The plan for today...park in sunny pine valley (temperature 55 degrees) and climb mount laguna. Turn around...descend. Get in car. Come home.
Sounds simple. When we were leaving the car, I debated as to whether or not I should wear my wind breaker. Since I had long sleeves on, I elected not to add another layer. Besides, once you start climbing you heat up. We started the climb and after about four miles, I thought I had made a good decision on the jacket. At mile five, I started seeing the snow! At mile six, I saw the people on sleighs!!! By mile ten...a full winter wonderland. By then, it was too late. What goes up must come down.
I was riding with Brit and Steph and at the top of the mountain we all knew that the descent was going to be a big problem. We just didn't know how big of a problem. I suspect that the wind chill on the way down must have been about five degrees. Maybe zero! We started down and after about a mile, I had the full body shakes and had to pull over. The cold was terrible but the real problem was handling the bike when I was shaking so badly. We had to go a mile or two and pull over to recover all the way down. A little of half way, it started sleeting! Are you serious???
Eventually we made it to the car and called it a day. Next time let's try the desert!
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