what a day (monday 110926)

so like i said, it started raining when i tried to cook dinner. and it continued raining for the next 24 hours. as i climbed towards washington pass, i became colder and colder as i was drenched, the temperature was dropping (to a low of 32 degrees, thus the snow), and i had a wind not only pushing into me, but also cooling me down to the point i could no longer feel below my knees and elbows. i finally pulled off into some trees to get out of the wind and put on my thermal undershirt followed by a garbage bag, my cycling shirt, cycling jacket, and then rain jacket. i put the shower cap i normally use to protect my saddle at night on to block the wind on my head. i also put garbage bags over my hands too. then i ate the rest of the bag of granola that i'd started for breakfast. this all seemed to help as i started to feel my hands again. i could no longer feel my feet and had no bags for them.

after i started to descend washington pass, the misery continued in the form of hail and the speed of the wind as i descended at 35 mph. luckily there was very little traffic as i hogged the lane in spite of a healthy shoulder which was covered in snow and slush. other than the elements abusing me, the sad part was i could not enjoy the beauty i knew the backside of this pass held -- that usually made paid me back for all the climbing i'd done in colorado.

as i descended the temperature started to climb. at 37 degrees F, i could start feeling my knees again. it wasn't until 40 deg F that i got back all my feeling except that my feet actually felt cold now. i'll take it! cold was a feeling and i was glad to get it.

as i approached winthrop the temperature climbed to 47 deg F. to be honest, i was worried i was going to make it before i put on all the plastic. funny how when you get to a low point like that that what would've seemed like bad weather before now felt like the best weather ever.

when i arrived in winthrop i was thoroughly spent so i got a hotel and cranked up the heater to dry everything off while i went off to an excellent dinner.

the whole town had this old west look and feel: