The first in a series of storms hit today. I knew that I had a nice window of dry weather in the morning, but a business commitment made it impossible for me ride before noon. I even had to cancel my assistant coach gig for NorCal, and I was really looking forward to that. I guess that I’m doing my best given the circumstances, but that quite often means that my plans change.By the time that I headed out today the rains were just starting. I made it to Blithedale Canyon when the rains started in earnest. The winds were picking up too. Some of the gusts must have been about 40 mph.
It was getting more and more miserable with each pedal stroke. My original goal was to ride up to East Peak, but as I was getting really knocked around by the winds, and I was already soaked all the way throughmy gear, so I decided that I’d only go as far up as the West Point Inn. By the time that I reached the inn I was feeling a bit banged up. I felt as though I’d hit the front of the storm head first, like a salmon swimming upstream in a raging river. Without even stopping at the inn I headed down Old Stage towards Pantoll Station. Along the way I realized that it’s a holiday weekend, and that I’ve sworn off riding on the Panoramic Highway on holiday weekends. Duh! So I rode over to the station and then turned right back around and rode back up to the West Point Inn. I cleaned my protective glasses as best I could before heading down Railroad Grade.
I had so much mud covering my glasses that I could barely see. I was riding very slowly, and was getting really cold. About halfway down I ran into my friend “F” who was on his OS Bike and heading up the mountain. I could barely see him through my glasses, and if he hadn’t called my name I would have just ridden right by him. We spoke briefly before I had to head on. I was going hypothermic really quickly today.
I began trembling on the way down, and that’s never happened to me that I can recollect. My teeth were chattering in my mouth and I felt a real need to get to my house and fast. I could barely acknowledge one of my neighbor friends on the way in the driveway. I dumped my wet and muddy cycling gear at the back door and headed straight to a hot shower where it took me a good 15 minutes to get warm. I’m not sure why I ended up so oppressively cold today. I’ve ridden in much colder and wetter weather. I think that maybe my body fat has dropped to a new level so the cold is having a greater effect on me. It’s going to be a long week for me as storm after storm hit Marin County. I’ve said this before, and I’m going to say it again, wish me luck!
Distance: 16.89 miles
Calories burned: 2,398
Time: 1:47:04 hours
Elevation gain: 3,556 ft
Garmin Connect ride details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22611218
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