So, yet again, we have experienced another crushing defeat to our stretch of good weather. After beautiful sunny days, and a small patch of rain, that had basically cleared the trails, we got pounded with another 5″ or so of snow last night. This has been a running theme, as just when we think we are in the clear, we end up getting hammered with more snow. Today was another beautiful day, and the weather does appear to be on the upswing after last nights blizzard. Of course, in typical fashion, heavy snow does not give us an excuse to rest, but rather to be BAMF. So, in true BAMF fashion, we headed out on the ‘cross bikes (me on Joel’s somewhat small Poprad), which looked TT-esque with a big drop from saddles to bars. But the bike felt suprisingly comfortable (amazing what always riding a TT bike will do to you), and the legs felt good.
We started out with a climb up Schultz Pass on the dirt. This was pretty good except for when I got killed by the patches of snow, which I will blame on excessive tire pressure. After that, we headed over to the Snow Bowl for the 10K climb to the base of the ski area. The climb goes up ~2,000vft. over 6.5 miles, so it’s a pretty stiff climb. I was actually thankful for the lighter gearing and shorter cranks of Joel’s bike as compared with the long levers of my TT bike. Dr. Jones and I started the climb together, with SQW and Colin off playing cowboys and indians on the trails. Jones had been making some blustery comments about riding me down, so I decided to give’r. Unfortunately, after about five minutes, I thought maybe it was Jones who was gonna give it to me. But somehow five turned into 10 and 10 into 15 and 15 into 25 and 25 into 30 and change. And somewhere around 30 and change (gate-to-gate) for those of you who know the climb, I was at the top, in the middle of a crazy snowstorm, with Jones way back down the road. Ride that down, Jones! đŸ˜‰ In Jones’s defense, he is a much better rider in the snow, but then again, he can’t really descend…
After waiting for a bit, I headed back down the road, and then went back up again with Kirsten, and then headed back down the road, and then went back up again with Simon, whose think-for-yourself mentality had caught up with him as his trail “shortcut” turned out to be a “longcut” (is that a word?). So it was a long day. On the actual trip down (as in the one I didn’t turn around on), my fingers were FROZEN. I actually had trouble moving them. But some dry gloves and warmers remedied that and then it was time to motor on home, with the snow falling ever more heavily. After that I pleaded with Joel to shorten the run, but he was typically hardassed and told me to “be the BAMF”… So then it was off to the treadmills and then, finally, time for sleeping…
Jordan Rapp 