Tioga Pass, No Cars

On Tuesday, June 9th at 10:40AM I got this text from my friend Mike:

He sent me these two links:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1585707689

http://www.thegearcaster.com/2014/05/cycling-across-yosemite-on-tioga-road.html

I know he'd done the no-cars Tioga Pass ride before. Authorities plow Tioga Pass road and give cyclists a day or two before they open it to cars. It happens every year, with very little fanfare and the date isn't known until days beforehand. I'd gotten the word before, in years past, but had not done the ride. This time I bit. My kids are away at college, no weekend coaching is happening, my wife won't miss me if I'm gone for a weekend day. My dogs would, but they'd also forget they did. I said yes.

Tioga Pass road is AKA Highway 120. It goes from Crane Flat, CA at 6152' in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada on the California side, up and over to Lee Vining on Highway 395. The bike ride we were talking about was Crane Flat > Tioga Pass > Crane Flat. You could also do Crane Flat > Lee Vining, if you have a place to stay in Lee Vining. During the day my friend Jim talked to a young guy who'd ridden from Crane Flat to Lee Vining for lunch, then back up and over! 

I also talked to my friend Adam about it. He'd done the ride several times. He shared some photos, advice and a Skratch Labs rice cakes recipe. I made the rice cakes, altho I kind of screwed up the calrose rice. (too little water, following the recipe instead of my rice cooker's guidance, rice was too dry and not sticky enough) Lesson: sticky rice is key for this recipe.

Both Adam and Mike said that the ride is very big, with no services, and you need to filter or sterilize water along the way, of which there is plenty. I have a Sawyer Squeeze water filter and I planned to bring it, along with Nuun electrolyte tabs. (They are good for me. Plain water isn't as good for me.)

You need a day-use pass to enter the park, even if just on bicycle. Mike sent me the day-use entry link on recreation.gov and I bought a Saturday Vehicle 7-Day Entry pass. It's confusing, it's for a specific day, but it's good for seven days. I wasn't sure if I needed to check in on that day, but I think that's how it works. I am writing this Tuesday, three days later. I theoretically can re-enter the park until this coming Saturday.

The last time I visited Yosemite was around 1993. I used to go at least once a summer, and my jam was to go up and down Half Dome as fast as possible. A friend and I would run/hike it, with light packs. I loved it. I did a company trip circa 1993 or 1994, that was the last one. I'll post a pic here if I can find one. I deeply regret that I never took my family to Yosemite when the kids were home with us. We did a lot of other trips. I think it was because there's no mountain biking in Yosemite. Selfish Dad. I did once ride from valley floor to Glacier Point and back on a road bike, that was fun.

Between Tuesday and Friday I put my life in order, made a checklist, put the word out to friends (TNR, dfL, a few others) spent the days working and sending clueless text messages and emails about the ride. A few people rallied, tried to buy Saturday passes, they were sold out. Some ended up buying passes for Friday, or the subsequent week days. I ordered a Salsa frame bag for my Santa Cruz Stigmata adventure bike, and considered getting some road wheels ready for it. I was on-call at work, arranged an override with a co-worker for Fri night to Sunday morning.

The Salsa "EXP Series Half Frame Pack X-Large" looked good on my 61cm Santa Cruz Stigmata, but rubbed my quads at the knee. I wasn't sure it would work.

The road wheels that I've got for the Stigmata I bought used from a friend. I'd done one ride with them, enough to realize they were de-tensioned. They are tubeless, built from carbon Stans rims, with fancy bladed spokes with the spoke nipple in the rim, meaning you have to take off the tire, tubeless valve and rim tape to true and tension them. I did that, then realized, too late, that I didn't have the right size rim tape (21mm) to re-tape them. I tried tearing down 1" gorilla tape to be 21mm, but the tear tapers until the tape is too wide. I realized this too late, so decided to do the ride on my 650b wheels, with 48mm (1.9") wide Panaracer Gravelking SK tires. Lesson: be prepared for big rides, including bike prep.

I had checked the forecast for "Yosemite" earlier in the week. It said low of 45º, high of 66º Saturday, with Sunday 15º warmer. It was a busy work week, and I didn't pay enough attention to the weather. Meanwhile the forecasted high dropped to 54º. (Theme; busy work week, didn't pay enough attention.) I packed a short-sleeve jersey, arm warmers, undershirt, bib shorts, knee warmers, jacket. At the last minute I added a winter long-sleeve jersey, bib knickers, synthetic cycling cap, buff and thin road gloves. I'm glad I did. Lesson: pay attention to the weather, for big epic rides in the mountains, dumbass.

I wanted to leave Friday at 4, but finished working at 5, had about five of the ten items on my checklist checked, got in the camper van and headed to Yosemite around 6. I have been listening to the East Bay Yesterday podcast, starting with the oldest episodes. I downloaded about fifteen of them and listened to them all the way there. I'd recommend listening to these, they are good. I am interested in local history. The route from Oakland to Hardin Flat is one I haven't driven in ages. It was nice to see country I hadn't seen in a long time.

On Hwy 120, New Priest Grade

My friends Jim and Mike were spending the night at Hardin Flat, I thought Andy might be, too. There's no cell reception at Hardin Flat, but I found them, arriving around 9; Jim, Mike and Mike's friend Serge. I microwaved some chicken cacciatore, ate and talked with them, then had a good sleep. I'd had insomnia the night before, so sleeping well put me at ease the next morning. We agreed we'd get up at 6 AM, head to the gate early, so as to not get stuck behind long lines of people entering the park, then eat breakfast and prep in the Crane Flat parking lot. My alarm went off at 6:00, and by 6:03 I had my bed put away and was ready to go. The sleepers were all still sleeping. I decided to make some coffee. I put beans in my hand grinder and walked around by all their tents, grinding my coffee. I heard stirrings. The day before I'd stopped at the Estudillo Produce market in San Leandro to get three bags of the amazing, locally-made stroopwafels they sell, and had one with my coffee as the sleepers arose. By 6:43 they were still doing stuff. A few minutes later Mike said, "Are you ready to go?" then left. Jim was still packing as Mike and I rolled out. 

The gates were quiet, no lines at 7AM. We got through quickly. The ranger at my gate was nice, asked me about my day, I said I was riding the pass to the top and back. "Oh, wow." 

These two rode up.

Mike's posse, about five guys total, (Yezzin, Jacob, Tom, Serge and Mike, IIRC) and Jim and I parked in Crane Flat. Mike was worried about bears, and parked near the bear boxes. We got ready, and once almost ready to roll, Andy and Derek rolled up, who had slept at Hardin Flat as well, but in a different spot. Andy, Derek and Jim are from the TNR group. Mike rolled over while Andy and Derek were getting ready and called out "Leaving in two minutes." I realized that I had a choice, and chose to wait for Andy and Derek. It was a lot colder than I expected. I asked others what they were wearing, then put on the warmer kit version; LS jersey, undershirt, bib knickers, thin gloves, buff, cap, jacket. I ended up wearing this all day. I could have dressed more warmly and been happier. It was unseasonably cold and windy. 

Andy and Derek getting ready

Mike's group rolled out, and that was the last I saw of them all day, except for a glimpse of Mike and Yezzin near the top. Most everyone was on road bikes. The parking lot had many people like us; cyclists getting ready to ride the pass. Andy was on a road bike (that he designed, at Specialized) and Derek was like me, on an adventure bike. I pumped my fat tires to 40psi, the max rating being 50psi. I imagined the loud, day-ending explosion that would occur if I pumped my tubeless tires past 45psi. I normally run them at 30psi on local dirt/road, back home. I figured 40psi would do for the day. I did one more test ride with the frame bag, then took it off, imagining how distracting chafed knees would be. I filled my little handlebar bag with rice cakes, stuffed a Patagonia puffy jacket / hat in my back middle pocket, along with water filter, Nuun, wallet, phone and other kit. I carried two tall water bottles. The road is smooth asphalt, closed just past the Crane Flat parking area. Andy and Derek were ready after a bit. I took a selfie with Andy, Derek and Jim, and we rolled up the hill at 8:50AM.

Me, Derek, Jim and Andy

Before we got 100', I saw the Irving family. I hadn't talked to them in advance about the ride; they had the same response as I, when they heard the news and were planning to ride it as a family! Stewart, Noreen and their sons Elliot and Owen were kitted up. Elliot and Owen were wearing Oakland Composite jerseys. I am the former head coach of Oakland Composite. This was too much. I wished them a good ride, and knew I'd see them again during the ride.

According to my garmin GPS computer, the start of the ride is at 6152'. It was very chilly, colder than normal, my computer showed 45º. The skies were cloudy, with some sun poking through. We went around the gate and had smooth roads. At first, enthusiasm caused the pace to percolate until we wordlessly discovered a shared pace that worked for us all. Well, except for Jim. I'm 51. I raced and trained on bicycles for decades, and have been much fitter, and I know what fitness is. My body has recently become less reliable and hasn't responded as well to training. I have discovered that riding for pleasure is where I need to find happiness; sometimes big rides, but not regular big or fast rides. Jim is much lighter than me, and still rides with the fast guys. His road bike does not have low gears, and it was obvious that our pace was just a bit too slow for Jim. Andy rides for fun, and I'm pretty sure Derek was doing this ride off the couch. The pace was a little slow for me, but I committed to riding with Andy and Derek. Jim yo-yo-ed off the front, returning or waiting for us. I thought we might catch up to Mike's group.

Derek is modeling a bathing costume he bought at an Irish sea-side resort. No joke. It was really cold here, and we made him put on a jacket soon after we resumed riding. 

Blogger won't let me insert videos from Google Photos, so watch this video.

Snow plant busting up through the asphalt! I will take this as an inspiration. Why is it red? Is it a plant? How does it make food for itself? Click that link. I look forward to seeing these after every Sierra winter.

Derek in full flight

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We'd been riding, happily chatting, going down and up. We talked to a pair who were riding through to Lee Vining. The woman mentioned that the next descent was long, and that we'd have to gain the altitude back on the other side. I said something dumb about how there should be an air bridge we could ride across. I would be thinking about that air bridge, later in the day. The valley that opened up before us was breathtaking.

The thought "Why are we descending so much on a climb?" was in my head. I thought about the woman's words, "You'll see." It was a nice, long, gentle descent with amazing views. It was very cold, and as we arrived at Olmsted Point, very windy. The wind chill was significant. It was beautiful, and while we were still warm from activity, we enjoyed it very much. I'd been snacking on my rice cakes, Jim shared some tasty salumi he'd brought. We took pictures. The Irvings arrived minus mom Noreen, who'd turned around earlier. Stewart and the boys weren't sure they were going to the top. I was! We saw a marmot. I was wearing some dfL clothes. There were a bunch of other cyclists - maybe twenty - hanging out at the view area. I was chatting with one of them, a woman. She mentioned that she was from Santa Cruz, and when she saw my poison oak camouflage jacket (Thanks, Chris, I love it.) she said "Oh, dfL, I heard about this ride from you guys." I said that I'd shared some information about it with dfL and she said "Oh, are you Morgan?" Haha. I think her name was Erin? She heard about it from Toby. Hi Erin and Toby! 

I was a dumbass, and leaned my bike against a low, rock wall. The wind knocked it over, and before I could catch it it landed derailleur-side down. Ugh. We got cold, had enough pictures, and decided to keep moving. Looking around, all I could see were imaginary bicycle trails. There's no riding off-road in Yosemite. (and no crying in baseball)

Half Dome in the distance

Right before it tipped over.

"Look heroic."

Andy, Derek, Jim, Morgan

This marmot was definitely looking for handouts.

Makita Jim's full dome underneath Yosemite's Half Dome

Owen and Elliot

Owen, Elliot and Stewart

Remember the part about my bike falling over? I was last to roll out, and my chain was skipping all over. Jim was gone, Derek was gone, Andy stayed with me while I tried to fix it. My Stigmata has the SRAM Force / X01 Eagle AXS drivetrain. It's wireless, has electronic shifting, the levers are road-style brake/shifter levers for drop bars, and the rear derailleur is a mountain bike unit with a 10-50 12-speed cassette. It's a 1x12 drivetrain, with no front derailleur. I know, that's gibberish if you're not a gearhead. It's a complex system that works really well, until you bend the derailleur hanger. I had new scrapes on my very fancy, relatively new shifter and derailleur, which made me sad, but what was even worse was that I was 1/4 into a very big bike ride and I couldn't pedal my bike forward, and my attempts to straighten the bent hanger with my hand were not working. It was cold and windy, I was making Andy late. I added the allen key from my mini tool to the equation, using it for leverage while grabbing the body of the derailleur and attempting to move them both at the same time, enough to straighten the hanger, but I still couldn't get it roughly straight. I let Andy go, starting and stopping and continuing to try. About the fourth stop, I really put some muscle into it, felt it move, and on remounting, it shifted roughly OK, good enough to continue. Whew! I caught up to Andy and Derek, we rode for a bit, I filtered some water at a little waterfall with a few aspens, and we soldiered on, just us three now. My derailleur worked well enough, but now it was making noise, and it wanted to skip a little, still. Grr. Lesson: don't lean your bike against low, rock walls when it's hella windy, and try harder to catch it when it starts to fall. It was cold! We were still climbing, with occasional descents.

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I filtered water here.

After climbing for a while, we began a descent into a beautiful meadow. 

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I'd never driven or ridden Tioga Pass before. I hadn't made the time to study the geography. I thought this ride was up to the pass and back down, but actually it starts fairly high in the Sierras, reaches about 8000', goes up and down a lot, then finally climbs to almost 10000'. The descent to Lee Vining on the east side, which we would not do, is much more abrupt; shorter and direct. Lesson: study your geography before a big, unknown ride like this. We were descending to the last valley before the summit, at the Tuolomne River. I saw Yezzin, sitting by a creek. I asked him if he was OK and he said he was taking a rest. I should have stopped and checked on him, but I was suddenly not feeling well, myself, and I selfishly continued. At the Tuolomne River we stopped to take pictures, look at fish in the river. An old ranger in a white park truck told us it was "seven miles to the top." That was at mile 39, on my computer. I told Andy and Derek that I didn't feel well, and needed to keep moving at my own pace, and I did. I felt bad about it, but I felt the urgency of getting to the top - no way was I missing that - then getting back to my car before dark, and then getting home before bedtime, because I had another ride the next day I couldn't miss, the Oakland Composite Senior Send-Off ride on Mt. Tam. Uh, right; the Tam route was my idea. I set a pace that was a little faster than Andy and Derek's, but slower than I'd normally do. I heard Andy and Derek's voices recede behind me. I felt awful for leaving them, but I felt the imperative to keep moving, get it done. Closing in on 10000', I was watching the elevation and distance on my garmin close in on 10000' and 46 miles. Near the top, I saw Mike go by, in the opposite direction, we shouted greetings. Nearer the top, I saw Jim coming down. It was calm, cold, no wind, but he said it was blowing hard and cold at the summit about a mile in front of me. He'd been waiting for 30 minutes and was very chilled, but he turned around and rode to the top with me. Just as he described, the wind was blowing hard at the top. My garmin shows that was the warmest point of the day, 57º, but I can tell you that it felt perhaps the coldest. Wind chill at 9948' is no joke! It felt like 40º. I carried the Patagonia jacket in my back pocket all day. I probably should have put it, and the hat on, but I could operate just above the threshold of absolutely needing it.

We took some photos at the top. I was very distracted by not feeling well, and just didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. As we started to descend we met Andy and Derek coming up. I could tell Jim was frozen - he's almost my height, but a lot skinnier, and none of us were really dressed warm enough for the day. He waited while I went back up with Andy and Derek. We took some more pictures, exchanged pleasantries with some cyclists who'd ridden up from Lee Vining, and then we rode back down to Jim, then we all descended together. Andy said that he and Derek would stop, I said that Jim and I would keep on. That was the last I saw of Andy and Derek for the day. I felt bad about that! It was 3:14PM as we began the descent.

The decision to use my adventure bike was easy enough, it's my favorite bike right now. I knew I might regret the fat tires. It was on the descents and flats that I realized what a hindrance fat, soft tires can be. The knobs on the Gravelking SK aren't pronounced - in MTB terms it would be called a "semi-slick" - but that big fat tire at 40psi just rolls slower. Cyclists on road bikes would pass me like I was standing still. I felt like I was riding on tires made out of peanut butter. Lesson: do this ride on road tires and wheels, or be strong enough to ride with people on road wheels, if you bring an adventure bike. 

Jim would go away from me, then wait. I started feeling better once I dropped below 9000', I had more power, and he didn't have to wait as much. I really felt those slow tires. We filtered a few times on the descent. I was really tired. I did not take another picture for the rest of the ride. If you look at the elevation profile, you'll think "Up, then down." But, it's not quite up, then down. If you look closely, you gain altitude on the climb with many descents, and then descend, with many climbs. This is an old road. The earliest mention I could find of it, in old newspaper archives was 1911. I'm sure it existed in some form before that. Older roads tend to follow the land more, versus newer ones which rely on straighter lines and more engineering and earth-moving equipment. I was thinking about this on every climb during my return "descent." I was still at 7000' and climbing, three miles and 900' vertical from the finish. You might think that a ride that goes from 6152' to 9948' would have 4000'-5000' climbing, but this one has 8769'. This tells you how much up and down there is throughout the day. There's very little flat. It was hard to eat, because it was climbing or descending. I was having less fun, riding solo. I'm old enough, and have done enough big, hard rides to know that I was in the investment phase of a proper 'type II fun' ride. Now, three days later, I'm glad I did it. I'm not sure I'll do it again, next year. Maybe. Definitely will bring road wheels if I do it again! It is beautiful, and an adventure. 

After the last rope-a-dope series of little climbs I rode the two-mile descent to Crane Flat. Final stats: 93 miles, 8769' climbing, 7:38h moving time, 9:33h total time. While this is described as a no-cars ride, I bet I got passed by thirty or more white park trucks, and a handful or two of regular cars. We also saw people near the top riding bicycles on the road who were almost certainly riding from a car or domicile. Locals going to Lee Vining, people who live and work in the park are allowed to drive on the road. You can't completely forget that you need to share the road with cars, on the no-cars Tioga Pass ride.

I'd had the foresight to grab some frozen food items from the corner market in my neighborhood, Friday. I microwaved some steak & potatoes & green beans, and a lasagna single-serving while I changed. I scarfed them down in the parking lot with Jim, who was consuming the more traditional beer and chips. He'd been there for a bit, before I got there. I didn't want to stop and eat on the way home, with covid19 still a big risk. 

I filled three bottles with water and Nuun and drank them on the way home. I got home at 10:30 PM, gave my dogs some pets, told my wife a few stories, got in the shower and got in bed. I threw a quick note to the Oakland Composite head coach, Justin that I probably wouldn't be able to ride the Tam loop the next day, but that I'd be there to see them off. I did that, Sunday morning, feeling fairly wrecked. It was nice to see those kids, talk to them, send them off with some stickers and books and good wishes. I came home and my wife and I did a fairly big hike with our dogs, took them swimming. The opposite muscles (hiking) still worked.

It's three days later, and yesterday I felt even more tired than I did the day before. I think I'll get out for a ride today.

Photos and videos from the day