Cold Day in Heaven

OK, I needed a rest. I rode 160 miles in the four days I've been here. Both of the last two mornings, my quads have been pretty creaky. Of course that's the best I think I can do in terms of training for a 24 hour when I only rode a trainer for most of December and January--put the hurt on as far in advance as possible, then just try to keep getting rides in so that at least my body is relatively used to riding again. I know I'm not going to be optimally trained. But even if I start out a little tired on race day, I'm better off having shocked my system than to just get up off the couch and ride it.

So Monday I knew some weather was supposed to be on the way. I headed to town Sunday afternoon to stock up on provisions and then figured I would just lay around reading Monday, maybe take a little walk.

Weather came. Boy howdy. I woke up this morning to gusty wind blowing rain. It came in squalls during most of the morning. Then at about lunchtime it turned to sleet, then big fat snowflakes.



All day, wind, rain, snow and sleet on and off; sometimes really harsh.

Just at sunset blue sky appeared overhead. There's still plenty of weather all around, and I know better than to assume that we're done getting barfed on here at Willow Springs, but it still make for a glamorous ending to a really nasty day. It's going to get REALLY cold tonight.



(Click here for a wide panorama view of the view east at sunset).

I'm nearly all the way through my book.