The Shrinking Sisterhood and the Full Two Looper!

Joy here...Back in August the "sisterhood" (minus SK who was camping) headed out to the park for not one, but two full loops, including the tough Fortune Hill climb, but we cut off our loop without going all the way to the Champlain Lookout (a spot that features prominently on this blog as being a place with a really special view, that you can see in the fall here, or in the fog here, or on a clear summer day here).

We planned to do the full two-looper the following weekend, but we were foiled by rain and rolled over in our beds and went back to sleep.  And then last Sunday, The Professor, The Trainer, and I all rode in the "Share the Road" ride, splintering the sisterhood, so our epic two looper never happened last weekend.

Which brings us to today...

Look closely to see the rain drops bejewelling the spider web.

Who needs to see when they ride, right???

...The weather network was calling for thundershowers all day, but we've heard that one before.  So last night before going to bed, I promised myself that unless it was pouring rain when I got up, I would at least make my way to the parking lot where we were meeting the rest of the group before I would give up on my own, personal quest to ride two full loops of the park.

It wasn't really raining in the morning, but the roads were wet, and The Trainer and The Professor quickly (and sagely) decided to stay home and avoid the inclement weather.

So the sisterhood shrank by two members before even starting.

Cili Padi, Power Penna, SK, and I (along with the guys who make up the rest of Team Sunday) were still game to give it a try, despite the heavy fog and humidity in the air.

Right up into the clouds!

So we all rolled out of the parking lot and headed towards the start of the Pink Lake climb, that climb that I suffered through a three-peater just on Friday.  Then, amidst the low hanging fog and the haze that made it hard for us to breathe and that spit up water from our thin tires, we began to feel the start of rain.  At first we tried to ignore it, pretending to ourselves that it wasn't really raining, and it must just be the humidity in the air that was resting in crystal droplets on our arms.  But then we had to admit the truth:  it was raining, and it wasn't going to stop.

Power Penna and Cili Padi took one look at each other and agreed to ride to the top of the Pink Lake climb before cleverly turning around and heading for home...where towels, dryness, and sanity awaited, thus shrinking the sisterhood by two more.

SK and I reached the top of that climb and resisted the temptation to follow our sistas down the hill and out of the insistent rain.  Every pore of our bodies yearned to follow the other ladies out of the growing downpour, but like an unruly stallion that gets pulled sharply by his bridle at the hands of a skilled rider, we pulled ourselves into control and turned our bikes upward into the rain and the rest of the park.

You can't even see the cyclists up the road!

And as we rode upwards, climbing through the rain and the fog reminiscent of Victorian murder mysteries and enchanted forests, the rain slowly began to lessen.  The air was still humid and heavy around us, but at least the water seemed to be resting on our skin rather than falling on us and into our eyes.  In fact, at one point, while SK and I turned our gears and felt our legs screaming in rebellion, we agreed that the wetness was actually kind of refreshing.

As we rode, the rain lessened, but the fog did not.  And just as I looked down through the fog that kept our visibility to a mere few meters ahead my new CycleOps' battery died!  I was counting on having all sorts of new data about today's epic ride in the mist that would complete my loops #16 and #17 of this summer season, but I was foiled!  The road was white with mist ahead of me, and the screen was blank before me.  I was riding blind in more ways than one.

So without any data, with limited visibility, and with a truncated version of the sisterhood, I rode onwards to the Champlain Lookout.  But today...there really wasn't a whole heck of a lot to see:

But as we rode down from the lookout, we rode out of the thickness of the mist, and the roads began to clear.  The rain lessened and the fog seemed to lift, so when we reached the turnaround point where we would be faced with the choice to turn right to head home, or left to continue on for a second loop of the park, SK and I barely needed to look at each other to know that we were turning left...and up.

And as we rode that second loop of the park - making today's ride just under 90kms of hilly riding door-to-door - the air cleared, the skies lightened, and the roads began to dry.  So that by the end of it, we were able to give each other congratulatory high fives at the accomplishment of our first ever full two loop ride of the park...and then we began to crave fast food...

...SK was still talking about hot fudge sundaes at Dairy Queen as we rode our bikes home!

Over and out,
Joy