A few days ago I decided to participate in the Death Ride, a grueling tour of the California Sierras totaling 129 miles with 15,000′ of climbing. And of course this all happens at 5,500-8,500′ elevation. Sane people spend months training for this epic event, but I made a last minute decision based on our family vacation plans changing and freeing up my weekend at the last minute.
I’ve been on a few long-ish rides this year, including the Sequoia Century 100k ride, but I wanted to do at least one more long ride before the big day. So yesterday Gary, Fred, and I rode 76 miles into the Santa Cruz Mountains and back. It was a great ride, and except for the cruel grades (15-22%) on Bohlman Road at the end, it wasn’t even that painful. 
We climbed 8700′, just over half of the altitude gain of the Death Ride route.
Our route was: Home » Hwy 9 (to Saratoga) » Big Basin Way » Hwy 35 (aka Skyline Blvd) » Bear Creek Road » Boulder Creek » Hwy 9 (back to Saratoga) » Bohlman Road (up and down) » Hwy 9 (back to Los Gatos) » Home.
As a final move to prepare for the ride, I dropped in to Summit Cycles yesterday afternoon and had them install a Dura-Ace 11-28 cassette on the bike, replacing the stock 12-25 cassette. I think the extra bit of low gear will come in handy during the last few thousand feet climbed next weekend.
As of now I’m finishing up my packing list and cautiously looking forward to the experience.