Bailed on Ride to Avon

cycling, snow, ultra cycling | UltraRob | Friday, April 28th, 2006 at 11:29 am

I got up early this morning to get ready to ride to Avon. Taking some back roads it is just over a 190 miles over 4 passes. It was very cloudy but dry. I checked radar and forecasts for points along the way. It actually looked like the worst was going to be on the front range. Radar showed precipitation to the south but nothing to the west. It looked like it could be upslope conditions.

I decided to go ahead and take my chances and rolled out the door just after 5:00. I thought maybe I’d get lucky and climb above the clouds by Woodland Park but instead I was riding in snow. I continued on to Divide about 30 miles and 3,000 feet higher than my house and it was still snowing. The road was warm enough that the snow was melting but the spray was freezing on my bike. Parts of my bike had about 1/4 inch of ice on it. Beyond there I’d be in an area where there’s hardly anywhere to stop and even cell coverage is spotty because of taking country roads instead of staying on US 24. I called Julie and told her I’d start back and she’d come to pick me up. Since I had been climbing for 2 hours, I was nice and warm. Once I started back downhill, it didn’t take me long to realize I’d be hypothermic before long and decided to hang out in the convenience store in Divide. When we got home it was still dry.

I checked the radar when I got home and it looked like I would have gotten out of the worst of it after a few hours but I don’t know if I would have been functioning by then. At 11 AM it was 52 degrees in Avon. The forecast looks good there tomorrow but not here. We’re meeting my aunt and uncle there tonight so we’ll go ahead and go. I should be able to get in a good ride there tomorrow and then it looks like the weather shouldn’t be too bad for me to ride home on Sunday.

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