At 02:18 AM 7/7/2004, karol.zielonko@... wrote:
>>Rumor has it that the original name did not attract many riders. Then they
>>changed the name to the "Death Ride" and ridership skyrocketed.
>
>Read farther down the article you pointed to and it becomes apparent that it
was
>called the Death Ride from the start. All organized group rides like this start
>as small events. If the ride has merit, word of mouth spreads the message and
>the popularity grows. I think the ride is as popular as it is on its merits,
not
>its name. I'm really excited about it even though the name of the event is
>hyperbolic and in poor taste. I'm certainly not going to skip the race because
>of its silly name.

Actually, that is a source of controversy, the other article claimed that the
original name is "Tour of the California Alps". I also heard that from a
reliable source, which I am rechecking. But your explanation sounds plausible,
and it is possible that I am hearing a bad rumor.

>The whole size of it - with the lottery and everything - put me off too. I had
>originally planned to take a quick trip to the Flanagans in Pyreneen Pursuits
>but happened to find, with a google seaarch for write ups on the death ride, a
>story written by a fellow who works for the same company that I do - HP. Come
to
>find out Walter Hewlett, the son of one of HP's founding fathers Bill Hewlett,
>is an avid cyclist. For the past few years there has been a "team" of folks
from
>HP who ride as a group and a set of slots is reserved for them. Mr. Hewlett
puts
>folks up at his place near Lake Tahoe a few nights before. So that was my path
>into the MDR.

Interesting story. At one time I had *really* wanted to do this ride, but the
size of the event and the lottery has turned me off somewhat. I may do this
ride on another weekend with a group of friends, leaving water at key places
along the route.

Brian