Day 2: Sunday 3/06/16, Alpine, CA to Live Oak Springs, CA

Day's Distance:  32 miles

Total Distance: 75 miles

Elevation Gain: 4475 feet

Map of today's ride:

Fortunately the first day of this year's C2C the weather was beautiful, as a weather change overnight resulted in today's conditions being terrible. During the night, I could occasionally hear rain drops hitting the tent. This morning at breakfast and when we started riding it was dry, however, only a few miles out it started pouring. Not only was there no let up, but as we gained elevation, we encountered either a strong tail-wind (the good kind), or a very strong and gusty side-wind (the bad kind.) Then toward the end of the ride, the rain turned into sleet. I was glad I had put my bicycle fenders on last night but in a continual downpour such as we encountered today, fenders will not prevent a rider from becoming thoroughly chilled and soaked.  For some riders, climbing over 4400 feet along with the weather conditions, they could not complete today's ride. Today's conditions were much worse than any encountered during the 29 day's I rode last year's C2C.

Today's ride destination had proven too cold in the past to camp this time of year, so our bicycles were put in locked storage and we were shuttled back to last night's camp at Alpine, California. Everyone felt a lot better after a warm shower and changing into dry clothes.

Due to the inclement weather, I only took two pictures today, so if you are interested in seeing the terrain of the country we rode thru, please open the link at the end of this post to last year's same day on last year''s C2C ride.

Similar picture was taken last year when leaving our Alpine, California camping site, taken before the rain started, but showing the dark cloudy day. Look at the same picture via the link for a comparison to last year's conditions.

We had one SAG stop today at about 20 miles. It was a mistake to stop as being drenched by this point and even though it was a short stop, the impact of chill to our bodies became overpowering.

Followup to last night's cramp discussion: Everything that was discussed yesterday to counter my cramping problem at the start of long rides failed. About two hours after going to sleep, I woke up to cramps in both of my upper legs. Then about an hour later I woke up to a cramp in my left calf. If this is a repeat of last year, I will have one lesser cramp tonight and then none the rest of the journey. (Or so I hope!)

Link to Day 2 of my 2015 Blog