Headed up to Big Bear with Kebby and the dogs this weekend. This was the first time that I'd been up to Big Bear and was surprised at (1) the beauty of the place, (2) the altitude (over 7,000 feet) and (3) that it could snow in early October.
We checked into the cabin in the dark and could tell that the temparature was dropping. Not a huge deal since we had plenty of cold weather rides on the Silver Comet in Georgia. But...when I woke up in the morning to get everything ready, I literally stumbled on the stairs when I looked out the window. I stared dumbfounded at a blanket of white! First snow of the season...what luck! Especially since the forecast called for clear.
Since it was a fairly light dusting, we decided to head into town and explore. We'd ride later in the afternoon. First stop was Starbucks and then we headed over to the local bike shop to hang for a while. The shop (Big Bear Bikes) was the epitomy of a local shop. Kinda messy, bike parts everywhere and a couple of really laid back dudes working. I was wearing an Ironman hat and one of the guys asked me which races I'd done. It felt good to tell him that I did IMAZ in April and was signed up for CDA in June. He kidded me that triathletes have to pay double since they were generally faster than him. The best part though was that roadies had to pay triple (because of attitude...not speed). Seems that most of the bikers in the area rode the proverbial "fat tires".
After lunch, the snow had pretty much melted away and we saddled up for a ride. It wasn't a barn burner in terms of distance but the altitude, the wind and the 9 to 14% grade made me feel like I had at least done something. We ended up riding for just under an hour.
After knocking out a tail light on the jeep when I slid down the still iced over driveway, we headed back to Starbucks to watch the end of the Hawaii Ironman on the computer. Really cool that Chrissie Wellington and Craig Alexander won. I couldn't think of two better representatives for our sport.
We finally called it a night around 10:00 pm (wow...talk about partying) and headed back to the cabin.
Uneventful drive back to San Diego Sunday. Let's hope for a solid week of training this week.
We checked into the cabin in the dark and could tell that the temparature was dropping. Not a huge deal since we had plenty of cold weather rides on the Silver Comet in Georgia. But...when I woke up in the morning to get everything ready, I literally stumbled on the stairs when I looked out the window. I stared dumbfounded at a blanket of white! First snow of the season...what luck! Especially since the forecast called for clear.
Since it was a fairly light dusting, we decided to head into town and explore. We'd ride later in the afternoon. First stop was Starbucks and then we headed over to the local bike shop to hang for a while. The shop (Big Bear Bikes) was the epitomy of a local shop. Kinda messy, bike parts everywhere and a couple of really laid back dudes working. I was wearing an Ironman hat and one of the guys asked me which races I'd done. It felt good to tell him that I did IMAZ in April and was signed up for CDA in June. He kidded me that triathletes have to pay double since they were generally faster than him. The best part though was that roadies had to pay triple (because of attitude...not speed). Seems that most of the bikers in the area rode the proverbial "fat tires".
After lunch, the snow had pretty much melted away and we saddled up for a ride. It wasn't a barn burner in terms of distance but the altitude, the wind and the 9 to 14% grade made me feel like I had at least done something. We ended up riding for just under an hour.
After knocking out a tail light on the jeep when I slid down the still iced over driveway, we headed back to Starbucks to watch the end of the Hawaii Ironman on the computer. Really cool that Chrissie Wellington and Craig Alexander won. I couldn't think of two better representatives for our sport.
We finally called it a night around 10:00 pm (wow...talk about partying) and headed back to the cabin.
Uneventful drive back to San Diego Sunday. Let's hope for a solid week of training this week.
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