Joel and I did an 80-mile ride yesterday, up Cayuse Pass and back (a good chunk over 4,000 ft of climbing, most of it in the last 6m up to the pass). We’d been calling it “DeathRide 2007” for a while, since the plan was “Go up 410 until we die”.

Turns out there’s a real Death Ride, and it makes ours look wimpy. Here’s the site.

50% more distance, about 3.5 times the elevation gain. I imagine it as being the worst part of our Death Ride, where I almost couldn’t keep the pedals turning and felt like I really would die, running longer, a couple times over.

We’re all nuts, bikers.

Notes on sub-DeathRide 2007:
– Watching Joel’s climb on that last six miles was crazy. Dude climbs those long, steady grades like a goat.
– Having insects wing off your cheeks while descending at 40 is painful
– When they hit your glasses, they’ll actually disintegrate
– At one of the campgrounds, we stopped for water and it was some of the most delicious water I’ve ever had. I highly recommend it. I believe it was on the descent just after the FS-7175 turnoff, but I’m sure it was on the left, after the Crystal Mountain road.