It was one of those days where the rain bikes hit the streets and the winter gear got a true test of its effectiveness. Mat displayed his brand new gloves and I was pleased with the arm warmers I had added late in my preparation for the ride. It was also one of those days I would have bet the house that Chris' Cervelo and its amazing paint job was not going to make an appearance. This ride gave us a chance to see what we were made of and while that sounds like we were tough, the conditions weren't all that bad. 43 degrees and raining isn't bad when you're burning 1,000 calories an hour.
Bertha's Ride with SCC Jan 14, 2012 - Details
The first part of the ride got us heading uphill through Happy Valley and an elevation climb of 550 feet in 1.5 miles. That's an average grade of 7% for a pretty good stretch and a gradual climb. The rain seemed to let up after we made that ascent and that's when Issac started putting the hammer down on the group. For safety, I slowed down a bit to lag behind, with the bright light in the back like a wide load warning car. This doesn't mean I was the wide load. It was a no drop ride, so we eased up a bit near the end when the pack was lagging a bit behind the leaders. All in all, a spirited ride with a great group that endured some rainy conditions, but had a good time. You know the conditions aren't too bad when I had to break up a conversation about hair products.
Rule #9 was the keeper of the day, although we didn't really get a full dose of icicles in the water bottle. Rule 23 wasn't far behind and when I got home one of my big toes was nearly ready to fall off. I am not complaining, it's just a fact. Cheers!
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