Over the Frozen Lemmon

Over the Lemmon is over. Here are the
pics/map.

From an email to the SDMB group:

The short version:

It was cold. 31 degrees when I left my house at 5:30. 24 was the day-long high at the top.

Sub-25 degrees + 25 mph + 25 miles of downhill on the catalina highway = four very cold cyclists. One didn’t bring anything to cover his knees. But we all made it off the mountain and are now enjoying the comforts of modern living.

104 miles
~9000 feet of climbing
12:23 minutes (sunrise to sunset)
11.4 mph moving average

The long version:

It was cold. Very cold.

Rudy met us at the coffee shop @6am. A group of 4 formed. The guilty parties:

Scott Morris
Bryce Phinney
Chris Everist
John Garcia

Chris rode up wearing shorts. No tights, no leg warmers, no nothing. When Rudy asked where he was originally from, I expected to hear Alaska, but the answer was Tucson.

I think everyone was freezing and entertaining thoughts of bailing. As we climbed Oracle RD we began to slowly warmup. Right as we started feeling somewhat comfortable, John flatted, hitting a nail. While waiting for the tire change we re-froze.

The road to Oracle was fully uneventful, though various parties expressed interest in bailing by some method or another. We all decided to ride to the dirt and take a look at the snow level. The backup plan was to ride around the Catalinas, coming over Redington pass.

The road looked relatively clear, so we pushed on. After the retarded control road climbs, we were still making good time and the road looked good. As the real climb began, the road turned into a slick mess of mud, water and snow. But it was still rideable.

The road turned simultaneously icy and steep. This proved to be too much for John’s cross bike. As a truck passed me I heard his voice; he was inside. He said he was having to walk sections and would see us at the top.

A few minutes later I remembered that Chris didn’t have a spare tube. So I waited for him to catch up, and stayed with him through the whole climb. Bryce motored away, climbing like a king. As we gained elevation things got more and more interesting.

At a very icy spot a Cherokee came up behind me. I motioned for him to be patient since I was in the middle of an ice field. I rode out of it successfully but the Cherokee lost enough momentum that it was now stuck. It had to fall back and hit the section with serious speed to get through.

Later as we climbed a large and beautiful buck crossed and cruised up the road. He made us look like turtles.

We came up on two trucks and an ATV attempting to drive through another nasty ice spot. As I rode through the driver said “Great, we’re getting passed by a mountain biker. This is pathetic.” Then he used one of my favorite mountain bike adjectives to describe us: hardcore (other favorites include extreme, plush and sweet).

Eventually we reached the top to find John and Bryce warming themselves in the fire station. Did I mention it was cold? I still don’t know how Chris rode all the way to the top without anything covering his knees. He was definitely hurting for the last hour or two of climbing. He was deep in the pain cave, as they say. Perhaps in a bit over his head on the ride, but I respect anyone who isn’t afraid to bite off more than he
can chew, then still comes out riding.

For the ride back, we forced him to wear John’s extra leg warmers and I gave him my extra pair of gloves. But it still was not enough. I’m not sure that a full length winter parka or a snow mobile suit would have been enough. I refer the earnest reader to the equation near the top of the email. (25deg+25mph+25mi = trouble)

I had on nearly every piece of cycling clothing I own, but I still froze and lost the feeling to my hands and feet. Any time we were not in the sun, it was deadly. The ice was a serious danger, and thankfully no one crashed. We probably stopped a dozen times on the way down. My quarter full water bottle of Gatorade froze. The slime in my tubes froze, making my bike wobble. I thought about stealing a tea cup sled from a little girl to use as a shield against the wind. It was that cold.

As we emerged from Bear Canyon things got reasonable–it was above freezing. Then 45 in the valley felt like a hundred. It was great. We rolled into Mickey D’s for a pile of grease. The rest is history: rolling back through town as the sun set.

Overall a great day on the bike. Congrats to everyone that completed the ride. Thanks to Rudy for planning it. He was sorely missed.

Scott