Route Description: A mass start through the city streets of Bishop will quickly head out of town. After a fast, flat warm up heading north through the cattle ranches of Round Valley, the climbing begins in earnest! Ascending up from Round Valley to Crowley Lake, the Old Sherwin Grade winds through pinion pine and juniper woodlands while following Lower Rock Creek to enter Mono County and the heartland of the Eastern Sierra. After cresting Sherwin Grade, a rider friendly 1800′ climb, you are greeted by the startling views of Mt. Ritter and Mt. Banner, and the serrated ridge of the Minarets in the northern distance. North a few miles further awaits Lake Crowley and the grassy bed of Long Valley. Further north en route to Mammoth Lakes, you pass Hilton and McGee Creeks; the mouths of their canyons filled with huge glacial moraines empty into the valley from the Sierra high country.
Leaving Long Valley, you’ll quickly enter the town of Mammoth Lakes, famous for its world class ski resort. You’ll climb gently, but quickly, around the outskirts of town and head out of town and north via the Mammoth Scenic Drive. After a short climb cresting the 8,041′ summit of Deadman Pass, you’ll enjoy a well deserved descent as you head to the June Lake Loop where you’ll enjoy the incredible views of June, Gull, Silver and Grant Lakes.
Once you’re back on 395, you’ll enter “The Land of Mono” as you head to Lee Vining and a nice lunch stop. Enjoy the views of Mono Lake, a million year old body of water ringed by eerie tufa towers, volcanic craters, mountain peaks, and high desert silences. Mono Lake has no outlet; over the thousands of years of its existence, salts and minerals washed into the lake have become concentrated as waters have evaporated. Though Mono Lake has been called a “dead sea”, it actually abounds with life. No fish live in the lake, but populations of brine shrimp and brine flies adapted to the exceptionally high concentration of salts provide a plentiful food supply for more than seventy species of migratory and nesting birds.
Leaving Mono Lake, you’ll head south on Hwy 395 to Hwy 120 through the Mono Crater area. Take time to look around as you climb between these craters en route to the high plains at Sage Hen Summit, through red lava canyons and over to Benton Crossing Road, which is new starting in 2018. Benton Crossing is a beautiful quiet road that takes you around to the back side of Crowley Lake and back to Bishop via Hwy 395.
This course has about 12,400 feet of elevation gain, more than half of which is between mile 16 and mile 80. As doubles go, it’s not that tough and the views and roads are so incredible, you won’t even notice the climbing that it does have!