You think THAT’S going to stop us?

One of those times bikes rule, cars drool
If I hear the term “atmospheric river” just one more time…

For once Kevin and I weren’t the only ones out on the road today! Nobody else showed up for our ride, but we did see three others on a morning that wasn’t as bad as forecast, but more menacing than many lately where cyclists had all stayed home and ridden on Zwift Island. Except us, of course.

Kings is holding up pretty darned well. I think most of the “easy” stuff has already come down. We noticed maybe one new small slide, nothing too big. I did stop and move a rock off the road again, this time within view of a passing motorist who rolled down the window to say thanks. Wonder if he’d seen the anti-bike stuff in the on-line Almanac a couple weeks ago, where I’d mentioned in my response that I stop and move rocks out of the car lane? Yes, I really do that.

Because overnight reports had 84 completely closed and a supposed blockage of Skyline just south of Swett Road, we did a shortened ride, heading south to Swett Road, hoping to see something gnarly, and then use Swett & Star Hill to get to Tunitas, and ride that back to Skyline. No evidence of any issues until, descending Star Hill towards Tunitas, we came across 5 or 6 cones placed across the road. You know, one of those “none shall pass” warnings. For reasons unknown Kevin actually asked if we should turn around. Umm… like why? It’s not as if there were signs the road was in immediate danger of sliding away, and if there was something ominous ahead, we could simply return the way we came. And of course, there’s a certain amount of excitement not knowing what lies ahead, and whether you could get around it.

The photo at the top tells the story. Nothing terribly exciting, just a mudslide right where Star Hill merges onto Tunitas. No biggee, just hike around the edge and we’re good. Fun watching the very-slow-motion mudslide though!

Heading back down Kings it was time to put on the rain jackets as our luck either ran out or came through for us, depending upon whether rain bothers you or not. We did have one horribly impatient car that thought we shouldn’t be in their way, flying past us with plenty of room but at way too high a speed for conditions. Kevin and I both had the same thought- we wouldn’t have minded seeing a demonstration that air bags actually do prevent serious injury. You can fill in the blanks.

It was heading down Kings that we saw three cyclists coming up (not together), one of whom was without long-sleeve anything or leg warmers. This is where I point out it was, at that time, 40 degrees and raining. Oh yeah, no lights either.

Overall another nice & easy ride in our local rain-soaked mountains. For the most part, our roads are holding up pretty well. And yeah, it was cool having someone in a car thank me for clearing the road of debris.






One thought on “You think THAT’S going to stop us?

  1. I am itching to get out and get a rain bike, but my “rain bike” is not my dedicated Zwift bike. Thanks for the update though, cool photo. This winter is nuts and I am going stir crazy

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