In October 2006, I met Thomson out in Granada Hills and rode San Francisquito Canyon and Bouquet Canyon. There I met Romeo, the world’s most loving horse and had a great day of it. Since then, Jim and I have become friend’s and I’ve ridden many times with him – always a pleasure to do so, might I add. So, when he mentioned riding out there again, I was game for sure. Today, we decided to head out at 8:00am. The weather forecast was great. No rain predicted until this evening and tomorrow morning. The sun was out, and although chilly, the day looked fabulous. Little did I know what I was headed out into!
We weren’t far on Balboa when we were passed (and I was immediately dropped) by the SFVBC A Team. Leading the pack was Keith Brodsky who got scolded by me for being out riding (although, it was great to see him and he was riding as strong as ever). I then saw Stan, Pete, Big John and Valleygirl among others. Fast group with big smiles, out on their club’s Saturday century. I hope they had a blast!
Jim, whom I just followed, took us on extra little loop-de-loop today, putting us smack in gorgeous (and very warm weather) in Valencia (also adding miles to our 65 mile day, not that I’m complaining). Other then a few gusty headwinds, we were feeling good. Upon heading up San Francisquito Canyon, right away we met some horses (that I tried without luck to pet), some llamas (who were…um…sharing a few public intimate moments) and a gorgeous ostrich. I was jumping on and off the bike, trying to spread the love until hunger got me focused on climbing up and out of SFC to Spunky Canyon, where I knew the food was. Jim and I had incredible burgers at the Spunky Canyon Market Café and met some very nice folks. I yakked away, and the next thing we knew an hour or so had passed.
We left the café full and happy, but suddenly shocked by how cold it had turned and dark in the canyon. It was as if it was a whole different day. As we headed out to Bouquet and up that canyon, we were feeling drops of what at first seemed like rain. But no…it was snow! As we continued our climb, the snow got thicker and thicker. I have to admit, it was very cool and I snapped a shot of it. Little did I know how cold I would become and, as the snow increased and we started to descend that canyon road, the snow became sleet. The winding road, with many curves was now slick and frightening (for me, anyway). I was petrified and frozen. I didn’t carry long fingered gloves with me today and I thought my fingers were going to fall off. Jim, always such a sweetheart, had to not only put up with my slow climbing (compared to him for sure!), but now I was descending this canyon at a crawl, riding the breaks, petrified I’d slide out! The road was covered with a white, watery slush that I’ve never experienced riding in before.
Finally, we got down, and pulled through the canyon back to civilization and warmth! I was thrilled and laughing, thinking that we were free and clear. Sigh…nope. As we headed back into Valencia, the first round of hail hit, hard! Those little pellets hurt. We sucked it up and kept going as we had less than 20 miles back to the cars. But the hail changed again! Sleet and rain was now pouring on us. I was soaked all the way to the bone and shivering like crazy. It was getting colder by the minute. I asked Jim if we could pull over just for a moment. I was annoyed and threw a small temper tantrum. Jim just smiled and reminded me that we had so little left to go, now less than five miles. Hardest five miles of the day!
As we turned off on a side road up to Balboa, Jim realized he had a flat (second one of the day as there was lots of debris on the road). Just as he dismounted, the real deluge shower hit. Huge hail, sleet and pouring rain (I mean, POURING) was upon us and the street turned into a small pond within minutes. Jim tried to change the tire as quickly as possible (and he did quite well!), but the rain was unrelenting and both of us were shivering with cold. After pumping his tire, he realized something was wrong as it wouldn’t fill with air. He couldn’t ride, we were about three miles from the cars, no shelter, people passing us screaming obscenities (oh, so helpful
), freezing and in a now torrential downpour with hail. Jim suggested that we get walking – good thing too, because then it started thundering and lightning! Oh, good God – could it get any worse?!!! I wanted to stop at that point and just call someone to get us or a cab or something, but it was raining so hard and truthfully, I was too scared to think. I realized I had to HTFU (in a big way), get on my bike and ride to the car so that I could go get Jim. He didn’t want me to do it (so chivalrous), but one of us had to and he couldn’t ride on a flat tire. So, shivering uncontrollably, I got on my bike and made my way to the car. It was the longest, most miserable 2.5 miles I’ve ever ridden! But I made it, retrieved Jim and we warmed up with huge hot cocoas and laughed about it.
Phew! I had NO idea that I would be hit with the weather we were hit with today and NO warning of it. Ugh! But all in all, I had wonderful, calm and funny company (Jim really does know how to find the humor in everything) and quite an adventure. I could have done without the last hour of the ride for sure, but I’m not regretting the day one bit!
Thanks, Jim, for your extreme weather boot camp!
I now can say that I’ve ridden in every season possible!
The sunny, lovely day that we headed off into...
The first lovely horse we encountered on SFC...
...who wanted nothing to do with me
Jim waits patiently...
...as I eye and attempt to pet these two beauties...
