3state3mountain, or 1st1mt--2times

so we thought all was going to be ok because here we are at the start with overcast skies but no rain! so much better than last years start which was delayed while we waited out the EPIC thunderstorm! but, after only a block or so, the rain began to fall. just before the bottom of suck creek mt. someone called out that emma had a flat....this was the nail in the coffin of my ride. we should have done what we normally would do, which is to circle back to the rider with a problem and help or at least wait on them. but noooooo, we decided to wait for her at the top of the mt. by the time i got there, the skies had unleashed with down pours, thunder and lightening!

it was plenty warm on the way up, but 60 degrees and soaking wet translates into FREEZING riders. we had to wait about 15min. for emma and david who had several technical difficulties before we started down. several of us were already shivering when we started down and the wind and long descent made it that much worse. the crazy newbie riders didn't make it any better, weaving in the road and even stopping in the middle!

at the bottom i had already decided i'd be bailing. to be honest, the thrill of repeating the ride from last year, but under less than ideal conditions, just didn't sound like fun. i had already conquered this challenge. it didn't help that the night before, logan (my 10yr old), told me he'd be praying that i didn't hurt myself! was this some kind of omen....lol!

so, those of us who've already completed the 100miler (jim,kay,abe,todd and I)all turned around and those who had never done it (kale, rodney, emma, willy, justin, chris and david) all went on. todd and i hurried back up the mt.(to warm up) and eventually hooked up with some people from florida. on the way back into town we all decided a drink was in order and went into tacomac *dripping* and had shots/beer. much more fun than freezing our a**es off!

jana and julie, who'd been planning on the metric(62miler) had the sense to turn around just after the crested suck creek mt. of course, i'd eaten like a hog the day before so i needed the return climb to burn some calories!

those who went on reported that it rained off and on for quite a bit longer but did allow them a dry descent off lookout mt. they were all very proud, but have to say i was very pleased with my VERY FUN weekend and the fact that i wasn't exhausted when i got home.