I have to say -- I survived the Solvang half century and it wasn't so bad. We started out in overcast conditions. Unfortunately, about 12 miles in to the ride, the rain started. It quickly turned to sleet and then into hail. The hail stones were about the size of peas and hurt quite a bit. I actually had to stop, get off the bike, and stand with my back to the hail (it was coming down a bit sideways right into my face while I was riding) and wait it out. After that, it was just on and off rain and bits of sun. My bike is totally covered in mud (even the saddle) and I'm about ready to take my cycling clothes out of the plastic bag I put them in to have a look.

I stayed pretty comfortable, except when my shoes, toe warmers, and tights were soaked through. Then I was probably colder than I've ever been in my life. Luckily, those disposable hand warmers did their thing and warmed me back up (one between the each of the toe covers and shoes, and one down each thigh in my tights). On top I had a simple capilene long sleeved undershirt, a long sleeved jersey made out of regular thin jersey material and one of those plastic non-breathable cycling rain jackets with vents in the arm pits. On my head I wore some thin ear warmers (kind of like a headband), a cycling cap, and then my helmet. The top half of me was really happy all day.

I'm very glad I just did the 50 miles (many of the century riders did this as well). There was snow not too much higher up from our course and the word at the start was that there was a flipped over car in the snow on the pass that the 100 milers had to cross.

Lessons learned:

1. hail hurts
2. those non breathable cheap plastic coats do just great if it's cold enough out
3. disposable hand warmers can be really helpful
4. I don't drink nearly as much when it's cold out
5. Keep moving -- going slow or stopping gets you shivering very quickly
6. Hot showers are the best thing ever invented
7. Hail hurts

Ride time (for 50 miles): 2 hrs, 53 min (including the stop for hail and helping some guy who had no clue how to fix a flat)

Susie