I'll call this rain if you'll call this a hill

Amber and I rode the 2015 edition of the Views of Anacapa 200k yesterday. We had a 42 riders sign up but several DNS, probably from people who had access to better weather forecasts than me. My weather forecast said "chance of rain Saturday evening."

It was cool when we rolled out at 6:30am and didn't warm up much as the sun rose while we were climbing Grimes Canyon, but the grade warmed us up anyway. We made good time through the rolling section to Ventura at mile 30. Greg had a secret control and the info control was manned by a lovely young lady whose name escapes me.

There was a hint of rain in the air as I ground up one particular climb and Kerin, a life-long SoCal and excellent climber came up alongside me. "Would you call this rain?" she asked. "No," I said, "would you call this a hill?".

As we turned onto the Ventura bike path, Nicole was waiting with her van and loaned me an energy bar because I was worried about bonking before getting to the first receipt control at mile 47. Thank you. We got to the control at the Corner Market in Oak View with Shai (fixie) who climbs better than me even though he's always in the wrong gear. Unfortunately they've almost completely removed their wonderful deli section so I had a choice of two pre-made roast beef sandwiches. Rather a let down but calories are calories. I also grabbed a Santa Barbara bar to replace the Odwalla I had eaten earlier.

There was a gentle mist in the air as we started the real climbing over Casitas Pass towards Carpenteria, which I always enjoy for some odd reason. Once we crested there was a long downhill and, for some reason, the roads were wet. I didn't want to start my season with a 30mph crash so Amber and I were very cautious on the corners. Hal went flying by us like a cat with eight more lives and I had to work very hard on the flats to catch up with him again.

The coffee shop in Carpenteria was a very welcome sight. While we were inside savoring our coffee the weather outside turned for the worse and there was a very definite hint of rain in the air. We met up with Iria who was riding her second brevet and considering PBP. As we left I swear I felt a few raindrops hit me. I saw a small group of riders about 1/2 mile ahead so we bridged over to form a group of six or seven.

Riding on the new bike path south of Rincon Point there was an inexplicable amount of standing water, mainly on our side of the path. We rode on the wrong side and whenever a cyclist came the other way our leader would call out and we would move to our side with water spraying everywhere, mainly into my mouth it seemed. Still, I love that path even though we all got to the end covered in mud. The threat of rain had disappeared by now and it looked like it would be a beautiful day.

At the last control in Hueneme I grabbed a burger and a side of chili. Soup and chili are great ways to warm up if the weather is slightly inclement. While we were there we noticed it was starting to lightly sprinkle outside. Amber put on another jacket (I think she carries five) and I zipped my jacket up. Iria needed an extra layer but hadn't brought one so I think she was suffering a bit, but I never heard one complaint from her.

We rode the rest of the ride in a light mist with occasional sprinkles of rain into a gentle head-breeze. Part way up the Santa Rosa climb we did encounter a refreshing cloud burst which put a smile on our faces although you couldn't tell because our teeth were covered in mud too. About half way up I started to bonk so I ate the Santa Barbara bar I had bought earlier. It was pretty awesome. Amber and I were both having problems with stuff getting into our eyes. I think the torrential rain gentle sprinkles were washing dirt from our foreheads into our eyes. We had to stop several times because we simply could not see. The lesson of the day is to wash your face if you get mud on it.

We got to the end of the ride at Greg's house too soon. Greg made us custom pizza and there was hot tea and cocoa. Wonderful. I wanted to stick around but we still had to go back into the light sprinkles and ride a mile back to our cars.

I am prepared to state with confidence that my Five Rivers 300k will have better weather.

Thanks to everyone, especially Greg, Lisa, Nicole, and the nice lady at the info control.