Friday, May 6, 2016

Alpine to Julian - Day 2

mileage:  33
elevation gain: 4,221

What a day!  We woke up to pouring rain.  It was questionable whether we were going to ride or not. In the end  6 of us decided to ride.  By the time we got going the rain had slowed down and we decided it was manageable.  So off we went with all our rain gear on.  We took off with wide shoulders on the hiways so I felt very comfortable riding.   It continued to rain for most of the morning.

Once off the main hiway we rode into back country and it was really pretty with houses and ranches scattered about.  And then we hit our climb - 9 miles of it.  There were breaks though so it was quite manageable.  I have to admit I was in my gear 36 for most of the climb.   I was thinking a gear 40 would really be good too.  My garmin wasn't working so I don't know what the grade was.   It was in the low 40's for the morning so it was cold.  We would warm up when climbing and then freeze when descending.   The rain continued sometimes letting up and then raining harder.  We also had the wind to contend with.  By the time we got to the top of the climb we were freezing. Our sag driver shared her dry jacket and a long sleeve shirt with Judy.   One of the items I forgot to take was a hat for underneath my helmet.   When we finally got to Cuyamaca we stopped for hot soup and coffee plus I bought a hat, Gail and Judy bought hat and gloves.    Then we set off  to finish the ride.  We did stop at the Inspiration Point for a picture..  By this time it had stopped raining.


Tomorrow's another day - will wait to see what it brings.  I must be nuts but I enjoyed the challenge of the hills, the rain and the wind but not the cold.

No comments:

Post a Comment