Tony's story: The Sequoia

BaseCamp athlete Tony Powell shared his story at the 2026 Sequoia bike ride in California.

First time participating in the Sequoia, which takes place in the Los Altos Hills of the Bay Area. My drive time of 50 minutes there and 50 minutes back made for a long day. Didn't have any trouble with bike mechanicals, which I'm always grateful for when riding in these types of events. The event was well done at the start with parking, registration, etc. all the way through the rest stops and the end of the ride. Total numbers were 63.7 miles, 6,844 feet of elevation, around 5 hours 20 minutes of moving time, and a whopping 307 TSS.

This was a really tough ride for me, with a mixed bag of things I'm doing well and not doing so well. I really could have used a different gearing in order to handle the double digit grades that I came across. On the lower grades, I was able to keep my cadence higher which saved my legs and knees. Too much low-cadence work while maintaining a decent power number hit me pretty hard later in the ride. I was pretty happy with my descending skills, even with the tight corners. Didn't feel like I lost much, if any, time in that part of the route. The flatter parts of the route worked well for me, too.

I've heard about this one climb (called Tunitas Creek) that I've always wanted to try. This one goes on for 7-8 miles and was quite a challenge for me. The flatter sections clock in at 3-4% grade, with the harder sections at 8% and above grades.

Weatherwise, it was a sunny day with another typical Bay Area chilly type of start. The descent towards the Pacific Ocean had me shivering and with very cold fingers. Luckily, the marine layer had pretty much burned off, so the part of the ride close to the ocean was pretty nice. Getting back inland later in the day was nice and warm.

My nutrition worked out well, as I took on enough carbs while on the bike, mainly because I started using liquid carbs more than relying on gels. Grabbing some nuts and other savory types of food at the rest stops helped from overdoing the sugar throughout the day.

Without knowing the particulars of the route, I guessed badly at a 4:30 finish time. Turned out to be 5:20. RideWithGPS thought I would finish in 5 hours, so their estimate was a lot closer than mine. With over 20 Cat 4 and above climbs, I'm really not surprised I guessed that badly. Need to work on studying unknown routes rather than just taking a casual glance.