November 21, 2002 -- With the majestic High Sierras as the backdrop, this 100-mile ride takes you along the spectacular east side of the Sierra range and into the quiet beauty of the Mono Lake basin before bringing you back into the Owens River area and the starting point.

This adventure, though, really began many months earlier when I first started to train and was able to convince my good friends Joe Raines and Pam Matsufuji to join me. So on the Thursday afternoon prior to the race, Joe and I made the trip up to Mammoth Mountain to join Pam and her friend Noel. After the long drive, we decided to take it easy on Friday and had a wonderful afternoon of sightseeing and hiking into the Red’s Meadow and Devil’s Post pile area. That evening we joined with other cyclists at Footloose Sports for the pre-ride spaghetti dinner where there was much discussion about the ride and the infamous Wildrose Summit – and how many riders always fail to reach the top of the summit. That’s when the seriousness of this ride began to set in.

The following morning we all rose early and arrived at the starting point around 7:00 a.m. There were already hundreds of riders milling around waiting to start and I must admit that I was more than a little nervous. It was a cool and crisp fall morning with crystal clear blue skies and I thought to myself that it was going to be a prefect day for a century bike ride.

For the first 15 miles everything went very smoothly and Joe and I actually began to acclimate to the higher elevation. After stopping briefly at the first rest stop, we were on the road again. This was the telling point of the ride for me – for the next two miles it was uphill to the top of Deadman’s Summit. Even the name suggests that there’s a reason to fear this climb. However, I had little trouble cresting the summit, which turned out to be the confidence builder I needed. From this point on I had a strong feeling that I could reach the finish line. The next 10 miles were a joy. It was a very fast downhill past the June Lake junction and into the Mono Lake Basin. With distant views of Mono Lake, we turned right onto Highway 120 heading towards the next rest stop and Sagehen Summit. With temperatures starting to rise, we were able to drop off our warmer clothes at this stop. It was a long hard uphill effort to reach the Sagehen Summit, which was the highest point along the route. Although we were supposed to climb through the largest Jeffrey Pine forest, it was sad to see that most of the trees had recently burned in a forest fire. At this point the route took a long and fast descent into the Adobe Valley where we stopped for lunch. Up until this point the roads had been great – with no stoplights, stop signs and (just think about this for a moment) No Broken Glass! What a dream to ride on. Unfortunately, in the valley floor we experienced the most annoying riding surface – the dreadful expansion joints. Although they lasted for only 5 or 6 miles, it felt like my fillings were going to fall out of my teeth!

After riding the next 10 miles of steep up and down whoop-de-dos we finally reached the next to the last sag stop of the day. At this point the ride turned much more serious for me. At this point I was looking at more than 15 miles and 1,000 feet of climbing before I’d reach the top of Watterson