Hello all and thanks for the many suggestions.

The grim weather prediction was right- in fact it continued to get worse until the day of the event. We had rain and quite cool temps (49-51) for almost the entire day. I had riding companions for about half the way but one abandoned less than 30 miles in (was not dressed well) and I got separated from the others later on. It took me much longer than I had planned: 9 hours, 52 min. Part of it was the weather, part of it was the detour I had to take (see below) and part of it was having to stop more times than planned.

I managed to organize the layers pretty well and stayed warm enough but not dry through the first 35 miles or so. Shorts and jersey, arm warmers, merino wool sweater, knee warmers work-out tights over the shorts and knee warmers and of course the brand new raincoat. I also had on a wool beanie and a baseball type cap under my helmet, Cyclone gloves with waterproof latex gloves underneath, plastic bags over my gloves and a plastic shower cap over my helmet. By the first big descent around mile 35, the rain got a little heavier and then we had several big puddles to pass through where washes crossed the route. The hands and feet were totally wet by then but not as cold as I thought they would be.

The route normally has two dry wash crossings where you pretty much have to get off of your bike and walk. They had to skip the first one because the rain had seriously filled the Santa Cruz River bed and we stayed on paved roads. In my opinion, they should have gone with the alternate route for the 2nd one, which was at risk for flash-flooding from the mountains. One reason they didn't change it earlier is the the event director lives right next to that creek crossing and he likes having the cyclists come by his house. However, they didn't switch to the alternate route. That is, until I got there. I was the first person they would not allow to cross the creek, which was running about 8-10 inches deep and about 15-20 feet across. So after about 10 minutes of standing around, all of the cyclists there realized they would not be allowed to cross and we had to take an unmarked detour to get back on the official route. This added more walking back to the road plus 7 extra miles

The detour started around mile 48 or so. I was doing generally okay, although I lost one of my buddies at the crossing and the other about 10 miles later. By about mile 60 or so, the temperature was below 50 again and the rain was getting harder. I hit my low point and considered abandoning but kept thinking about all of the folks who had donated to the charity, a group called Tu Nidito that supports kids going through grief from death or illness in the family. In particular, I kept thinking about the girl I was "riding for", who is one of my students this year. She lost her father to cancer 2 years ago, and has had more than her share of difficulties due to her own medical issues. I thought- I can make it through one day for her.

Fortunately, my team had a SAG stop where my dry clothes were. I made it to the car, and then started getting cramps as I tried to change to dry socks, gloves, etc. They mixed me electrolyte drinks (I hadn't been drinking enough) and got me warm in the car with the heater and just gave me a lot of TLC. 22 miles to go - and into a headwind. A nice guy I met on that section pulled me the last 16 miles and probably kept my speed 2 mph faster than it would have been.

The sun was out the last hour and a half
It was really a challenge and I would rather not ride in those conditions again but I am really proud I met the challenge.

Very sad end to the day though as one of the folks who was at the start with me (had not met him before) was struck by an elderly driver who did not obey the traffic cones on the last southbound section (freeway frontage road) and was killed. A friend of a friend, who also started at the beginning with me, was right behind him when it happened. So tragic....