A Day of Cycling Extremes

March 3, 2025 - Ready for a wet, hilly 93 miles.  Think Norman.

Started out thinking we were geniuses because we waited to start at 8:30 to “avoid the rain” and our plan seemed to be working…for the first 5 minutes.  Then it started pouring during our first 1500 ft ascent straight up I-8 (yes, my first time riding a bike on an Interstate).  

Started To Rain on Day 2

But that was just the beginning of the fun as it started dropping near freezing and started snowing.  The DOT guy said, “It’s snowing up there, you really don’t want to go up.”  We had no ride available at the moment so in order to avoid freezing to death, we headed up to keep warm.  It was a real mess out there.  The road was snow/slush for several miles before getting bailed out, it was really dangerous, luckily no one got hurt.  A few guys were losing it, shivering uncontrollably, thank goodness the van came.  After what seemed like an hour, we finally got picked up and were able to stop shivering after 30 minutes or so.  We got out of the snow.  They took us down the mountain to 3000 ft and had a precarious descent down I-8 with winds whipping across. Lunch was a welcome respite at the Chevron where we could find some dry socks and regroup.  

Then, the reward came.  With 35 miles to go, we had a glorious tailwind for 20 miles. Strava told me I set my 40k PR of 54 minutes, it was mostly flat, serious wind straight at our backs, guessing 30ish MPH.  As we got closer to El Centro, we were welcomed with the farmland roads that have so many cracks, uneven pavement, and holes they will vibrate you until it finds new sounds on your bike.  

This will probably go down as the most memorable day of the trip with multiple new firsts.  First interstate highway, first riding in snowstorm, first 40k under an hour.  I hope the middle one will also be a last (unless I'm on a bike made for snow) and I fear the last one will not likely happen again.

Riding in Snowstorm

Steve waits as we ponder our next step before the real snow started.