Ride to Rico

There's only one road here for serious riding: Hwy 145. The closest town to the south is Rico which makes for a nice 50 mile ride round trip. In my attempt to cram some training in for a race next weekend, I chose this route since the trails were still muddy from yesterday's rain. There was a good chance of rain today, but getting wet is just a risk you have to take. There's no predicting mountain weather.

The ride there was great! I rode an easy pace 10 miles up to Lizard Head Pass at 10,222ft and 15 miles down the other side. Coming back was another story. The road wasn't steep, but 5 miles into the return trip it started raining with no sign of letting up. Thankfully, there was no lightning, but it did hail for about 10 minutes. I usually don't mind riding in the rain; however, rain above 10k ft is freakin' cold. It finally backed off at the top of the pass. As I started descending soaked roads at 30mph, my tires managed sling up enough water to completely soak my underside.

As I was making this initial descent, I encountered two oncoming cars. The second driver decided that he was in too much of a hurry to wait 10 seconds for me to get by so he could pass the other car. So there I was freezing cold, doing 30mph on wet roads with a car coming straight at me. I got onto what little shoulder there was and flipped off the driver as he passed. Should've thrown a water bottle at him. It completely baffles me how normal people completely change behind the wheel. Some people have no respect for human life. They'll slow down for a deer, but not a cyclist. That's ridiculous.

The rest of the ride was fairly miserable. In fact, that might be the coldest I've ever been, definitely in the top 5. It's difficult to ride a bike when your on the verge of hypothermia. Stopping would be even worse, though. My muscles and tendons in my legs were tight. My gloves were soaked and my hands weren't getting good circulation. I had to hit the shifters with my palms because my fingers weren't strong enough. It took about 10 minutes in a hot shower before my fingers would extend all the way.

I love road riding, but I've only got one road to ride. I'm starting to think that drivers are too stupid for me to put my life in their hands. It's really only about 10% of drivers that worry me, but that's enough. I may try to employ more defensive cycling techniques, but I'm doubtful.