they had their strong rider doing the last stage, it was fun to chase them down.
Paul started out for the finish for what would prove to be the warmest stage of the race. It was a busy road and a long climb to the Sheephole Summit.
After reaching the summit, there was a descent before a long, but gradual climb to the finish. The stage totaled over 58 miles with 4,200 feet of climbing. A difficult stage for the final one for Paul to tackle.
The sun was moving closer to the horizon as Paul approached the last 5 miles. We decided to switch over to night time rules so the vehicle could be behind Paul, since the cars coming from behind had the sun in their eyes.
Paul rode the final few miles through Twentynine Palms, including a cruel little climb before the finish. About a half of mile before the end Franz got out and on his bike so they could ride in together.
They crossed the finish line at 6:25 pm, for a total time of 33 hours and 25 minutes and an overal average speed of 15.2 mph for 508 miles with 35,000 feet of climbing. It was a tremendous experience.
Final Countdown
October 4, 2007 8:26 pm 
Final Countdown, originally uploaded by franzkelsch.
I spent much of the morning fixing my son’s computer. He had been infected by a virus. I finally got going with my final preparations. I put the required reflective tape on both bikes in several spots.
I then put the aerobars on my Trek Madone bike since I will be riding it
most of the time. I was feeling very sluggish. I don’t like to take days
off from exercise, so I just had to go for a spin to make sure the aerobars were angled right. I kept it to only 5 miles. I could still feel in my legs I needed plenty of rest.
When I returned, I weighed the bike with the aerobars, san water bottles. I came out to 17.6 lbs.
I still need to pack but have most things staged now. We leave for Santa Clarita tomorrow morning.
Ready or Not
7:57 amIt is almost D day for the Furnace Creek 508. Because I have been tapering significantly and no biking today or tomorrow, I get a bit worried about losing conditioning. But I know I need to take the days off to be ready. I looked at my weekly biking miles through last week. I was able to get in over 300 miles last week. I guess it is ready or not!
