Total Ascenf: 5296
This was the most intense day of biking. Strong headwinds and some tailwinds took over the day. They said up to 50 mph gusts and I believe. The winds were so strong I was afraid I was going to get blown either into the oncomng traffic or down a ravine. Check out the flag in this picture.
We began our climbs 3.8 miles down the road from our motel. A 7.5 mile climb that was very doable on a normal day but the headwinds made hard work out of it.
The ride down from Devils Gate was treacherous as the wind gusts coming at us. I didnt take too many pictures today except on Monitor Pass. Years ago I did the Death Ride up the front side of Monitor but not the back side as we did today. I now know why I didn't ride down and cimb back up on that day. My friend said it was ugly and she didn't want to do it. I thought at the time she was talking about the scenery. She was talking about the grade. It was a tough ride up with the winds but the switchbacks helped buffer the winds at times. Gail and I fought it to the top and decided we were finished with the winds for the day and took the sag down. Everyone was relieved that we were smart not to try and ride the steep descend down with the high winds. Scenery as always was spectacular! Quite a day... here's some pics of it.
And to think back then we didn't even look at the scenery
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