Steve Tilford

I know, I know. Just a few days ago I wrote a post about not worrying about being behind the curve and that it was only February and the season is plenty long enough. But, Winter has seemed to be dragging on just about everywhere. I even looked at the weather in Austin Texas this morning and it was in the 30’s and raining.

We did the drive back from Denver to Topeka yesterday after going for a ride. The roads along the foothills in Denver were pretty mucky. Sloppy and wet low, snowy and slick higher. Vincent and I, for some reason unknown to either of us, decided to ride up Lookout Mtn. once again.

Starting up Lookout, it was obvious that it was going to be challenging. Challenging going up, but more challenging coming back down. The road was borderline non-road bikeable on the way up. There were sections that the whole road was snow covered and we were both questioning the decision to climb the hill, but, neither of us blinked.

We had to pull off to the side a couple times for the snow plows coming by. We probably should have ridden our MTB bikes, but we didn’t. We got to the top okay. Vincent wasn’t having a great day and I was happy riding whatever pace he wanted to go. I was just content with riding outside on such a challenging day.

We got to the top alright, but were a little dreading come back down. There were a few sections of solid snowpack where you were going to have to just let it run and not touch the brakes at all. As it turned out, it was better than either of us thought. I think the road cleared some as we climbed. It wasn’t nearly as treacherous as the climbing was and we got down unscathed.

Bromont got a lot better yesterday. He likes the hum of the diesel van, buts still pretty much slept in Trudi’s lap the whole way back. He’s eaten twice and seems not to be in any pain. He has 4 big incisions, but hasn’t really tried to lick them at all. I’m not sure what that is all about. Normally, he licks stitches until he gets them out.

Today it is supposed to be 50 degrees after noon. Brian is taking the afternoon off and Bill and I are meeting up with him to do a long gravel ride. I’m a bit worried it is going to be messy. There are piles of snow by the driveways, so wherever the roads don’t get direct sun, I assume there will be ice and snow.

This might be the first time I’ve ridden with Brian this year. Weird. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 19 degrees, with rain turning to snow later tonight. Guess it is just that time of the year.

Vincent heading up Lookout yesterday. It is Vincent’s birthday today. Happy Birthday Vincent!

Lots of snow at the top.

Mucky and icy.

Bromont had the full back seat, but came up to the front and did his lap dog thing instantly. We got him a long sleeve t-shirt at a thrift store in Fort Collins to stop him from licking.

This is Bromont’s shirt. Funny it was at the thrift shop and the perfect size.

You think in this day and age that the weather forecast would be way closer to correct than it is currently. I often can’t believe how off the weather forecast is. That was close to the case yesterday.

I was sort of beat from driving all day on Tuesday, but Brian was going to take the afternoon off and it was forecast to be in the mid 50’s. Then it was/is supposed to be pretty horrible weather the next 10 days. At least horrible for riding outside. Right now it is 7 degrees and the windchill is -8.

Anyway, Bill, Kris, Trudi and I headed east to meet up with Brian, who was riding over from Lawrence. We were going to ride all day on gravel. It was sunny and in the mid to upper 50’s. The forecast was for the wind switching after 7 pm, and then start raining, then snowing.

Everything went pretty good initially. Nice ride, but windy. We met up with Jason Knight and started riding new roads, at least new to me, out south. We got back towards Lawrence around 4:30. Riding into Lawrence, the wind started howling from the Northwest and it started spitting down rain.

Jason went home and Brian rode just Bill and I (Trudi and Kris had turned back) back to a Starbucks. Brian went home and Bill and I had 30 miles to ride home. Directly into a 35 mph headwind. It wasn’t really raining, something more like the drizzle I experienced in Seattle a couple weeks ago.

We drank some coffee and headed out. It was pretty ugly. We were only going around 12 mph and I hate it, but I always divide the speed into the distance. I was thinking about 2 1/2 hours, which would have put is back around 8 pm. Sunset was 6:08.

When we got to the River Road, it was a bit sheltered and we were going better. But the temperature was dropping. My Garmin said it was in the lower 30’s, but with the wind, it was bone chilling cold. I was only wearing long-fingered MTB biking gloves. Bill had some a little better, but not good enough.

About 1/2 way back, the rain turned to sleet, then to snow. It was dark by then. We were riding gravel, so there was pretty much no chance of traffic. Bill left his sunglasses on, saying the sleet was killing his eyes. I took mine off and just looked down.

My knees, both of them, started hurting with about 15 miles to go. On the inside, below the Medial meniscus. They got so sore I had to keep standing to relieve the pain. I worry when new pain starts, but since it was both knees, I was worried less.

It really wasn’t that bad, other than our hands. Right on the outskirts of Topeka, I told Bill I had to stop to swing my arms. I couldn’t shift anymore and braking was getting iffy. Bill’s hands were bad too.

We got back around 7:15. I felt pretty good about the mileage, but was a little hurt. This morning my knees still ached. I texted Stacie, in Louisville, and she Facetimed me just a little bit ago. I’m using some Flexor patches and anti-inflammatories for a couple days. I’m not too obsessed with the issue, yet.

Like I said, the forecast is pretty bad for the foreseeable future. But, like I stated at the start of this post, I don’t put much credence in weather forecasts.