I apologize for my long absence. I did not intend to become the J.D. Salinger of the blogosphere. Oh, wait -- except everyone knows where I live. Well, in any event --

First, I want to thank everyone who contributed to the ride. Quite simply, I could not have done this without you. Everyone gave generously, and while I did not reach my goal of $6,000, I made $3,500, which is what I needed. Maybe next time . . .

Now, on to the ride itself. As you may have guessed, the most remarkable aspect of the day was the intense heat. On May 6, the day of the ride, the temperature in Death Valley reached a high of 104. And that number even understates the heat that you feel while on your bike -- because above the asphalt of the road, the temperature can be as much as 10 degrees higher. But it's a dry heat! I kept telling myself.

Anyway, because of the extreme conditions, the organizers decided to start riders off at 6 a.m. instead of 7, a decision that everyone supported. So here I am, about 15 miles after starting:





I had probably gone about 30 miles before the sun even peeked over the mountains. (Fortunately, the road to Badwater is nestled at the base of the Black Mountains, which form the eastern boundary of the valley, so that helps.) Occasionally I would be on my own -- there were only about 75 riders there, far fewer than the 300 who do the fall ride. But most of the time, I would say, I was riding with at least one other biker. We would each take turns "pulling" the other, so as to minimize the energy spent forcing our way through the wind, which for much of the day was a steady 20 mph. That meant for a stiff headwind from mile 30 to 50 or so -- fortunately, the wind stayed steady, and so we at least had a tailwind on the way back.

Anyway, I was the second rider to reach the top of Jubilee Pass, the 7-mile climb that marked the halfway point:



I had been hanging with another rider at the start, but he easily dropped me when he wanted to increase the tempo. The descent from Jubilee Pass was a joy. I barely pedaled, and hit a maximum speed of about 40 mph. You could distinctly feel the point when you descended back into the heat of the valley; it was like an oven. And for a while, I had a steady fierce tailwind. Soon, however, I started to really suffer from the heat. I had been drinking what I thought was a lot of water, naturally, but obviously I hadn't been able to train in Pittsburgh for the conditions in Death Valley. And so I got somewhat dehydrated.

I lost a lot of momentum in the last 5 or 10 miles; it felt like every revolution of the pedals was a minor miracle. Lucky for me the last mile or so was purely downhill. I'm not sure if I could have made it otherwise.

Anyway, the short version is that after I arrived back at the Furnace Creek ranch, I ended up getting a couple of bags of IV fluids. Mmm, tasty! That did the trick, though. I felt better immediately, and was able to put down a large dinner that evening. In all, the ride was an amazing experience, but in the future, maybe Death Valley in early May is not the best environment for a humble carbon-based life form like me.

I guess a minor victory is that at least my problems were not diabetes-related. Now that would have made for a sticky wicket. . .