When you're stuck in the office, or many times at home, you don't think much about the weather. But when you're on a bike trip, you live (and die) by the weather. Today, we pretty much had it all: from a pleasant, cool morning, to a warm, then almost hot climb up to Robinson summit, west of Ely, NV on highway 50. You'd figure that a cyclist always hopes for a tailwind, but going up to the 7600' summit, having a tailwind substantially reduced the cooling effect of the air, which made it almost uncomfortably hot, even though the air was cool. The next pass, 7438' high Little Antelope summit, was "interesting" as Minnesotans like to say. Just as we pulled away from the neat rock hut at the start of the climb, where Dana had stopped to replenish our empty water bottles, it started to rain. On went the parka's and up the grade we went. It actually felt really nice, having a light sprinkle to cool us as we ground our way up the final steep grade to the top. Once there, we pulled out all the lunch fixings amidst the lightening and thunder and hail, with the rain finally stopping to let us munch our sandwiches. Usually the down side of passes in the Rockies is glorious on a tandem, as we just pull out all the stops and fly down the hills at 45 - 50mph, but the rain had chilled us, and with the macadam covered with water, we weren't doing anything but riding the brakes all the way down. To make matters worse, a 20mph crosswind kept whipping us sideways as we struggled around the sharp curves and twists of the steep descent. At the bottom, the crosswind switched to a moderate headwind as we struggled across the endless lake-bottom of a valley before the next climb up to pancake summit. Then just as we turned north to pedal up the last grade to Pinto Pass, the wind died to nothing and the hoped-for tailwind disappeared.
So all of this is interesting and sort of symbolic of our relationship. Today is our 32nd anniversary and today's weather made me reflect on our many years of being together, of the fun adventures we'd accomplished, of the good times and the bad, and of how our love has deepened as we've grown older. So, all I can think of is no matter what the weather brings, I'm gonna keep on riding!
When you're stuck in the office, or many times at home, you don't think much about the weather. But when you're on a bike trip, you live (and die) by the weather. Today, we pretty much had it all: from a pleasant, cool morning, to a warm, then almost hot climb up to Robinson summit, west of Ely, NV on highway 50. You'd figure that a cyclist always hopes for a tailwind, but going up to the 7600' summit, having a tailwind substantially reduced the cooling effect of the air, which made it almost uncomfortably hot, even though the air was cool. The next pass, 7438' high Little Antelope summit, was "interesting" as Minnesotans like to say. Just as we pulled away from the neat rock hut at the start of the climb, where Dana had stopped to replenish our empty water bottles, it started to rain. On went the parka's and up the grade we went. It actually felt really nice, having a light sprinkle to cool us as we ground our way up the final steep grade to the top. Once there, we pulled out all the lunch fixings amidst the lightening and thunder and hail, with the rain finally stopping to let us munch our sandwiches. Usually the down side of passes in the Rockies is glorious on a tandem, as we just pull out all the stops and fly down the hills at 45 - 50mph, but the rain had chilled us, and with the macadam covered with water, we weren't doing anything but riding the brakes all the way down. To make matters worse, a 20mph crosswind kept whipping us sideways as we struggled around the sharp curves and twists of the steep descent. At the bottom, the crosswind switched to a moderate headwind as we struggled across the endless lake-bottom of a valley before the next climb up to pancake summit. Then just as we turned north to pedal up the last grade to Pinto Pass, the wind died to nothing and the hoped-for tailwind disappeared. 
So all of this is interesting and sort of symbolic of our relationship. Today is our 32nd anniversary and today's weather made me reflect on our many years of being together, of the fun adventures we'd accomplished, of the good times and the bad, and of how our love has deepened as we've grown older. So, all I can think of is no matter what the weather brings, I'm gonna keep on riding!
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