Silver State 508, the 37th Edition (The Clare Coin)

The Silver State 508 is a challenging bike race that starts in Reno, NV, climbs to Virginia City over Geiger Grade and down to Hwy 50 (a.k.a. “The Loneliest Highway in the America,”), and then continues all the way to Eureka, NV, and back, non stop. This totals 508 miles.

The Clare Coin is a part of the Silver State 508; it’s a coin that is given to every rider, and each rider who can then give that coin to someone during the race that reaches beyond the regular to help others and support others. This someone could be another racer, a gas station attendant, or anyone that looks past themselves to help others. The Clare Coin is named after John Clare, an Ultra-Cyclist who rode the 508 race 6 different times, rode over 100 Double Centuries in the California Triple Crown, a collection of Double Century bike races/rides all around California. John was a Ultra-Cyclist that supported everyone, and everything on a bike. He rode thousands and thousands of miles and probably helped just as many cyclists and events as the miles he rode. John unexpectedly passed away in 2019, and to commemorate his dedication, his support, and his love of cycling, the Silver State 508 created “The Clare Coin” in his honor.

Friday, September 18th, 2020 was the start of this year’s 37th running of the 508. It has had a couple different locations, but the race has been running for 37 years now, and this one was, well…different. In the middle of July, all of California caught on fire. Because California wraps around the western side of Nevada, and Reno is right on the border, no matter which way the wind would blow, smoke from one California fire or another would blow right into Reno. For a month straight, the AQI (Air Quality Index 0 - 400) number for Reno was 300 or above. In other words, undoubtedly “unhealthy” for everybody. For many days, we had a mile or less visibility in the valley due to the smoke. Add to that the COVID-19 Pandemic. Great Basin Bicycles has been inundated with service work since April. All bicycle manufactures sold a years supply of bicycles in April and May, and after that, there were simply no bikes to sell. Since schools were closed, everyone ended up pulling their old bikes out of the barn to be repaired since they could not purchase a new one. Since April, all I have been doing is turning service bikes after service bikes from 8am to 7pm, which leaves little to no time to train.

So here I am, a part of a 4 person open relay team, lining up to race a 508 mile bike race with no training, and a valley full of smoke. Thankfully the AQI index was in the 50’s the morning of the race. A low pressure was moving in, and ended up moving the smoke away from Reno, but unfortunately it ended up pushing that smoke a little further east, right where we were racing. Our team consisted of Rhonda, Rebecca, Rich (me) and Brandon, who came up from Southern California and stayed with us in our spare room. Rebecca and Brandon had raced the SS 508 years before as a 2 person team, and Rhonda raced with Rebecca on a 4x all girls team a couple years back. Both teams set records for their respective races. Rebecca just made the SS 508 Hall of Fame for completing 5 previous races, and this being her 6th. So, we are all experienced 508 racers, and our crew consisted of Kevin, who rode with our record setting 4x mixed team last year, and his friend Jim who also drove for us last year. They both took the slow drive behind each and every one of us for 508 grueling miles.

Rhonda was our first rider out. In this race we can interchange riders where ever we want to, as long as our support-follow vehicle can safely pull completely off the roadway to make the rider change. However, the first rider has to leave Reno, climb Geiger Grade to Virginia City, and down 6 Mile Canyon to Highway 50 completely by themselves. Team vehicles have to drive through Carson City to Hwy 50 and meet the first rider at the intersection of Hwy 50 and 6 Mile Canyon. Knowing full well that this is a long race, Rhonda set her pace and let the lead guys power up Geiger Grade. Our direct competition turned out to be Viero Hangover (Every team choses a totem for the race, and our direct competition chose Viero, an small bird the size of a yellow finch, and a collection of these birds is called a “Hangover” representing their 4 person mixed team.)

At the intersection of Hwy 50 and 6 Mile Canyon, Viro Hangover switched riders. Our tactic was for each rider to do about 40ish miles per pull all the way to Eureka, the turn around point, then re-assess the return. So Rhonda continued to ride to Silver Springs, the first 508 Time Station. At this point, we were 8 minutes behind Viro Hangover.

At Silver Springs, I took to my wheels and started my first leg. The smoke was getting worse as we continued our trek further east. You could see the smoke Plume from the “Creek Fire” in California pushing into the desert playa past Fallon, NV, and I was headed right into it. I tend to ride like a freight train. Not necessarily fast, but very consistent. I rode through Fallon and continued East as the smoke continued to thicken. I don’t even remember how far I could see through the smoke, I only remember the burning in my throat and eyes. Head down, laying on the aero bars, I continued my trek towards Sand Mountain where I traded out with Brandon. Once out of the valley, the smoke cleared a little as he ascended Sand Pass, and continued on to Middle Gate. Every rider carries a GPS tracker, and we could see that we were catching Viero Hangover, but ever so slowly. At Middle Gate, Rebecca took to her wheels and ascended Carol Summit on Highway 722. She was flying with a smile on her face. She ended up taking the Strava QOM on that climb. Ironically, she took the record away from herself, set in last year’s SS508. She descended Carol Summit, through Smith Creek Dry Lake, and over Railroad Pass where I took over.

Rebbecca nearing the summit of Carol Summit.

From Railroad Pass to Austin is 20 miles. It is a gradual descent to the valley floor, then a quick short climb to the town of Austin where our next rider was going to take to the road. As I descended again into the smoke filled valley below, I just remember the wheels coming off the bus. I had to concentrate on every pedal stroke, focus on the finish, not wanting to let my team down. I finally hit the turn to Austin, and struggled up that climb to the Time Station where our next rider was going to take over. That last couple miles were horrible, and I didn’t know if it was my lack of training due to work load from the COVID-19 situation, the increase of smoke, or just the wheels of my bus bouncing across the desert. But I pulled my self up by my cycling shoe straps and made it to the time station. I can’t even tell you who took over from there. Turns out that Strava tells me Rhonda took over. I crawled into the back of our vehicle, curled up and slept. At this point, I was so happy that we had 3 more strong riders to carry my butt the rest of the way, I was not sure how much more I could have provided to them.

Ronda rode another 40 miles while I slept, then Brandon took over to Eureka. As we drove into Eureka, we could see lightning flashing to our south. But far enough away not to be a problem. I checked the weather report for Austin and it said 60% chance of rain at 10:00 pm. We left Eureka around 8:00pm heading back towards Reno with Brandon still on the bike. He rode about 10 miles, then turned it over to Rebecca.

Rebecca took to the bike in a skin suit, knee warmers and arm warmers. The clouds started moving in from both north and south. Lightning was flashing from left to right completely across the ridge in front of us as we continued our march directly into the tempest. As both storm cells moved closer together, the lightning started to get more intense, and it started to rain. Due to the low pressure moving in, the temperatures started to drop. Riding along at just over 6200 ft and climbing, it started to hail. The lighting was everywhere. You would see an intense lightning strike right in front of us, and the car would shake with the thunder. Rebecca could feel her hair stand on her arms as she continued into the storm. For about 30 minutes, it was nothing but lightning strike after strike, hail and rain, and Rebecca continued to plod forward.

This is when I got a text from the race organizer, Robert. He texted that the team, Rusty Dogs of War had a chain that had broken 3 times and was stranded in Austin still trying to make it to Eureka. This is what Robert texted: “Caleb on the recumbent broke his chain , repaired it, and broke it again. He was wondering if he could meet someone at your shop early tomorrow morning to get a chain then return to course. I told him, you are racing but I’d pass on the message. His contact is following if you wish to connect. No pressure from me. It’s a race and he’s on his own.” (Caleb is x-military with lower and mid spinal compression issues that prevents him from riding a traditional bicycle, so he signed up for the SS508 on a 3 wheeled recumbent.)

As Rebecca soldiered on into the tempest, I started texting Caleb, Rusty Dogs of War. Turns out he broke his chain 3 times and was stranded. The drive back to Reno would have been about 180 miles. The shop does not open till 10am, so that would mean he would not be back on the course until 1pm the following day at best. Every rider has 48 hours to complete the course, and this would give him a minimum of 21 hours to complete 330 more miles on a recumbent. The probability of finishing looked slim as I added up the numbers in my head. His recumbent requires a much longer chain that a traditional bicycle, and as luck would have it, I had three 11 speed chains in my tool box just in case we needed them. I texted Caleb that we should be able to replace his chain and get him back on the road. I figured that this might take about 5 minutes at most to repair and get our team back on the road. I talked to our crew to see if any of them had any reservations, and everyone was in full consensus even before I asked. We were fixing this guy’s recumbent.

While I was head down, texting Caleb, Rebecca could see the support vehicle for Viero Hangover in front of her, and she pushed even harder to close that gap. She hit her 40 miles in pouring rain, lighting still flashing everywhere, and setting Rhonda up for the catch. Rhonda suited up to take the next pull into Austin. Out in to the rain and lighting she jumped. Temps were still hovering around 50 degs F, but would drop to the low 40’s on top of Austin Summit. The storm started to quiet and dry out, there was still lightning, but not as bad as before, and we could now see down the road for more than a mile. Rhonda started to climb Bob Scott summit, the precursor to Austin Summit. As she went up Bob Scott, caught and passed Viero Hangover, and away she went. Up and over Bob Scott Summit, then down and up Austin Summit, then down to the town of Austin where the Time Station and Caleb was waiting.

Now I felt horrible. Our whole team dug deep to pull Viro Hangover back, Rhonda caught and passed them, and we are now going to let them pass us again while I fixed Caleb’s recumbent. But it was just a chain. I knew I could do that quickly. Now 1:00 am, I grabbed my tool box, pulled out the 11 speed chains, counted Caleb’s gears only to realize that he had a 10 sp bike. The chains I had wouldn’t work. I quickly assessed his chain issue, measured the chain while crew members held flashlights and realized that I could just repair his chain. I pulled out my chain tool, as I watched Viero Hangover come into the time station, realize that we were still there, and hustled out of the time station for the lead. I knew I was seconds away from having the repair done and get back on the road. I had someone hold the back of the recumbent up so I could pedal the bike and check the gears. Turns out that when his chain broke, he sucked the derailleur over the gears and twisted the derailleur in three different directions. The recumbent still would not work. Quickly I grabbed some pliers and channel locks, shifted between gears while bending the derailleur back to center on each gear until everything worked. Caleb was now ready to get back on the bike, and we had now lost 15 minutes to Viero Hangover. I realized the probability of catching them before the finish was highly unlikely. It took us 330 miles to make up 8 minutes, and now they are 15 minutes in front of us with only 180-ish miles to go. Feeling like I just let the team down, Rhonda came up to me and said: “I caught the other team. That is all that matters. This was the right choice!”

On one side I felt horrible for letting the team down, on the other, there is absolutely no way that I would have left any rider stay stranded if I had the opportunity to help. I knew I made the right choice, but that choice still haunted me. It haunted me even more knowing that my last pull rode the wheels off the bus, and it was now my time to get back on the bike. As quickly as I could, I jumped on my bike, turned on my lights, and set off. I never did see Caleb during the repair. I was to concentrated on finishing the task, finishing it well, and getting our team back on the road. His crew was nothing but smiles and appreciative, which warmed my heart going into the dark cold Reese River Valley.

As I plunged into Reese RIver Valley, I was engulfed by fog. All the rain from the storm was evaporating and sitting thick in the valley floor. As I warmed up and settled in, I started feeling better. This is the same leg I rode heading out where the wheels of the bus went rolling out into the desert, and just like that, in the same location, the wheels rolled right back on the bus, and I was off. This is a 20 mile gradual uphill ride, you can usually make out ranch house lights in the distance, and dimly see the ridge line both to your left and right. All are usually markers telling me where I was. This year, with temps now hovering around freezing, fog filling the valley, there were no markers to see. I just put my head down and climbed and climbed. Finally I crested RailRoad Pass, and dropped down into Dry Smith Creek Valley. Again, right back into the fog. This fog was so thick that at times I could not see the next dashed yellow line in the middle of the road. This part of road rolls up and down into little desert washes, one after the other. So the road drops 20 feet into a dry wash, then back up 20 feet out of the wash, over and over again. Each time I would crest out of the wash I could see stars, then my crew would see me descend into the fog filled wash and disappear. They could tell I was still moving because their headlights would illuminate the swirling fog like water flowing around a rock in a river. I continued to the base of Carol Summit where Brandon took over.

I can’t tell you a thing about Brandon’s ride. We had planned that I would take him to the base of Carol Summit, and I would descend the summit. I know the downhill well, and I descend like a mad man. So I stayed in my wet cycling clothes, fell asleep, and woke up right before the summit when I saw Brandon continue down the other side. I smiled knowing I could sleep more. I woke up once we were out of the canyon, and again was happy knowing that I now had a break. Rhonda was the next rider up, then Rebecca. That would give me another 2 hours of sleep. That’s when I heard Kevin tell us that Brandon was almost done. “Who’s up next?” he asked. I looked over at Rebecca to see her completely passed out, looked at Rhonda who was still dressed in street clothes. You know that feeling when someone asks for a volunteer, everyone takes a step back, and you are left out front. “Well, I’m still dressed!” and I get ready for another pull. Rhonda takes one look at me and says, “You’re my hero!” and is instantly asleep. I’m not even sure she knew she said that.

Back on the bike I go for another 20 miles. I hand it over to Rhonda to take us from Sand Mountain back to the outskirts of Fallon where Rebecca takes over. We drive to the next aid station and check in as Rebecca fly’s past us continuing on towards Reno.

There are times where you just know your partner. On the way out, Rebecca pointed out a little coffee house near the Time Station and commented on their amazing coffee. Once she flew by, we dashed over to the coffee house, and got coffee for everyone. “Extra Hot” for Rebecca since she was still on the bike. Kevin behind the wheel of the support vehicle was topping 60 mph to catch Rebecca. Finally we caught her, and in a couple miles she pulled over to hand it off to Brandon. Annoyed and tired, coffee works magic. We handed off the still hot coffee to Rebecca, and a warming smile engulfed her tired and cold body from the inside out.

Brandon rode to the Silver Springs Times Station manned by Ellen and Paul Gammel, close friends of the bike shop. Probably the hardest time station to operate since they have to work that station until the last rider passes through. This can be almost 35 hours. But happy faces met us as we pulled in. That is when we encountered the support vehicle for Viro Hangover. We had not realized that we made up almost 10 minutes of the 15 minutes that we lost. We were now only 50 miles form the finish line.

I take the next pull to Six Mile Canyon, then Rebecca and Rhonda split the Six Mile Canyon climb that tops out at 22% grade. Our support vehicle speeds to the top to see the female rider of Viro Hangover hit the top. This girl crushed the climb putting a couple more minutes on us. Brandon jumps on the bike and takes to Geiger Summit where I take over to the finish.

It is almost 20 miles to the finish, and I descend Geiger like the mad man I am, and I cut into their lead. But not enough to catch them. They finish 7 minutes ahead of us, we finish with a time of 28 hrs. 9 minutes. We end up 3rd in the team competition, and second in our age category. But the story does not end here.

The next morning I got up and started the Magic Coffee Maker. Brandon came out of the spare room and took one look at me: “I spent that last 2 hours thinking about this, and this is for you!” He handed me his “Clare Coin.” “What you did was amazing, and I would not have expected anything else!” Both during, and after the race, everyone told me that we made the right decision helping Caleb. Even Caleb texted to say : “I’ve been in a very dark place for a long time and riding this trike has given me hope to live and live well. You’ll get everything I got I promise you that.” This more than explained why I did not see him while fixing his recumbent. If prayers are to be answered, my just were.

The Silver State 508 is so much more than a bike race. In the end, it does not matter if you are first, or last to finish. There really is no first, there really is no last. There is just the knowing that you gave it everything to get across the finish line. No matter where you finish, everyone gets a pat on the back and a jersey, an awesome jersey at that. Everyone knows they gave it everything to accomplish this feat in 48 hours or less. It is not about the finish, it is all about how you got there!

I wish I had more than one Clare Coin to give out. I would have given every member of my team and crew a coin for their support of everyone on the course. But more importantly their support of me.