The Death AKA Tour of the Californian Alps is a 162Km 3998 metre tour. Starting and finishing at Turtle Rock Park in Markleeville, Calif., the 103 mile course begins at 5:00 am and covers both sides of three mountain passes: Monitor Pass (Hwy 89), Ebbetts Pass (Hwy 4), and the Pacific Grade (Hwy 4). The full course is not for the faint at heart! The image and the previous sentence is from the ride website
It was filmed for Fulgaz on a quiet day in October 2023. It is the hardest ride, with the most elevation out of the 2500 ride Fulgaz catalogue. Clearly it was calling out to me to be completed. Wishing to share my pain I arranged a challenge through the month of February to ride it and I was the first one to complete it.
Below are some of the lessons learned, how I fuelled and tips for others.
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