Who knew Kevin and I would be famous for our ride today? But we’ll get to that shortly. First off, yes, when any sensible person was sleeping, and what those sensible people later on came into our stores to buy Wahoo Kickr trainers so they could have simulated rides on Zwift’s Watopia.

But Kevin and I aren’t a subset of those “sensible people.” We woke up to heavy rains driving hard against our windows and though finally, that epic ride we’ve been waiting for! Finally, our wet-weather bikes and wet-weather clothing would get a full test. We really weren’t suprised that nobody else showed up to enjoy our idea of a good time though… I guess they figured that much fun could be bad for you. Roads were pretty much deserted, but we did come across two women out running and exchanged remarks and glances that clearly we were all part of a club in which there are very few members and little evidence of sanity, and yet we were all having a very good time.

The ride up was pretty easy and quite spectacular, with miniature waterfalls everywhere, slow-motion mudslides, and the sound above us of very high winds but we felt only the rain. That’s the interesting thing about climbs up to Skyline. You don’t really ever feel the wind, but it sure makes a racket. Even on Skyline itself, at least the section north of Sky Londa, you can hear it but you’re riding in a special protected zone that seems to exist just for us. Towards the top someone driving the other direction rolled down their window to ask if the road was open. That’s kind of funny if you think about it; there’s an assumption that the bicyclists will get through places the cars can’t. Or maybe they’ve just seen me one of the several thousand times I’ve climbed Kings.

Because we didn’t know if 84 was open or closed, we headed back down Kings, descending very securely on our disc-brake Trek Boone ‘cross bikes. I cannot possibly overstate the advantages of disc brakes for rainy descents. The reduction in stress (on you) is enormous, because your brakes act exactly the way you want them to, when you want them to. No delays, great road traction. Our descend was interrupted by a flat tire close to the bottom, causing us to pull over into a driveway and apparently give great pleasure to a motorist who didn’t think bicycles should be on his or her roads when they’re in such bad condition. You can see “PanicFan”s write-up of us here, and just under it, my response. Kevin and I try to be nice people when we’re cycling, and if we did something that brings a smile to someone’s face, hey, how can that be a bad thing? Balance had been previously provided when, as we were climbing during the height of the storm, another motorist rolled down his window and yelled “You guys are awesome!” Yeah, I’ll admit it, that made my day. 🙂