Eastern Sierra Double Century - 200 mile bicycle ride

Start/Finish Location
Rider check-in and the start / finish will be at the La Quinta Inn Bishop, 651 N. Main Street, Bishop, CA 93514; 760-873-6380. PLEASE NOTE: The La Quinta Inn has changed owners & managers and it's not clear that they will honor our agreement for this event, including the listed rates. We may be moving the host hotel to the Comfort Inn. Please stand by for more information. Rates - $89.99 per night for one bed, $99.99 per night for two. They only have 60 rooms and these sold out completely last year. Continental breakfast included. They also have a smoothie bar and cafe on the premises!

If our host hotel is sold out, or you're looking to spend a bit less money, we arranged discounted rates at these alternate hotels:
• Town House Motel, directly next door to the La Quinta Inn, is a great alternative at $55 per night. To get this super rate, make your reservation early. 888-399-1651. Ask for Jim and tell him you're with Planet Ultra.
• Comfort Inn, just a few blocks down - 805 N. Main Street; (760) 873-4784, $89.99 per night.

Check-In
Friday evening from 6:30pm to 8:30pm pm and Saturday morning from 4:30am to 5:00am, at the La Quinta Inn Bishop. Please make a huge effort to check-in on Friday evening, not Saturday morning. If you're planning on early start time, you must let us know at check-in!

Directions
Bishop is on Hwy 395 on the eastern side of the Sierra, 260 miles north of LAX!

Start Times
"Mass" start at 5:00am. Riders who expect to take more than 14 hours may start at 4:00am.* If you plan to start early, please remember that the checkpoint opening and closing times are generally based on the "mass start" time and are calculated using an average speed range of 11.5 to 20 mph.
*If you start at 4:00am and finish the ride in under 14 hours - you will be listed as DQ in the results. We're serious folks - the early start time is for riders who really need it.

Checkpoint Closing Times Strictly Enforced
All of the checkpoint opening and closing times will be strictly enforced. The checkpoints will not open early, nor will they remain open after the stated closing times. Typically, only checkpoints #2 and #3 present a problem for slower riders, as the ride is front-loaded with climbing.

If you miss either CP #2 or CP #3, you will be required to turn around and ride back to Bishop on Highway 395. No exceptions. Please note the CP closing times, which are also listed on the route sheet:
CP #2 - Crowley Lake (Mile 48.7): Closes 9:40am
CP #3 - Crestview Rest Area (Mile 71.5): Closes 11:45am

Time Limit
The time limit for this event is 18 hours based on the earliest start time. The course closes at for everyone at 10:00pm. No exceptions. Riders who fail to make the time cut-off will be listed as Unofficial Finishers.

Come Prepared
Please be in shape for this event. If you cannot complete a moderately hilly century within 8 hours, you'll struggle finishing this ride within the time limit. An "I can do it" attitude is a wonderful plus, but only if you're already conditioned for this type of challenge.

Twilight, Sunrise, and Sunset
Twilight begins 5:03; Twilight ends 20:41. Sunrise is 5:33; Sunset is 20:11.

Lights and Gear Drop
You are welcome to drop lights/gear at the start for pick-up at the Benton checkpoint (mile 160). Please bring your lights to rider check-in in a bag marked with your name. We do not provide bags. Please pick up your stuff at the checkpoint, as it will not be brought back to the finish until the course closes. The charge for mailing stuff back to you is $25. So pick up your stuff. If you start in the dark, plan on carrying your lights all day.

We do encourage you to carry your lights yourself. That way if you need them, you're guaranteed to have them. Rest assured that it is a MYTH that an extra pound on your bike will slow you down in any significant way for this type of riding.

If there is any chance that you’ll be out past sunset, you MUST have both a headlight and a taillight attached to your bicycle, and you MUST wear a reflective ankle band on both legs. Please do not under estimate the time you will need to complete this event. Come prepared with a very good light and backup bulbs and batteries, plus at least one non-blinking taillight and lots of reflective gear. We repeat: BRING LIGHTS. We're serious. Read the rules!

Volunteers / Sunday Staff Ride
We always need volunteers!!! We can only put these events on with the help of loyal, trustworthy, motivated individuals running the checkpoints along the way. To provide a little incentive, we offer one free entry into any Planet Ultra event for each time you volunteer at a Planet Ultra event. It's a simple formula: "work one, ride one free!" So please contact us to let us know when and where you'd like to help. Please note that the intent of the "work one, ride one free" offer is to encourage riders themselves to give something back to the sport they love. However, we also appreciate when riders bring along family and friends who they've recruited to help out, so we're offering a one-half ride credit to the recruiter if the volunteer doesn't want the ride credit. Ride credits must be used within a year of the date of volunteering. Volunteers at Eastern Sierra may use their ride credit to participate in a fully supported Staff Ride on the Sunday following the event. Staff riders will get leap-frog style support from one or two SAG vehicles. The SAG vehicles will carry your food/water, your lights, extra-clothes, and whatever else you think you may need. Of course, you'll get Grand Slam and California Triple Crown credit!

Bring a Camelbak!
Planet Ultra events are held in very remote locations and generally have the potential for major extremes in weather conditions, not to mention very challenging routes. This is especially true for Heartbreak, Eastern Sierra, and Tour of Two Forests events. Mulholland, while not so remote, is very mountainous, as is the Angeles Crest Century. The only route we offer that's somewhat "easy" and not remote is Solvang.

So, all of that said, and despite the fact we offer rider support that is second to none, we absolutely, positively, strongly and most assuredly encourage every Planet Ultra cyclist to bring, wear, and use a Camelbak. Running out of water on any ride is a bummer at the very least. So, even though we do a great job of "taking care of you" at our events, you have to take care of yourself first and so we believe that every single rider in every single one of our events would be wise to bring a Camelbak with at least 70oz. of water, plus two full, full-size water bottles. Our two cents!

Route Description - NOTE: Route sheets are not available prior to rider check-in; so please, please don't ask us to send you one.
A mass start through the city streets of Bishop will quickly head out of town. After a fast, flat warm up through the flatlands of the Owens River region, you will head north through the cattle ranches of Round Valley. Climbing up from Round Valley to Crowley Lake, the Old Sherwin Grade ascends through pinion pine and juniper woodlands while following Lower Rock Creek to enter Mono County and the heartland of the Eastern Sierra. Road cuts expose the peculiar rosy rock strata known to geologists as Bishop Tuff, evidence of volcanic activity in this region. After cresting Sherwin Grade, a rider friendly 1800' climb, you are greeted by the startling views of Mt. Ritter and Mt. Banner, and the serrated ridge of the Minarets in the northern distance. North a few miles further awaits Lake Crowley and the grassy bed of Long Valley. Further north en route to Mammoth Lakes, you pass Hilton and McGee Creeks; the mouths of their canyons filled with huge glacial moraines empty into the valley from the Sierra high country.

Leaving Long Valley, you will quickly enter the town of Mammoth Lakes, famous for its world class ski resort. You will climb gently, but quickly, around the outskirts of town and head out of town and north via the Mammoth Scenic Route. After a short climb cresting the 8,041' summit of Deadman Pass, there is a short downhill followed by a short easy climb to June Lake. Enjoy magnificent views of June Lake, Carson Peak, and the westward panorama reveals different dimensions with every blink of the eye.

Once you're back on 395, hang on for a fast 15 miles, passing by June, Gull, Silver, and Grant Lakes as you enter "The Land of Mono". Ringed by eerie tufa towers, volcanic craters, mountain peaks, and high desert silences, the saline waters of Mono Lake represent a million year old body of water. Mono Lake has no outlet; over the thousands of years of its existence, salts and minerals washed into the lake have become concentrated as waters have evaporated. Though Mono Lake has been called a "dead sea", it actually abounds with life. No fish live in the lake, but populations of brine shrimp and brine flies adapted to the exceptionally high concentration of salts provide a plentiful food supply for more than seventy species of migratory and nesting birds. The "lunch" checkpoint with Subway sandwiches and all our usual wide variety of drinks and muchies await you at the Mono Lake County Park. At this point, you will have ridden 104 miles and ascended 7,200'.

Leaving Mono Lake, you will travel south on Hwy 395 to Hwy 120 through the Mono Crater area. Take time to look around as you climb between these craters en route to the "E Ticket" ride from the high plains at Sage Hen Summit, through red lava canyons into Benton, the Chalfant Valley and back to Bishop. This second half of the double loop has only 3,000' of ascent!

This course has 10,200 feet of elevation gain, more than half of which is between mile 30 and mile 70. As doubles go, it's not that tough and the views and roads are so incredible, you won't even notice the climbing that it does have!

Geologists say the tilted fault-block range of the Sierra Nevada formed ten to twenty million years ago when an enormous piece of the earth's crust rose thousands of feet along a series of faults and tilted westward to create a mountain range with broad, gentle western escarpment. More than 400 miles long and 60 to 80 miles wide, the Sierra cover a region larger than the combined areas of the French, Swiss, and Italian Alps; the Sierra Nevada stretches further than any continuous mountain range in the continental United States.

As part of the California Triple Crown Series, riders consistently rank the Eastern Sierra Double #1. We are proud to call the Eastern Sierra Double America's Premiere Double Century....Come see why!

2004 Show 1: Start, Round Valley, Sherwin Grade, Tom's Farm, Crowley Lake
2004 Show 2: Grant Lake (end of June Lake Loop), part one
2004 Show 3: Grant Lake (end of June Lake Loop), part two
2004 Show 4: Crestview, Mono Lake, Sage Hen, Benton, and Bishop
2004 report and results

2003 report and results