I was feeling disappointed that I had not raced the Everest Challenge this weekend, as I had planned and trained for. I started to think that maybe I could have just toughed out the rain and cold and still be okay. It might have been these thoughts that got me to do a local ride today even though there was forecast for rain.

I left the home at 6 am while it was still dark, and drove over to Aptos to Margie’s birthday ride. This ride was to be a 100m mile route with about 10,000 feet of climbing. We rode from there to Scott’s Valley where picked up more riders, eventually having a group of 15 riders all together. It had rained during the night so the roads were wet, but it was not raining so I felt fine with the 54 degree temperature.

Our first climb was over Bean Creek, then we headed up to Mt. Charlie. Some of us hammered up the hill as the rain started to come down. Because I was climbing I was still plenty warm enough. At the top we had to wait for others and I started to cool off rapidly. The rain was coming down harder now and the temperature had dropped to the high 40’s.

Collectively the group decided to cut the ride short and we headed back down Mt. Charlie. Going down that hill is no fun when dry, let alone wet, so it took me awhile to descend. I was cooling off further all the way down and was glad to reach the bottom where I could start to pedal. I was totally soaked by that time.

I can deal with wet and I can deal with cold, I just can’t deal with both at the same time.

During the decent I realized how miserable I would have been if I had tried to do the Everest Challenge being wet and with temperatures even cooler than what I was experiencing. I no longer had any regrets about bailing out of that race.

Maybe next year.

Categories: Everest Challenge