[ORRando] Furnace Creek 508

Fri Oct 10 13:57:06 PDT 2008

Way to go, Del - excellent result, given the cold, sour stomach and lack of sleep!  Great report, too!

Cecil

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Del Scharffenberg" <dels at intersoftsystems.com>
>    Thursday I drove solo to Sacramento to meet up and stay with my nephew Matt 
> who would also be my crew chief.  Matt has done this several times before and is 
> quite good at it.  Friday we drove the 5 hours to Magic Mountain where the race 
> begins.  The afternoon was busy with checking in, setting up the lights and 
> signage on my Suzuki and a lengthy wait for mandatory vehicle inspection.  You 
> can see my primitive drawing skills on the pre-race mug shot:
>  http://www.the508.com/2008web/2008shows/2008show02/pages/_A031411.html
> 
>   Soon my volunteer crew people Karla and Steve drove up from L.A.  I had 
> contacted Karla via the event bulletin board "crew available" listings.  These 
> two young people were energetic members of MidnightRidazz, an L.A. group akin to 
> Portland's ZooBombers.  We met them only the evening before the start.  Nobody 
> complained about cramming 3 crew into my little Suzuki along with all my extra 
> food, clothes, bikes and parts.
>    RAAM founder John Merino and 24-hour record-holder Michael Secrest both spoke 
> at the Friday meeting.  The meeting Friday was too long, limiting our pre-race 
> sleep, and then I was too wired to doze off easily.  Being tired going in is 
> never good, but unfortunately what usually happens.  I was worried about some 
> symptoms of an oncoming cold and I had failed to get much extra sleep the prior 
> weeks.  
>   The solo start was 7 am Saturday.  81 of the original 100 entrants actually 
> made it to the starting line.  I met and chatted with Bill Walton, who is quite 
> a fan, and came to the start wearing a 508 jersey just to support us.  Here he 
> is with the brother of the race director:
>  http://www.the508.com/2008web/2008shows/2008show08/pages/_A041604.html
> 
>   I lined up in the second row behind my Seattle friend Chris "Ram" Ragsdale, 
> who would eventually finish second.  Here is a picture right after the 7 am 
> start, barely getting light:
>  http://www.the508.com/2008web/2008shows/2008show04/pages/DSC07060.html
> 
>   We received a police escort for the 4-mile neutral rollout.  Temp was about 60 
> degrees and I was comfortable in my shorts, obra jersey and the white "arm 
> coolers" that were part of our race packet this year.  These are designed with 
> spf sun protection more than warmth.  After the neutral section we turn onto San 
> Francisquito Canyon, start climbing and spread out to stop drafting.  Crews have 
> to drive ahead 20 miles before starting to support us.  Meanwhile we climb more 
> than a couple thousand feet.  I rode in about 20th position on this section.  As 
> we climbed the temp dropped to the very low 50's and we rode into a cold misty 
> fog bank.  By the time I reached my crew I was asking for jacket and gloves and 
> officials were requesting us to turn lights on.  Race director Chris Kostman 
> drives the unsupported section, taking pictures along the way before returning 
> to the 9 am team start: 
>  http://www.the508.com/2008web/2008shows/2008show06/pages/_A041549.html
> 
> Here are my eventual time splits: 
> http://dbase.adventurecorps.com/individualTd.php?e=1360
> 
>   We soon busted out of the fog and had the typical long-ranging views of the 
> spectacular desert scenery.  The wind picked up and was mostly behind us, so 
> early split times are very fast.  But the wind was gusty and the route is not 
> straight, so we would get the occasional stop-in-your-track headwinds around 
> bends.  There was also a brutal sandstorm to ride through between the first 
> checkpoint and the wind generators.  My first century split was a quick 5:14.  
> Temp climbed to high 80's.  Here are a few pictures from this section:
> from Hugh Murphy: http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2228911130094322183AJMtkU
> from Ben Jones: http://sports.webshots.com/photo/2547407420072786939lZQxiR
> Trona leader board: http://sports.webshots.com/photo/2231093280072786939aBQLMT
> 30th place at 2:53 pm.  (154 miles in 7:53!).  Next picture is shortly after 
> Trona:
>  http://sports.webshots.com/photo/2959597710072786939ptiDfU
> 
>   After a short break at the rest area just north of Trona, I continued to ride 
> strong into the afternoon and evening, including a 200 mile split of 10:13.  At 
> 200 miles we turn east to begin the climb up 5000 foot Townes Pass, which 
> unfortunately also presented us with a headwind.  Here is my picture as Chris 
> Kostman passed on his way from the back to the front of the pack just as I was 
> starting the long climb.  It is almost 6 pm, start of night-riding rules (lights 
> and reflective gear on and following car always behind with safety lights):
>  http://www.the508.com/2008web/2008shows/2008show14/pages/_A042117.html 
>  http://www.the508.com/2008web/2008shows/2008show14/pages/_A042118.html
> 
>   The fast descent into Death Valley in the dark is always exciting.  This time 
> it was even more dramatic because there was a rare thunderstorm with rain and 
> bright lightning flashes.  The riders an hour ahead of me got pounded with heavy 
> rain, while I had just a little, but lots of dirty splatters that would remain 
> on my bike and shoes the rest of the event.  We reached the Furnace Creek time 
> station a couple hours ahead of my midnight goal pace, nearly halfway in less 
> than 15 hours!  Unfortunately my stomach got sour in the night, right when I was 
> also fighting drowsiness.  We stopped at the Badwater rest rooms for half an 
> hour, then another half and hour farther down the road where I got about 15 
> minutes sleep along the road after dry heaving my empty acid stomach.  My 300 
> mile split was a disappointing 19:24 (more than 9 hours for the 3rd century).  
> Somewhere along here RAAM 60+ champ Donkey Jones passed me unawares.  I got 
> going again, but was rather slow all night.  My following crew beeped a couple 
> times when they thought I was weaving too much and dozing off.  Once the sun 
> came
> back up after the Shoshone time station I got myself back up to speed and rode 
> the last three
> legs stronger than ever...didn't even stop at the last two checkpoints.  I 
> really wanted to finish before dark Sunday, but didn't quite make it.  We were 
> near the top of the final big climb at 6 pm when we were required to stop and 
> put on the bike and vehicle lights again.  But the climb seemed very minor this 
> year compared to the last two years when I did it completely in the dark.  A 
> highlight of the ride was passing a 4-man team rider with just a few miles to 
> go.  I was "sprinting" for the finish, hoping to break 37 hours, but not 
> realizing I still had a few miles to go.  I was a very happy finisher at 8:10 
> pm:
>  http://www.the508.com/2008web/2008shows/2008show22/pages/_A052698.html
>  http://www.the508.com/2008web/2008shows/2008show22/pages/_A052699.html
> Medal ceremony with race director Chris Kostman:
>  http://www.the508.com/2008web/2008shows/2008show22/pages/_A052708.html
> Post-race photo with crew.  (Matt, Del, Karla and Steve):
>  http://www.the508.com/2008web/2008shows/2008show22/pages/_A052709.html
> 
>   In summary, 37:10 is my 2nd-best overall time, but my best by 3 hrs since 
> turning 60.  My first FC508 in 1996 at age 51 is still my fastest.  This year 
> moves me up a couple positions (to 5th) on the all-time 60+ list and nobody over 
> 62 has ever gone as fast.  Next year I will want to attend the pre-ride meeting 
> to be inducted into the 508 "hall of fame".  There are only 11 riders with 5 or 
> more solo finishes, led by Reed "Flamingo" Finfrock with 9.  Young Alex "Kakapo" 
> Kohan, 18, from Salem became the 18th Oregonian finisher and established an 
> age-group record for teenage recumbent riders. 
> 
> -- The "Spider"

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From: "Del Scharffenberg" <dels at intersoftsystems.com>
Subject: [ORRando] Furnace Creek 508
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:55:08 +0000
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