Saturday, November 24, 2018

2018 SMR 44

Well after almost two weeks of being scared to take a deep breath, I was *really* looking forward to this morning's ride.  A couple days of rain cleared the smoke out of the air and it was glorious.  I dug out my rain jacket and neoprene booties last night and mentally prepared myself for a January kind of morning, but the rain stopped over night and the sun was coming up into a blue sky so it was just freaking perfect.

The roads were all still pretty wet so we just kind of slogged up at a slower than usual Summit Pace.  A lot of grit on the road too, which stuck to our tires and made for kind a noisy rolling.  I wiped off the tire once but the grit just came right back so I gave up.  Also, grit got on my water bottle nozzles so of course it got in my teeth and lips as well.

Wildlife Encounter:  a mangy coyote below Clavicle Cracker.

From Junction to Juniper, we went through a pretty dense cloud bank and the wind kind of picked up - but it was still some good bike riding and I was breathing deep and thankful for clean air and good health.  Above Juniper the fog started to thin out a little.  At Muir it looked like they maybe had a small brush fire sometime since my last ride.  Finally after Devil's Elbow, we popped up above the fog layer and had a clear approach to The Summit.

Not a lot of riders on The Mountain this morning - some of the ones I did see were wearing shorts.  Every one of them had a big smile on their face though.














Saturday, November 10, 2018

2018 SMR 43


Yes, there is a huge fire in Paradise and all of NorCal is choking with smoke.  But it's Saturday morning and there's bike riding to do.






Also... it's cold.



Sunrise through smoke


It looks like we're riding straight UP INTO HELL!  (actually not that bad)


It got a tiny bit better at altitude.


North Peak from the observation deck.  


My favorite perspective... 
No rain in the forecast... but I'd give up a SMR for some fire relief.

Saturday, November 03, 2018

2018 SMR 42

High wind.  Fire danger.  Bike danger.


Tall fast guy passes us fastly.

Dark today, light tomorrow.

Talk at Junction was about how windy it was.

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Yeah... I'm going home.