Yesterday a decent storm blew through the Southland so I decided that would be the perfect day to ride my monthly R12 200k permanent.
It was a dark and stormy night. Seriously it rained and blew all night and even hailed a bit. I got a later than expected start because it was still stormy when I got up so I thought I'd wait a bit, but it didn't subside so I drove to the start and hoped it would clear up a bit.
It turned out that the storm was sitting over the mountain and once I got to the start of the ride it wasn't raining anymore. I started at 9am and, although it was cold and windy, it wasn't actually raining. But I could tell there had been heavy rain because the bike path was covered in mud and dirt and was flooded in quite a few places.
I was very glad I had recently replaced my tires with new Gatorskin 28mm tires that are flat resistant and track really well in mud. We all know that we get more flats during and after rain, but I got none.
After about 13 miles of riding it started to rain - a lot. I tried to shelter under a single-span bridge but the wind blew the rain right through the arch and I couldn't get any relief so I decided to just keep riding.
Q. When is a headwind a blessing?
A. When you are riding in a storm.
I had every reason to assume that I was in a localized storm cell. I could see blue skies ahead and the rain had come on very quickly. Fortunately I had a headwind which meant that I was headed South while the storm was being blown North. Six miles later I was out of the rain. Unfortunately I was soaked through after only a mile of rain. But with the temps in the 60s I never really got cold. I was wearing long lycra pants, a long-sleeved jersey, and a Pearl-Izumi convertible jacket. I also had a thermal layer in my Carradice bag that I didn't ever need, even when the sun went down.
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| Special effects from sweaty lens |
Rincon was closed with gates across it. I assumed it was flooded so I went around the gates to see how bad it was. It didn't look impassable so I gave it a shot. The water was about 6" deep so I got my shoes wet again, but nothing else.
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| Water across the road at Rincon. It takes more than closed gates to stop a cyclist |
By the time I got to the In-n-Out burger at mile 31 I was dry again (almost). But I was already stinky which meant I would be horrible by the end of the ride. I had a double-double and headed out 20 minutes later (they were slow for some reason). You'd think the smell would have given me priority!
It warmed up towards Newport beach and the headwind got fresher - even a bit violent at times. I got to the turnaround at 13:20. During the day there is a wonderful deli run by some Koreans so I had a turkey and ham on toasted ciabatta. Delicious.
Turning North I picked up a wonderful tailwind - a bit gusty but very nice. I just rolled along at 15-16mph having the best time. It was really a wonderful time to be out riding. I had to make an emergency detour to the Amtrak station in Anaheim to attend to the call of nature. Even Green River hill didn't bother me much. The tailwind didn't get me up any faster, but it was easier.
I got to the Lucky Greek at about mile 100 with the sun getting low behind me so I made it as short a stop as possible by ordering fries and soda. I should probably have eaten a little more but I wanted to get onto the last section of bike path before sunset.
The gates were still closed on Rincon but the water was much lower, only about 2" deep at the center of the road. Some asshole had taken the time to push a supermarket trolley around the gates and smash a bunch of bottles all over the road. I managed to thread around them all without getting a flat, but I fantasized about sneaking up to him while he was smashing the bottles and nailing him with my shock baton. That would have been fun!
I got onto the bike path a few minutes before the sun set and rolled along, still with a tailwind, enjoying a stunning sunset. About 5 miles from the end I started to bonk and ate some Belvita cookies I had brought along in my top tube bag. They really did the trick and I felt strong again in just ten minutes. I finished with a total distance of 130 miles in 9:57.
So this was a challenging ride in many ways. There was mud, debris, and flooding. It was cold, windy, and wet. This was my kind of epic!
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