It was supposed to be pretty nasty Tuesday morning, nasty enough that Kevin begged out of riding, thinking it would be more sensible to spend more time with his girlfriend than slogging it out with dad. And to be truthful, I was considering putting my bike on a trainer instead, saving my hands from exposure to wet & cold. But that’s not how I roll. I dutifully got out my wet weather gear and hope for the best, “best” in this case being something really fun & wet.

Unfortunately, the heaviest rain ended up passing through much earlier in the night, and by the time I got going, things looked like something could happen, but probably wouldn’t. Roads were really wet, and had a light rain all the way up to Skyline, but then it was largely over. Cold? Yes; no way I could have survived without my electric heated gloves. Alone? Yes, nobody out there at all; didn’t see a single other cyclist until heading back on the flats after descending 84. Worth it? Yes, since the scale still showed 162 at the end of the ride; not riding would have tilted it up about 3 pounds, 1 pound of which wouldn’t have easily come off.

First pretty darned cold ride of the year. Had to happen sometime. At least, unlike Tuesday’s ride in the rain, we were on the right bikes, and dressed appropriately.

Nobody but us (myself and Kevin) this morning. The cold morning even delayed our exit from home as the garage door wouldn’t close (the battery for the outside remote had lost too much of its power from the cold). Heading to the start, it was the first time in ages that we had to be looking for ice in the corner I broke my pelvis almost 4 years ago. My heated gloves were getting a workout; there is absolutely no way I could be out riding in weather like this without them. Unfortunately, there’s no heater for the air coming into my lungs. Heading up through the park was really tough, but things got a little bit better once on Kings.

Until my fingers had a lot of trouble working the shifters. I was certain my Di2 shifting had gone completely haywire; I’d try to shift to a lower gear, and it would click into the lower gear and then very quickly come back down and settle into an even-higher gear than I’d started with. That can really bring you to a standstill if you’re not having a great day! I actually stopped at the first long clearing section to check it out, and determined no, it was just my messed up cold hands (even in electric gloves!) that were having trouble with the levers.

We were slow, but it seemed OK because we did warm up gradually as we climbed. Skyline was, well, crisp might be the right word. A small amount of power was returning on the small climbs, and I was looking forward to the West Old LaHonda grades just as a way to stay warm. And yeah, that did happen, but I’m wishing it was just a couple weeks ago when it was 60 degrees on that section instead of 39. But we did get a really pretty picture!

A major benefit of doing the full ride, including the West Old LaHonda loop, instead of cutting out the West Old LaHonda section, is weight control. There is literally a 1 to 2 pound difference at the end of the ride, probably because it takes quite a while before you start actually burning fat instead of carbs & sugar.

Definitely a ride where we felt better at the end than the start, as nearly all rides do.