After a night of epic insomnia I was feeling puny - we rolled out into (literally) freezing temps with the UW guys who were drilling it from the gun. When I realized what was going on I rolled off the back, content to head over to Cherohala Skyway and up the 10+mi climb to the top by myself. I wasn't feeling the love and it was probably better for me to be alone anyway.
Not too much later I picked up Kristin and Jessi - they'd seen the writing on the wall and knew it was best to take things down a notch and do our own ride. We headed into Robbinsville with a bitter cross/head wind to go along with the cold temps. Had the sun not been shining things would've been just like home!!
We covered a significant amount (10+mi) of rolling terrain before starting the sustained climb up the Cherohala Skyway. Somewhere around 3500ft all the trees began to display a sparkling coat of frost. The wind was vicious around some of the switchbacks and the temps were definitely below freezing. I'd been experiencing some problems with regulating my body temp and was alternately too warm then too cold - just not comfortable. I wasn't able to feel my hands or feet but for the burning sensation of frozen-ness. I looked down at my top tube and noticed something frozen on it then realized it was my own snot and spit. Nasty.
I had a lot of interesting conversations with myself (and the lizard) on that climb and had a good amount of time to think about lots of stuff. Though I did suffer a bit on the way, I certainly paused to look around at the amazing Smoky Mountain landscape that surrounded me. We didn't stay long at the summit - it was really cold up there at approximately 5600ft (give or take 1000ft). I put on another baselayer and headed back down the mountainside. The descent got a little tricky a couple of times with gravel and surface changes but I didn't need to touch the brakes much - the wind made things difficult and I was only able to get up to 46mph for any length of time. At one point we were chased by a dog which made things interesting for a brief moment.
By the time we reached the ranger station just outside Robbinsville I'd been on the bike for about 4.5hr. I'd had quite enough at that point so I put my bike in the ISCorp car and got a ride back to the cabin. We still have 2 more days of riding and I really didn't want to be totally smoked for it.
While I didn't feel super today, it wasn't an entirely bad day on the bike. I've decided that I might dislike climbing as much as I dislike cooking. Dunno - that's a close call. In a sense they're both necessary evils and really - doing stuff that pushes you to explore the limits of your comfort zone is a good thing, right?
Not too much later I picked up Kristin and Jessi - they'd seen the writing on the wall and knew it was best to take things down a notch and do our own ride. We headed into Robbinsville with a bitter cross/head wind to go along with the cold temps. Had the sun not been shining things would've been just like home!!
We covered a significant amount (10+mi) of rolling terrain before starting the sustained climb up the Cherohala Skyway. Somewhere around 3500ft all the trees began to display a sparkling coat of frost. The wind was vicious around some of the switchbacks and the temps were definitely below freezing. I'd been experiencing some problems with regulating my body temp and was alternately too warm then too cold - just not comfortable. I wasn't able to feel my hands or feet but for the burning sensation of frozen-ness. I looked down at my top tube and noticed something frozen on it then realized it was my own snot and spit. Nasty.
I had a lot of interesting conversations with myself (and the lizard) on that climb and had a good amount of time to think about lots of stuff. Though I did suffer a bit on the way, I certainly paused to look around at the amazing Smoky Mountain landscape that surrounded me. We didn't stay long at the summit - it was really cold up there at approximately 5600ft (give or take 1000ft). I put on another baselayer and headed back down the mountainside. The descent got a little tricky a couple of times with gravel and surface changes but I didn't need to touch the brakes much - the wind made things difficult and I was only able to get up to 46mph for any length of time. At one point we were chased by a dog which made things interesting for a brief moment.
By the time we reached the ranger station just outside Robbinsville I'd been on the bike for about 4.5hr. I'd had quite enough at that point so I put my bike in the ISCorp car and got a ride back to the cabin. We still have 2 more days of riding and I really didn't want to be totally smoked for it.
While I didn't feel super today, it wasn't an entirely bad day on the bike. I've decided that I might dislike climbing as much as I dislike cooking. Dunno - that's a close call. In a sense they're both necessary evils and really - doing stuff that pushes you to explore the limits of your comfort zone is a good thing, right?
