Today I left the house and headed for the local winter climb, the Old Sherwin Grade. The goal, 3 laps at my AT. While talking about heart rate, my iPod playlist, what I had for breakfast and how the 3 year expired Clif Shot tasted like that I forced down is really not that exciting – the last descent of the day deserves mention.
The weather is the story here. Last weekend it was 75 degrees in Bishop and there were more cyclists out than I have ever seen in this area. A week later; cold & windy with snow flurries = not a soul to be seen. To me, the weather can make a great ride phenomenal and one that will never be forgotten. Today this proved true yet again.
When I think back to my twenty years of training for bike racing, numerous individual days stand out. There was the 7 hour day in the torrential rain in Davis, California where I had to ride through a long, flooded length of road. The water was at my bottom bracket, which promptly needed servicing. Another day so windy that Tom Gatewood was blown clean off the road into a ditch. Climbing in heavy, and accumulating snowfall while riding the Sierra Valley loop …Lycra and 23mm tires were not much fun on the descent. And just last year, the Sellaronda in a massive thunderstorm, descending the Pordoi with running water on the road.
These days stand out because they are so different from all the nice days, which thankfully are the majority. But they also stand out because they force me to experience new things, to have a bit of excitement thrown into the mix that I get to deal with.
Descending in the squall today was really no big deal, but the feelings it allowed helped to confirm why I love riding my bike. The sound of the wind was nothing compared to the sound of the ice pellets hitting my helmet at 70km/hr. Keeping one eye for the turns and the other for the amount of slippery buildup on the road, I charged down the descent knowing I had a new memory thanks to saying yes to heading out on a cold day.
