Julian Death March 2011 April 9th

richwolf · Jun 22, 2010

We have set our date for the Julian Death March for 2011. Saturday April 9th. We tried to avoid conflicts. This year it will not fall on the same date as the Rawanda ride.

We hope to have registration up in the next week or so.

http://www.julianactive.com/Julian7500.htm

kev0153 · Jun 22, 2010

Been wanting to try this since I moved to SoCal but I don't think I'll have time to train.

EBrider · Jun 24, 2010

Does this usually fill up quickly? I might come down for it, just wondering how long I have to think about it.

sdcadbiker · Jun 25, 2010

You have until April 9th 2011

The locals know what a butt kicker this race is and they are mostly too scared to show up. This amazes me because Vision Quest, which happens just a couple weeks earlier, sells out instantly and isn't nearly as challenging, or satisfying (imho).

The DNF rate at the Death March is typically 70% or thereabouts, which is a tribute to the devilish course routing that Rich comes up with year after year

Every time, on the drive home I say to myself "never again" but next year, there I am...

richwolf · Jun 29, 2010

sdcadbiker said:
You have until April 9th 2011
The locals know what a butt kicker this race is and they are mostly too scared to show up. This amazes me because Vision Quest, which happens just a couple weeks earlier, sells out instantly and isn't nearly as challenging, or satisfying (imho).

The DNF rate at the Death March is typically 70% or thereabouts, which is a tribute to the devilish course routing that Rich comes up with year after year

Every time, on the drive home I say to myself "never again" but next year, there I am...

This year we are going to treat it as 3 separate races so the DNF rate should go way down! We will be offering early bird discounts. We also don't anticipate any course changes this year.
50 Mile course, 63 mile course and 86 mile course.

sdcadbiker · Jun 29, 2010

Rich,

It's good to see you publicizing the race early this time; the event certainly deserves a bigger field!

I should qualify my previous "DNF" comment; it would be more accurate to say "DNFERD" (did not finish the entire race distance). Since many racers have no intention of completing both loops and everyone gets credit for the miles that they complete it could be argued that the actual DNF rate is zero...

However, it's a fact that 80 racers started and only 28 rode the entire 86 miles. Any way you look at it, any route that includes oriflame canyon is going to be brutal and will have a high attrition rate!

mtbne1 · Jun 30, 2010

I may have to drive down from Norcal and try this one out.....sounds like a lot of "fun." Love the area....grew up in Carlsbad so this would give me a chance to dust off the Socal street cred

mtbne1 · Dec 3, 2010

Ok....so the Julian Death March is on my schdule for 2011. I'll be coming down from Norcal and have a few questions from those local to the race area. I know the area fairly well as I was raised in North County......but......

1. Can I camp at the race start location the night before the race? If not, I suspect there
are a lot of B&B's in the area.
2. How would you compare the race to something in Norcal. An example would be the
Tahoe-Sierra 100. Luke Weins I know you have raced both....your input?
3. Is the course well signed? I dont' like having to navigate and race at the same time,
however the website indicates this could be an issue. Is it?
4. Looking forward to the race and any feedback would be great :thumbsup:

sdcadbiker · Dec 3, 2010

1. I don't believe that you can camp overnight in the park; maybe Rich could confirm? Yes, Julian has several b&b places.
2. Don't know; it's harder than Leadville if that means anything... steeper climbs and more technical.
3. Rich & I have debated this, he says it is, I say it isn't; however, Rich always publishes accurate GPS data. I personally would have been screwed without my Garmin but I'm directionally challenged... YMMV (literally!)
4. This has become one of my "must do" races; it's perfect motivation to keep up winter training. The race doesn't have many technical challenges and there is a fair amount of pavement and gravel road riding. It doesn't sound like much of a MTB race does it? Well, it is... if you want to do well at the entire race distance it may be the hardest single day that you will ever spend on a bike. I'm told that day 1 of La Ruta is slightly tougher, but only slightly. Both times I have done it I have sworn afterwards "never again!" as the cramps bend me into a pretzel, but I keep coming back for more.
The weather is a huge variable, it could be 30 degrees at the start and/or 90 degrees in the desert, be prepared.
The course can be tough on your bike, carry tools & tubes; the main rest stop (you pass it twice) has wrench support and some spare parts, but...

KERKOVEJ · Dec 3, 2010

Sweet! Interest has been sparked. :thumbsup:

sdcadbiker · Dec 3, 2010

It would be awesome to get more pro-level riders at this event. It would be awesome to get _more riders_ period! The race seems to appeal to a select few...

There's a good write-up by Jens Raz here:
http://mtbracenews.blogspot.com/2010/04/julian-death-march-california.html

mtbne1 · Dec 3, 2010

sdcadbiker said:
It would be awesome to get more pro-level riders at this event. It would be awesome to get _more riders_ period! The race seems to appeal to a select few...

Thanks for the info....sounds like my kind of bike race...hard is good....pro-level, I'm not but competitive 50 year old endurance dude, I am....I will be bringing a couple of others down with me to suffer with...:cornut:

Oh & Hi Jeff ^^^^....love my Ergons....been using them for a number of years....no hand
pain or numbness since:thumbsup:

jtmartino · Dec 3, 2010

Great pics here:

http://www.mattkellerman.com/Biking/2010-JDM/Juilan_Death_March.aspx

jms · Dec 4, 2010

mtbne1 said:
1. Can I camp at the race start location the night before the race? If not, I suspect there
are a lot of B&B's in the area.
2. How would you compare the race to something in Norcal. An example would be the Tahoe-Sierra 100.
3. Is the course well signed? I dont' like having to navigate and race at the same time,

It's a great event. I did it last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. There's some beautiful scenery along the way, and the aspect of going from pines down into the desert and back up into the pines adds a grander scale to the race. I really appreciate that it's not the usual multi-lap format. It's also a really low key compared to the Nor Cal races. Rich Wolf is fun and his event volunteers are very helpful and enthusiastic

You can camp the night before the race @ Frank Lane Park which is the event start/finish. Pinezanita is nice, inexpensive RV park @ 4 miles from the start/finish. Julian is a pleasent, picturesque little town too.

The course marking is generally good, but it's not that tough to go off course if you haven't done the event previously. Local knowledge or previous participation is a definite advantage. I rode with a "local" last year and avoided missing a couple intersections that were a bit obscure.

As for degree of difficulty, I'd say Julian rates somewhere between the Bogg's 8 hr solo and the TS 100. There's quite a bit of pavement in the Julian race, and there's not that much really technical terrain either. All of which is offset by that exquisite b!tch of a climb up Oriflamme Rd. Banning Truck Trail[?] and Wayne's Trail are also kinda nasty in places. Somewhat armored tire casings are a good idea, and hardtails aren't at a disadvantage on this course.

I skipped Boggs this year to do Julian and I'm glad I did. I'm planning on doing it again in 2011, It's a fun gig.

mtbne1 · Dec 4, 2010

Thanks everyone for all the info!!! JTMartino, good write-up and pics. JMS: I will miss Boggs this year as well but will race the 24 there in July. This is going to be fun :eekster:

Liz Man · Dec 4, 2010

Julian is a fun event! I had the opportunity to ride it several years ago. I wanted to ride in 2009 and '10 as well, but couldn't schedule the trip. My wife and I are hoping to take part again this year. It's a challenging ride. I managed two, out of 2008's three laps. Although I never felt lost, I did benefit from pre-riding the first two loops two days prior the race.

richwolf · Dec 10, 2010

We will have registration up the first week of January.

I don't know if I ever said the course was a piece of cake to navigate. In fact on our web site we say that without pre riding the course, that you will be at a disadvantage. When people get tired or in a hurry or don't look up, it is easy to miss signs and turns. That is the downside of not doing multiple laps, but the upside is that you are constantly seeing different terrain and views.

We do offer GPS downloads so that might be the way to go if you can't pre ride the course, or just hang with someone who knows the course!

richwolf · Dec 10, 2010

We have decided to make the Death March 3 separate races with distances of 50, 64 and 86 miles. That way you can pick which distance you want to race.

sdcadbiker · Dec 10, 2010

Thanks for the updates :thumbsup:

jms · Dec 11, 2010

Long Lingering

richwolf said:
We have decided to make the Death March 3 separate races with distances of 50, 64 and 86 miles. That way you can pick which distance you want to race.

So Rich, does this mean:

The 50 miler equals a "quick" death?

The 64 mile version equals a "slow" death?

And the 86 mile route equals a "long lingering" death?

Julian Death March 2011 April 9th

richwolf

kev0153

EBrider

sdcadbiker

richwolf

sdcadbiker

mtbne1

mtbne1

sdcadbiker

KERKOVEJ

sdcadbiker

mtbne1

jtmartino

jms

mtbne1

Liz Man

richwolf

richwolf

sdcadbiker

jms

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