We bailed. And, are still kicking ourselves for doing it. We ended up with a nice 50-mile ride, just not the one we planned!
I'll start by blaming the whole thing on the Weather Channel. All night Saturday and still on Sunday morning, they were predicting the weather getting worse and worse on Sunday. 8:00 showers, 11:00 strong thunderstorms, 3:00 Strong storms with damaging high winds, 5:00 severe weather alert.
When we got to the top of Neels, the sky just opened up and we thought that it was just going to get worse. Ken, my BF had gotten ahead of me on the climb up Neels, and I couldn't find him right away at the top. By the time I did, I figured I should use the potty too. (I know - NEVER stop at the first rest stop, but I had to find the guy, right?)
We tried to wait it out for a bit, huddled under a little overhang in the parking lot, getting wetter, colder and colder the longer we waited. I could feel Ken shivering next to me. That's when a face that looked vaguely familiar huddled up next to us. Yup - I recognized Nanci from her avatar picture - how bizarre is that? Since we thought it was just going to keep getting worse than this, and this was pretty miserable, we knew that we weren't going to do all six. It just didn't seem like a smart decision at that point. We were both really dreading descending in the rain, being as cold as we were. I was having real problems seeing too - glasses kept fogging up, so I would take them off, but still couldn't see because of the rain hitting my eyes. Arghhh. At one point, I was wearing them, fully aware that I couldn't see, and I realized just how stupid and dangerous this was turning out to be.
Ken asked if it would be quicker to just turn around and go back the way we came. I knew it was 25 miles back either way, but we would only have one descent if we turned around, and three if we proceeded to 3-Gap. In a classic case of a couple trying to figure out what the other really wants to do, we ended up turning around. (I thought Ken was leaning that way, he thought I was, and both of us really wanted to do all three, but was trying to do what the other wanted...)
The descent down Neels was awful, because we were both so chilled (waited WAY too long on top of Neels figuring out weather, looking at maps, discussing what was safe and smart) and at one point we both had to slow down because we couldn't control the bikes because we were shivering so much. However, the temperature was warming up as we were descending, which helped. More than a few other folks had done the same thing as we did. Towards the bottom, the rain started to let up. And, we instantly regretted not continuing on. We STILL regret not continuing on.
Two things kept coming into our heads. Although we tend to always to do more difficult things - take the longer trail,hike the harder route, add more miles to our rides, etc., our choices are still always safe, and smart. Sitting in a downpour with a forecast of it just getting worse, we made what we thought at the time was the smartest and safest choice. Do we regret that? Heck yeah! The other thought was something we had talked about the night before while looking at the forecast. Ken had said that if I got hurt because we pushed on against our common sense, he would never forgive himself, and I felt the same way. I think if we were riding alone, things might have been different. Actually, I know it would have been. We were both worried too much about each other. Ain't love grand?
I had really trained for this, desperate to beat my awful time from last year (massive bonk and about 30 minutes of waiting for water at two of the rest stops...), and I'm so bummed that we didn't even do three, let alone six. No one is proud of doing the 1-Gap 50! But, a bunch of us are planning on a re-do, make-good, do-over redemption ride on October 8th, starting at the rock pile and doing all six gaps. Anyone is more than welcome to join us. Rain date is tentatively the 14th.
Skibum - I'm still beating myself up for wussing out. I'm going to take your boyfriend's comment to heart. I can do this ride any time - and I will!
This was the funniest thing I've heard on a ride. Picture 2,000 cyclists lined up for a mass start on a slight downhill. We're lined up way back in the pack. Over the loudspeaker, we hear them start us, knowing it's going to be a good 10 minutes until we even think about moving. A friend of mine shouts out, "On yer left!!!!!!!" Cracked up the whole crowd.
