The bike ride up the Skalkaho was fun today. A favorite of mine, it’s 10 miles to the top from my starting point and gains about 1300 ft. Not too hard, but enough of a workout for me. It was kinda windy going up and mixed sun and shade. a few sprinkles. Thought I’d go to the top and then drop back down to a little lake for lunch. It took me the usual 90 minutes to reach the pass. The surface was good, but a little muddy in spots.
Right when I got to the pass, out of nowhere, a snow storm blew into my face from the other side. I mean, I got off my bike and it started snowing. And blowing hard enough it was difficult to look in the direction of the wind. I knew this wasn’t good.
The sun came out after what seemed a long time. But it must have been only 30 or 40 minutes since the storm started. I stopped and worshiped my favorite star for a while. After that, I stopped now and then to warm up. By the time I was down to the car I was mostly dry, but still pretty cold hands and feet wise. Quite the ride. Only thing I could have really done different is to have worn my Pearl Izumi long biking pants instead of my stretchy climbing pants and brought along some waterproof glove covers. It was just that the timing couldn’t have been worse. I was at my sweatiest when it hit. But it made for an epic ride and I’m appreciating the warmth of our cabin tonight all the more for it.
Oh, and I almost forgot. On the drive home I saw a large mountain lion cross the road. Must have been at least 200 lbs. whoa