Supply run

Saturday.

The weather was threatening, but as it never rains here, and it was predicted only to be a 40% chance of scattered showers so I offered to go get dog meds and also some small bike parts down in the Flatlands. I could've driven or taken the bus but I'm on a crash course for the Growler race so I decided to make a big ride of it. I changed backpacks at the last minute because the Ergon is squeaking at the shoulder strap joint which has been quite annoying. So back to the good ole Deuter for now.

I left late, around 11:30am, and as soon as me and the Hunter were 5 minutes from the ranch, the sprinkles started. No worries, 'that's kinda nice!' i thought to myself...reminded me of riding in the winter in Marin. Of course, the more eastward I rode, the heavier it got and the colder I got. By the time I got to the 3K drop into town I was pretty much soaked. The raingear bottoms have lost their DWR, my shell gloves had also lost their Nikwax, and i left my booties in my other pack - so the 45ish degrees didn't feel so great in wet wool. My feet and hands froze immediately. No worries, I thought to myself, I'll go to the bike shop and get my parts and also perhaps a dry set of socks for the ride back up! I could also go to a Laundromat and use a dryer for a few minutes.

I get to the shop and rummage thru my pack and realize I forgot my wallet in the other pack, as well as my camera (hence, no pics), which means I can't buy socks or my bike parts. It also means I can't take the bus up to Ned since I don't have any my bus pass or any cash. The cash that was stashed in my pack was also transferred to my waterproof winter pack months ago and I of course didn't remember that. I was basically screwed. So I went to pick up dog meds and headed to Vics to warm up before the ride home. At least it had stopped raining but I was drenched and was not drying out.

As I was riding from east back towards the foothills, I thought about the several friends houses I was passing where I could go knock on their doors and borrow some clothes for the ride back up. There's my cousin's house...there's J&H's house, down a few blocks is B&M's house, SpeedRacer's right there...!....NAH, i concluded, I made my bed and now I gotta sleep in it, or maybe more fitting - I jumped into some wet wool and now I need to sleep outside while the winds suck out every bit of warmth from me. Although my hands had warmed up and I had a 2nd set of gloves, I run out my socks and insoles but my feet were not warming up...they felt like dead bricks of flesh on the ends of my ankles. 'They'll warm up as I ride the 3K back home' i thought to myself.

Or not. About 1k higher on Flag, they were still solid ice, so I stopped and took the shoes off to hand warm them and put in some toe warmers I found in the bottom of my back from a couple winters ago. Let me just say, they did absolutely nothing to help and just made my shoes more uncomfortable on each pedal stroke. 'What does not kill you makes you stronger' and such thoughts went through my head. But really, I'm just an idiot - that also went through my head.

Cresting past the Reservoir about 3/4 the elevation gain home, the sun started to break through the clouds...it was warming up! Now 4 hours into my ride I was over the hump and ready to hit the 4x4 climb over Rhino Peak pass. My feet never did warm up, even though I was sweating everywhere else. I tried running beside my bike for awhile, shaking my feet beside my bike while coasting downhill, all with no luck.

In the shower at home, it took them 15 minutes to stop tingling and get past the pain of the big warm up. How, in mid-April, can I get my feet colder than they've ever been? And why? Because I was unprepared. I carry a big pack with too much stuff (claim many of my Pilot brethren) and THIS is why! I go light (enough), and bring what I need or may need. But changing packs right before the ride? That's just silly, boneheaded, like over-tightening a seat post bolt 5 minutes before a race and having it snap. Oops, no spare. So, maybe I should've stopped at a friends house, or hitched a ride home, or bartered with the guys at the bike shop for some socks, or SOMETHING instead of just riding past all that. But that's just me. No, it's not because I'm a recluse, shy, self-pity or deprecating, or don't want to put people out (although there are bits of truth in those). It's just how I'm wired - I gotta follow through and finish what I started. But I wasn't always this stubborn.

While racing MTB's years ago, the races I did not finish because of technicals or 'physicals' were some of the worst days of my life. I simply gave up in the end, because I wasn't going to get a good result, and when presented with an excuse, sometimes I'd take it. But over the years, I've realized that there are not many reasons to stop. Even if your frame breaks - shoulder it and finish the freaking race! So now, jaded and much older, I just keep going like it really matters, because to me, it does, it makes it that much more valuable of an experience. And it was just a simple supply run.