F-F-F-Frozen

So it was a pretty nice solo ride up to Larch Mountain. I felt great and it was a bit cooler than last time. I rode my Surly (rather than the new Ellsworth) because it was raining, but since I was solo, I spent some extra time tuning her up this morning, so she was running smoooooooth. The long-ass climb was easier than it was last time, but I wasn't chasing Ben, so that could have been a factor.

Coming down, however, was pretty much the most scared I have ever been on a bike. I was soaked to the bone by the time I got to the top, but was warm from the climb -- I had on a rain jacket and booties, but other than that it was all summer gear. At the peak of Larch (4,000'), the temp was in the 40s, so I cooled down quickly. I hung out in the summit parking lot for 10 minutes or so and hopped back on the bike heading down. That's when I realized that it was very fucking COLD. With 2 minutes of starting the descent, I was literally freezing and still had 13.5 miles to go until the Larch turn off (and still another 6 miles of descent from there) and it was totally dumping rain with heavy winds and I could no longer feel my hands. My head was pounding due to the cold wind whipping through my helmet, and that was when I realized that this could be a very dicey situation. It was without a doubt the coldest I can ever remember feeling in my life. I grew up in Alaska and Colorado and have skied and snowboarded since I was a kid, and still this was definitely the coldest. There were several times when I was shaking so hard that I thought I was gonna wreck.

I seriously considered calling Mandy and having her come get me, but the thought of sitting under a tree in the freezing rain for two hours was not very comforting. I also considered hitching a ride, but there weren't many cars up there, and I didn't see any that would have had room for the bike so I opted to keep moving. Every 5 miles or so, I would pull over and stick my hands in my mouth to get them warm enough to be functional again, which was marginally helpful. As I got lower in altitude, they stayed warmer for longer, which was nice.

I started singing at full volume after awhile to keep my teeth from chattering; it must have been a pretty interesting sight.

By the time I got to the Women's Forum Lookout just above Corbett over the Gorge, sun was breaking through the clouds and I was able to thaw out a little bit. The rest of the descent was cold, but not nearly as bad as the first part. The sun was sporadic but quite warm, and got me to the bottom. I hammered up the two Stark St. hills and got warmed up again, which was nice because as soon as I got past Mt Hood CC, it started dumping again and stayed like that until I got home. As soon as I put my bike in the garage, the sun came out. Nice.

Good times; nice work, Dave.