First ride while snowing
 

So today, I head up Lytle Creek up to the ranger station at 7 AM, taking full advantage of a break in the storm. Halfway up to the ranger station, the freezing rain started pelting me, and turned to actual snow by the time we passed the place that sells watermelons. Decided to stop at Ranger Station before I became an icicle.

Great ride, my 2nd fastest up to ranger station.

The downhill was freezing, and my bare knees were bright red from the cold when I got back home.

What is the worst weather you all have ridden in?

That had to be yesterday as well. Five hours, 4500 feet of climbing, two jerseys, and three pairs of socks (the last one went from dry to thoroughly soaked in about five miles, even though I tried to wrap plastic bags around the feet).

And now I'm the proud owner of the third-to-last place on Lake Wohlford Road climb on Strava. This I intend to correct when my bike is fully dry.

I commuted by bike year round in Minneapolis for 6 years. Suffice it to say that bikes will get you there faster when it's so cold nobody's car will start or there's 3 feet of snow and you can't drive through it. If the bike gets stuck in a drift you just lift it up...

Did you do that "Palomar Punishment" ride?

That's the one. Around 20 people showed up. Some of the fastest ones even made it to the top before the weather got too nasty. I got turned around by organizers at 3000 feet. I'm not sure what happened to everyone else, I took off about ten minutes ahead of schedule and I've only seen four or five people the entire day. I think that everyone behind me was sent directly from the taco shop back to Cole Grade.

My ride today was up there. I love the occasional challenge and uniqueness of a ride like that - they are the rides I end up remembering and enjoying the memory of for a long time after.

I was wondering how that went. As if Palomar isn't punishment enough I'm sure the rain/snow didn't help!

Mikey are you on Strava? I drove up to the top of Lytle Creek yesterday with our dogs, about 3-4" up there.

It actually wasn't that bad - at first. Some intermittent rain, high 40's to low 50's, little to no wind. I even saw the sun when I was passing through Pauma Valley. The worst of the storm didn't really hit until noon. One moment I'm riding along and it's nice and clear (though a bit gloomy), ten minutes later it's heavy rain, visibility under half a mile, and cross wind with gusts that try to throw me into the traffic. I was already done with the last big climb so I held out for half an hour or so of THAT and called my wife for a pick up.

It might sound unpleasant, but good gear helps a lot to cope with these conditions. That's my main lesson of the day. I had a rain hood that went under the helmet, it proved invaluable. Bike rain pants are all but impossible to find in San Diego, the only kind I saw anywhere was $120 Pearl Izumi pants. I went for REI microlight pants and leg warmers instead. That worked too (leg warmers may have been excessive). I got Bontrager Race Windshell gloves. I could swear that the hanger said "waterproof" but I can't find it anywhere now, and Google says that they are really only water-resistant. Sounds like a fine distinction, but, after 5 hours of intermittent rain, it gets very important. My mistakes were not triple-checking that my jacket was waterproof (it was not) and not getting shoe protection.

And when you're done, you get to appreciate "normal" riding weather so much more :)

yea I'm on Strava. You can find me #656/762 on GMR to 1st peak, or as I prefer #14/46 on Lytle Creek Base Climb (granted I was riding a 20mph tailwind that day)