Let it rain?

Yeah.. it rained.  Who would have expected that? We had warm weather before and gorgeous weather right after.. but the day of the Peak Season Century (100 miles around Lake George), it rained like a big dog.
Lake George is beautiful, even in the rain. But add in the cold and the wind?  No, not for me, thank you.

I tried. I really did. I used every mental image I had at my disposal to try and keep myself going. I called the cold rain in my face, the "Adirondack Mist Facial". I kept thinking, "people  pay good money for a spa treatment like this".  How is that for re-framing?

When the wind picked up, coming out of the north, hitting me in the face and making the rain feel like pin pricks, I called it the "Cryo-exfoliation" treatment. Again, keeping in mind, "people pay good money for a spa treatment like this".

Then the chamois in my pants started to take on water. Cold water. The road was wet and the spray must have been coming up off my back wheel and it just soaked through the bike pants and into the chamois. Every time I hit a bump, I got a cold spray of water right up the nether regions. Yeah, I thought,  people pay good money for this....

This is the shot I would have taken, if I had brought my camera

I stopped at 32 miles, where most people were calling it quits. I stood in the ladies room and warmed my hands under the hand dryer. I sat in someone's car (whoever you were, thank you!), with a few other folks with the heater turned on high. I pretty much decided I was going to give in. Then, Susan and Tom arrived. They were not quitting. In no uncertain terms, Susan told me she was going to keep going. So, off I went with Susan and Tom, with the goal of making it another 8-10 miles to Fort Ticonderoga.

I made it the 8  miles, had lunch at Fort Ti, and found I couldn't warm myself up, no matter what I tried, I was still wet and shivering. So, there, at historic Fort Ticonderoga. I surrendered. With Lake Champlain to the north, and Lake George to the south, I waved the wet bike glove of surrender. Like the British surrendering to Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys in 1775 after a surprise attack, the weather, in it's surprise attack on me, was the clear victor.
Next year, there will be a rematch!

Note: this would have been my 4th Century Ride. I guess that milestone will have to wait for next spring and Lake Tahoe. However, my relationship with Lake George, will be revisited.