By Tom Clark
Download GPX Track. right click, choose "Save Target As..."Note that the tracks above are ridden in reverse of the description below. Riding the course reverse of what is described is definitely better...
What a ridiculous ride.
Starting at the Steele Creek intersection on Chena Hot Springs Road, ride east for
about 3.2 miles. You can either ride along the shoulder of the road or take a
gravel path that parallels it. You turn north (uphill) on Smallwood Trail.
Ride all the way up to the top of Smallwood. There's a false top partway up, so
don't celebrate until you are there. Be forewarned: there is frequent traffic
coming up the road that you are about to descend, so play it safe. Stick to the
right, don't go top speed, live to ride another day. The condition of this road
varies from year to year and even within one season. There are several
gullies, Cat tracks, dusty patches, rutty sections, etc. that increase the danger
level. Ride all the way down until the road finally turns into double track.
You'll know you are on the right path if you have to do a stream crossing or two.
For the next two miles, things just keep getting wetter and messier. Just stay on
the trail, and don't even bother trying to keep your feet dry. If it is a fairly
dry year, you can generally get across the swamp reasonably quickly. If it is a wet
year, you will be slogging for a while. If you get lost or start wondering where
you are, just look for the frayed, tattered, weathered remnants of Death Ride pin
flags of years past. The thing to do is plunge in right away and get it over with.
Plod, plod, plod. Finally, you make your last stream crossing (and get this --
there's a plank bridge across it, as though you care at this point) and end up on a
wide gravel pad. This is someone's mining claim area. Take a minute to pick all the
grass and gunk out of your drive train, and lube up to avoid chain-suck.
Follow the road away from the gravel pad. There are a couple of turns off to your
right -- ignore them and stay on the main trail that goes UP. You have a fairly
brutal climb at this point. Only the very strongest riders can ride all the way up
to the the top of this hill. Most folks don't ride all the way up, and the
ones that do aren't sure that it was worth it. After you top out on the climb, take
a breather. There's more work to do. The next four or five miles are a gentle
uphill climb, with a few descents and steep climbs for spice. Stay on the main
trail. Eventually, you encounter a wide, open intersection. This is where the Amanita
Climb joins up with this ride. Go straight. This puts you on Gilmore Trail, the
dirt part of it. Don't hog the road, there are cars out here.
Staying on the main road, you pass a few intersecting trails and roads, eventually
round a corner and end up on pavement. Ride the pavement for about two and a half
miles. After you pass Gold Mine Trail, be on the lookout for North Hubernite, on
your left. Enter N. Hubernite and veer right, and take the next left, and dirt road
that drops downhill. There used to be a trail here but it got creamed when the
road went in. You'll connect with an old access road, which becomes a dirt road.
Go down, past some homes. When in doubt, don't turn, favor the straight path.
You'll make a long, scorching descent (watch out for cars) and then slow down in
order to make the sharp left-hand corner at the bottom. Climb up the hill, then
turn right onto Powellite.
Ride up Powellite, and when it finally ends in a T intersection, go left. Ride
about 200 feet and find a trail that drops down to the left. It's a well used
four-wheeler trail, easy to find. At the bottom (one last bit of wet), you hook up
with Juniper and go right. All you do now is follow the road. Ride up a hill, down
the other side, and up a mellow climb to the finish, where your car is hopefully
parked, just a short ways away.
Oh, I should have mentioned that you shouldn't do this too early -- wait until the
end of May, at least. Also, you should have brought lots of mosquito repellent.
Sorry about that.
That's almost everyone's opinion of the Death Ride. Scoped out and popularized by
Doug Burnside, the Death Ride is a silly ride, involving thigh deep water and mud
hazards, pushing or carrying the bicycle beside you as you traverse the Smallwood
swamp. It is also a lot of fun. There's never been any fatalities,
but in 2002 there was a drowning hazard on the course. In the middle of the
4-wheeler trail there was a water filled sink-hole deep enough to swallow a person
and bicycle. The hole managed to eat four or five people until we decided it would
be better to go around it. Probably the silliest thing about the Death Ride is that
not only do people keep doing it every year, a bunch do it twice a year -- once as
a ride, to mark the course, and once as a race the following Sunday. If you
really wanted to, you could probably do this ride in two hours or less, but there's
really no reason to knock yourself out trying. Most people take three hours
or more to complete it and if you want to go slow and mellow, you can do it in
around four hours. There is nearly 3000 feet of elevation gain on this ride
and it is just under 20 miles in length.