It Can Be Done
A Rookie 2-man Team 508 story

By Brad Carey, the ‘Walla’ part of team Chuckwalla

We did it! Two rookie 508 racers that have seen their dream come true….a Furnace Creek 508 finish!

Thanks to other riders’ essays providing excellent route details, I’ll concentrate on information that may help potential two-person teams reach their goal of completing the 508.

When my teammate told me he wanted us to enter the 508 as a team I thought he was nuts! I’m a rec rider who enjoys challenging rides, group rides and challenging hills. The UCMA membership belongs to those talented 508 solo racers not me! The more we talked about the details of the race though the more I became interested and excited. I was in it for two reasons, to challenge myself and to assist my friend across the finish line, after all it was his dream not mine.

How did we train? We typically ride 1 1/2hrs three days a week before work. Our rides always have a mixture of hills and flats. We rode in the Hotter N’ Hell Hundred and completed maybe 2 other centuries prior to the 508. As the race date approached we increased our bike commutes to work from 58 miles to 80+ miles round trip. That really helped our training and greatly increased morale at work. We rode Saturday or Sunday afternoon but not consistently due to being family men and Bible-believing Baptists.

What did we eat? We assumed we needed approx. 500 calories an hour so we planned for that. We trusted those experienced racers and went for Ensure as our mainstay. Four of the 30+ cans were Ensure, the rest were Boost Plus or any other generic equivalent that found its way into our cooler. We also bought stock in Clif Bars and Cytomax as our sports drink. Our grocery list was short including the above and also red grapes, apples, bagels, oyster crackers and Pop Tarts. Our wonderful crew being of sound mind and large appetite brought along a myriad of foods for all our dining pleasure most of which was never touched by the racers. We found that the Boost drinks and Clif Bar were a good match. Eating became a chore on the 2nd day. I didn’t feel hungry and nothing sounded good. Only the Boost went down easily along with Oyster crackers. Thanks to our crew we always ate and kept hydrated.

How long did we ride? We went into the race with a plan. Each rider would ride 30-60 minute pulls or 10-15 mile pulls. That plan deviated somewhat when it came to bumps in the rode like Townes Pass and Salsberry Pass or when a rider wasn’t feeling their best. Townes Pass was awesome! I loved the challenge of riding up a sheer wall, at least that’s what it felt like after my 3rd pull up that devil. Our pulls up the pass were _-1 mile long. We always erred on the safe side and pulled less in order to have strength to finish the race since that was our first goal, to finish.

What about our crew? They were the best! Our wives and a good friend of ours made up our one vehicle support crew. They all got along great and kept the riders fed with occasional leg massages thrown in for good measure. None of our crew is cyclists and only one had learned how to change a flat and lube a chain. Call it an answered prayer, but we never needed an experienced ‘wrench’ to work on our bikes…not even a flat was had! The Honda minivan was an excellent support vehicle.
What about bikes? Remember we’re family men…we each own 2 bikes, one road and one mtn. We brought the mtn bikes along for the rough sections and as backups. One mtn bike was used on a section of road under construction. The top layer of asphalt was chewed away leaving a surface that’ll jiggle your eyeballs out of their socket. My full suspension ride w/slicks made it tolerable be it slower. The road bikes have aerobars and 39/53, 12/27 gearing. This gearing proved perfect for Townes Pass. An extra wheelset was on hand but never used. Normal lighting was a cheap 1.25w job to be legal and a std rear flasher. High power light systems were on hand for downhills.

Any other tips?
- Get to Valencia early! We ended up in LA traffic and arrived just before the mandatory racers meeting. Big mistake! If you didn’t make reservations for the banquet dinner you’re going to be one hungry racer! We stayed for the meeting and wound up eating around 9pm, the time we wanted to be in bed!

- Have a variety of energy foods. The Ensure type drinks made me so bloated and gassy. I felt pregnant and so uncomfortable. It did eventually subside…sorry crew. Oyster crackers were great!

- The road conditions on this course are rough! Yes Panamint Valley has some new blacktop…big deal! What about the other 500 miles? I found the more tired I became the more irritated I got at the bumpy roads. Spoiled? Maybe. Serious roadwork needed? Definitely! I found the shoulder white line past Amboy was the smoothest. A steel frame may help.

- Don’t delay in making room reservations. We did. The Hampton Inn worked well and was only 7 minutes away from the start. The Harmony Motel in 29 Palms was our only choice. After 34hrs any bed will do.

- Stop for sleep if you need it. I didn’t want to but we stopped for 30 minutes just before sunrise. Figured our bodies would think we were waking up with the sun. We changed clothes, brushed teeth and continued on.

- **If you want to finish the 508 bring one support vehicle. If you want to finish and be competitive bring 2 vehicles. We were ahead of team Chinook before nightfall but fell behind 1.5hrs during the night due to only having one vehicle. Rider exchanges take more time at night. They had experience, we didn’t. We managed to make up all but 25 minutes on them but had to work for it. Next time we’ll have 2 vehicles!

- Things change. The detailed route directions are good but not totally accurate. In Trona we passed up the gas station (TS#2) for the second station. There wasn’t one. We lost valuable time because of it. As one essay said, never pass a gas station.

- Leave the tipping to the crew. We showed up late at the Carousel cafe but enjoyed a great post-ride breakfast. Our race captain mistakenly tipped the waitress $16.00 instead of $6.00.

- Don’t forget to hydrate after the race. I did and noticed it a day later.

- Have fun! Our crew had a great time. Smiles could be seen throughout the race. Three crewmembers worked well for one vehicle. Crewing isn’t easy. We’re riding bikes and they’re staring at your butt for 30+hours while preparing your drinks and food!

- Handoffs aren’t as easy as they look. My crew tried to hand off a Clif Bar to me on a 33mph descent. When my hand met with the bar it sounded like a 20ga. shotgun. Needless to say the bar became a pavement patch. A full bottle at speeds doesn’t feel good either.