Okay, so we San Diego folk are self-admitted “weather weenies”, particularly us coastal types. You get us out of our typical weather of 65-75 and sunny for more than a few days we start whining like a jet turbine. There was a lot of noise happening this week.
Wednesday, I met Steve for an after work MTB stoke at Anderson Truck Trail. I knew it was going to be warm as this was our first really hot day of the year. I was ready with extra fluids and electrolytes. When I pulled into the trailhead the temp gauge in my truck read 100 degrees. My first thought was that can not be right. Within seconds of stepping out of the truck, I knew my truck was not lying to me. Really rough but manageable was my overall assessment for the upcoming ride. As I’m pulling out all my gear, I realized I had left my cycling short, shirt and socks at home. I normally keep an emergency stash of cycling clothes stashed for just such an occasion. Opening up the under seat compartment revealed that I had not resupplied my stash after the last time I forgot my digs. Crap, I was in my work clothes which would not do at all and my after ride clothes consisted of a heavy black cotton Tee-shirt and a thick pair of cotton shorts. I did find a dirty cycling socks that I missed taking out of truck after the last ride so they were called back into service. The cotton shorts and T-shirt would be the apparel for the day.
This was the only smile Aqua would make on this climb.
It was readily apparent that these clothes were not going to help me out much at all. These was zero cooling happening with this outfit and it was blistering already. The heat of this climb makes you suffer pretty good on its own but the my stifling apparel took it to a whole new level. I thought about just not wearing a shirt at all, but even high SPF sunblock would not be able to help my glowing white-boy torso out whatsoever. I would have been fried in no time so the shirt stayed on. I have to take lots of breaks and had to spin in the granny ring for the overwhelming majority of the climb. Even with lots of breaks, by the time I reached the top I could feel I was close to some heat stress coming on. Amazing what the right apparel can do for you – More importantly what the wrong apparel can do to you as well.
After cooling down as much as to be expected I felt better and we set off on the descent. Steve was doing just fine, but I soon realized that I was off-game. My reaction time was off just a little bit and on this terrain that can cause problems. I made a point to stay well within my normal limits.
Brian soon joined us, he started later in the day, so he did not get as cooked as we did, but it was still freaking hot. By the time we finished up the ride, it had cooled off to a “balmy” 90 degrees which felt pretty descent after what we had already suffered through. I was pretty much a wreck and completely drained.
The following day was the San Diego Mountain Biking Associations annual Beer and Burrito ride. I was still feeling a pretty beat from the heat the day before, but I had volunteered to help with pictures so I could not back out. This was a work for your supper event where you do a ride and then got to kick back with a tasty burrito from Chipotle and some tasty brews from Lagunitas.
Over the course of the day leading up to the event the temps start to drop and a monsoon storm started to peculate. It was cloudy with ominous rumblings in the sky in the distance. This event was capped at 70 RSVPs and it looked like everyone of them made it out. There were lots of new faces and lots of folks I had not seen in a really long time. It was good times before we even started rolling.
At a regroup spot
In the middle of the ride, we actually got rained for awhile. It nice to get the trail patted down right in front of us. The rain did not last long but it was certainly enough to register as “rain” for San Diego.
Before long we had all did enough to qualify for dinner and the with rain gone, it was time for some kicking back and socializing for a couple of hours. It was a mighty fine event. A good chunk of the photos from the event are on SDMBA’s facebook page.
Friday and Saturday were back to the summer toastiness, so Mark and I planned on beating the heat with a crack of dawn ride and the San Clemente Singletracks (aka weekpatch). Sunrise was at 5:52 so we met at 5:45 and were rolling at 6:00AM. The morning temps were cool and the marine layer held off the sun long enough that it was just starting to think about punching through as we finished up the ride.
It felt pretty wierd being done with my ride so early in the day. I’ll finish of the weekend with a little bit of honey-dos and a lot of lounging (in the shade).