Last week I made the mistake of comparing crappy weather. “It may be windy and rainy but at least its not 17 degrees out.” Well, windy and rainy stepped up and reminded me that they can suck just as bad if not worse than 17 degrees.
After two beautiful days of riding the weather took a turn. I don’t often get three days off from work, so I wasn’t gonna let some cool temps and clouds keep me off the bike. Long sleeve jersey, under shirt, bibs, knee warmers and full finger gloves seemed like they would be warm enough for the ride and they were…for the first 2 hours. It went a little something like this…
Monday 05/26/08
8:45 wake up, coffee, pancakes, mix bottles, make a PB&J and a PB&Nutella power nugget.
9:55 roll out to meet Joe Superstein at his place @10:00
9:57 those clouds don’t look so good– I should have grabbed my rain slick and checked the weather.
10:00 get yelled at by some chump in a pickup (by the way I would like to thank the Larimer County Sheriff for declaring open season on cyclists. Nice Job!) http://www.co.larimer.co.us/sheriff/bulls_Eye/BullEye.htm
10:05 show up at Joes fashionably late.
10:10 roll out with little motivation for 4 hours mostly flat dirt roads but we were gonna do Pain in the Ass Pass. Always a goodtime. Its a dirt climb at mile 35, one of my favorites. ( I knew I was gonna be rolling solo for at least part of this when Superstein asked me if I brought my mp3 player. Nope)
10:30 tail wind out of town. Bad sign.
Here is the loop http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/co/fort-collins/892884230
10:45 Joe says “are we really gonna do this?” Hell, I needed at least 4 hours to burn off all of the flapjacks.
11:20ish Joe pulls the trigger and heads home. Turns out Joe is much smarter than he looks.
11:30 sprinkles, roughly mile 25.
11:45 full on rain. Crud
12:00 dirt climb in the rain–kinda cool
12:05 dirt descent in the rain–not so cool
12:15 rain stopped. Sweet!
12:20 rain is back and the ride officially loses all charm. Cold and wet. First thoughts of how to get a ride home. Plus I’m looking at a 20 mph head wind for the next 25 miles, even better.
12:25 Gas station in Livermore. Should have stopped and called Sara. I also should have dropped the $50.00 on that cool little rain jacket.
12:50 Teds Place gas station at the mouth of the Poudre. Should have stopped and called Sara.
1:10 Verns gas station (”best cinnamon rolls in the world” how many of these places can claim that?) Should have stopped to call Sara.
1:12 still raining and I see a digital sign that confirms it, 50 degrees, ugh.
1:30 can’t feel hands or feet. First time since Feb. Still sucks.
1:40 I wonder if this is what hypothermia feels like?
1:55 coincidentally I see my good friend Joe pulling out of a parking lot in his nice warm car. “did you get rained on?” he asks. “me too” he says. What a creep. He did ask if I needed a ride, but by then I was frozen solid and close to home, so I just kept rolling. Thanks Joe
2:00 in the door and in the tub in 30 seconds. Toes don’t look too good but other than that everything seems to be intact. I sure wish I would have taken my rain jacket. One more lesson learned– wonder how many times do I need to learn that before I learn that.
2:30 still in the tub
Tuesday 12:00 one of my co-workers tells me “I saw you out riding yesterday, you looked cold.” No shit?
Tuesday 8:30 still cold.
Good times, good times.
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