Hell Week Day 8 – Rain

cycling, Hell Week, ultra cycling | UltraRob | Sunday, March 19th, 2006 at 11:37 am

After the 300k it was fairly late when I got to bed by the time I rode to the campground, showered, and went to town to get something to eat. I set my alarm for 7 Saturday morning so I could get up and ride in for the A ride. Soon after 6 I woke up to hear rain on the tent. It shouldn’t have been any big deal but the tent is old. I know my brother and I used it on an expedition in Alaska in 1989 but don’t remember how long we’d had it. Soon after the rain started, I felt water dripping on me. The fly needs to be recoated but it has a few patches. The zipper on the door keeps giving me problems and it was replaced several years ago. There’s a rip in the door that is patched with duct tape and the floor is ripped from my pack getting thrown around in a violent wind storm in the Grand Canyon. It may be time to retire the poor thing.

I got up and really couldn’t get motivated to ride in the rain. I checked the weather radar and it showed rain scattered around the area. I drove in to town and was at the hotel when the A ride should have started. By then it was just a light drizzle. A few riders trickled out in ones and twos. If I had ridden, I would probably been by myself. I already had in 872 miles for the week so I didn’t feel any big need to ride. It takes a lot of training for RAAM but over doing it can can be a set back. I decided getting cold and wet could push me over the edge. It turned out that it dried out and drizzled off and on a bit like during the 300k so it wouldn’t have been a bad day to ride.

I was able to change my flight home from Sunday to Saturday evening. After doing very little all day, I realized just how tied I really was. There were 2 very happy little girls to see me when I got in at the airport in Colorado Springs. Julie was also very happy for me to be home. This week is the longest we’ve been apart since we got married. This morning the girls spent most of the morning climbing all over me and showing me things.

Update: Texas Hell Week photos and posts for each day.

Salomon X Alp Mid LTR GTX Hiking Boots