well, spent over 13 hours in the rain today …
The fun started about 5 miles into the ride when my booties soaked through, then quickly progressed to a surreal climb up Clodfelter Rd. I’ve probably been up that road 100 times, but this morning the fog was so thick that I actually got lost on the way up. Not that I went off course, there is only one paved road up to the plateau, but I actually couldn’t figure out where I was. I tried to climb slow enough not to drench my clothes – but I still had to stop at the top and put on another shirt for the descent down to Hermiston.
Today’s route was a conscious decision to inflict a little misery – in order to train the brain of course. The ride out of Hermiston south to Lexington is essentially a 40 mile climb – but the grade is light enough that you are left wondering why you are going so stinkin slow. Takes about two hours to get real discouraged. Anyways, the constant rain wasn’t helping, either. Turns out that a 30% chance of rain doesn’t mean that you have a 30% chance of it raining at all, it means that for the entire day, the atmosphere will consist of 70% air, and 30% rain.
I finally made it into Lexington, and pushed on, only to get a flat just outside of town, right next to a very rambunctious sheep dog. Got the flat fixed and headed down the road, only to find out he had buddies, and all three of them were now intent on herding me where they thought I should go.
9 miles later and I’m dreaming of a hamburger from the Willow Creek Diner, which George and Terri from Race Across Oregon recommend as the best in the state. Closed. So I find the only grocery store in town and proceed to skitter around the store in my wet shoes looking for a sandwich and something warm to drink. Hey, they serve Starbucks way out there.
I took a different “more scenic” route home (aka a crap load more climbing), and ended up back in Hermiston looking for more food and water. The final re-climb back over the plateau had the huge added attitude adjustment of a headwind, followed by the same bank of fog.
There are no fog lines on the section of road that was resealed last year, so I was forced to ride down the center of the road – if was full dark again. Probably the slowest I have ever had to come down that hill.
Turns out the reason I was so slow and less-than-RAAM-feeling was that in just over a century and a half there was 8300′ of climbing. Have to do that ride someday without a backpack and winter tires. Well, the brain work seemed to take hold about 10 blocks from the house, and I arrived back home feeling strong enough to ride all night. But it is January and a hot shower brought me back to reality.