Survival

Yesterday began my first real Bike & Build adventure.  Summer, Kelsey and I (the CMU SUS'ers)  decided that we would do our 65 mile ride.  As part of our B&B contract everyone agrees to ride 500 miles, outside, on the bike that you will take across the country as well as completing one ride of at least 65 miles.  Lets just say we tried!

Planning an event 3 weeks in advance, you never really know what the weather will be like.  Even when I woke up at 6 am that morning I did not know what was in store.  Like I always do in the spring, I turned on the weather channel to see the forecast.  We knew that there were storms predicted for 2pm so we planned to be on the road by 7am.  We should have been able to miss any foul weather lol.  I woke Summer up, did all the last minute prep work and made myself a pb&j for later.  We met Kelsey at Woldt and the journey began.  The plan was to bike to Claire, then to Farwell, and onto Pickard for a run at the hill before heading back to Mount P.  We made it to Claire in high spirits, where we stopped and met Kelsey's wonderful family.  We had a breakfast of waffles and homemade blueberry syrup.  Her parents even gave us hot chocolate to warm us up (according to the bank signs it was 35*F).  Next we took M115 to Farwell.  It was a beautiful road, a little busy, but it had really wide shoulders!  We almost got lost, but as we stopped to get directions, we realized that we were at the road we were looking for.  Heading back to Mount P, our travels started to get a little difficult.  Even though my adopted home is named MOUNT Pleasant, this town is pretty darn flat.  Which makes any hill seem like a challenge.  And this wasn't just any hill.  We made it up, huffing and puffing, but there was a nice long downhill to greet us afterwords.

About halfway into the trip, we realized that the rest of the mapped route went through all dirt roads.  Since we were about halfway, we decided to turn around and head back the way we came.  A little Bon Jovi was sung to celebrate making it this far and then we were on our way.  That nice long downhill wasn't really that bad to get back up, and it was really fast going down the hill that we had just struggled up!  We returned to Farwell a little colder than when we came through originally, but looking forward to the smoother roads.  As we pedaled into town I felt the first few bits of precipitation patter against my face.  No worries, it was only a little bit of freezing rain and we were halfway done.  Of course we would make it home by the time that the storms started at 2pm!  If only we had known...

We stopped at a gas station of a potty break and  a little bit of a warm up.  I had a nice chat with a man who was eating his lunch.  He was amazed that we were riding our bikes on such a cold day.  I told him the same thing that I have told everyone: I'm too busy to do it any other weekend!   While we were there, I decided to put on my rain jacket, just because I was getting a little cold.  Summer laughed at me...then looked outside and put hers on in a hurry.  In the five minutes that we had spent using the restroom the world had changed.  Massive white poofs of snow were cascading out of the sky.  It was still too warm for them to do any damage, they melted as soon as they hit anything.   But it was a blow to our moral.  We needed to get home fast, the storms weren't waiting until 2 anymore.  We hopped on our (soaking wet) bikes and headed for Claire.  Even though it was actually snowing, I feel like I got my first real taste of rain riding.  Sprays of water were slooshing from my wheels, coating everything in a brown, sandy muck.  I had too many layers  to feel the melting snow, but I could see my clothes slowly becoming drenched, and I dreaded the squishness that was to come.  I soon got a preview of the water saturation.  My shoes slushed out water with every downstroke, my gloves (both pairs) became suctioned to my skin as the water permeated my layers.  My face felt every flake, melting and dripping down my skin.  I could no longer feel my fingers and had lost most of my feet.  But I kept going.  After what seemed like hours the agony abated.  I found my rhythm and I just wanted to keep going.  I had one goal in my head:  Get home now! 

We made it to Claire, our last stop before Mount Pleasant.  Only 17 miles left to go.  I would just like to pause a moment and say that this is the only city that I have seen combine its horse and buggy lanes with its bicycle lanes.  In fact I believe it is the only city that I have seen with horse and buggy lanes.  But I digress.


As is always the case, our bathroom stop at the edge of town brought about more climatic changes.  In the few minutes that we were under shelter, the roads cooled and the snow began to stick.  We still believe that we could make it.   We just needed to go fast.  Which isn't so easy when you are 2/3 of the way into the longest ride you have ever taken.  Not to mention it was 35* and snowing. 

Snow continued to build up on the roadways, we continued to bike, more snow, more biking and on it went.  You don't really notice how bad things are getting until you take a moment to step back and look at your self.  That moment occurred for me when I tried to lick my lip and an inch of snow fell from my face.  I had snow accumulating on my face.  Not good.  Looking down I realized that my bright yellow raincoat was now white.  As were Kelsey's and Summer's. Generally not good in a low visibility situation, which was what we were in, now that I had taken that step back to see it.  As we went along, more and more snow piled up.  Soon the white line marking our tiny portion of the roadway was invisible. As I was leading at the time, I did my best to watch the side of the road and stay in place.  Kelsey was following, but the snow fogged up her glasses, so she had removed them and was blindly following my tracks.  Summer followed along behind her. 

At this point, I was completely exhausted.  I looked away for a second and accidentally steered off the road.  I caught myself and recovered, but Kelsey followed my tracks into the sandy, snowy, tire engulfing mixture.  I heard Summer shouting "Are you Ok!" very loudly and turned to look.  I can see Kelsey starting to fall off her bike and Summer struggling to stop with her ice encrusted brakes, not noticing my own path, which is taking me off the road again.  I try to catch myself, but I am clipped into my pedals and cannot get my feet free.  I land on the cement.  I unclip my shoes and get up, laughing at the ridiculousness of this situation.  We are 7 miles in any direction from civilization, falling off of bicycles in an April snowstorm, which is quickly becoming a whiteout.  Summer is giving me looks of anger because this is not yet funny to her.  I don't know what to do but laugh.  What could possibly make this any worse!  Oh yeah, thundersnow.  That's right, we are now in a whiteout in the middle of now where and it is thundering.

We don't see any other options, so we blaze onwards, hoping to make it to Rosebush soon.  Two miles later, the snow has grown so thick that I can no longer see the 2 inch drop at the edge of the road.  My flashing lights are coated with snow, even though I continue to clear them.  It is not safe at all.  I look for the nearest farmhouse, but, of course, there are none...so we keep going.  Finally arriving at a cluster of 4 houses, we decide to stop.  I texted our wonderful roommates to come get us.  Summer, Kelsey and I decided that it would be safer to keep walking and try to make it closer to Rosebush because there was no one home at any of the houses.  I was amazed at how many cars and trucks passed us by without stopping.  Even with how pathetic we must have looked!  Three cyclists walking down the road with their bikes in an April snowstorm.  Finally a lovely couple slowed and asked us if we needed help.  They loaded our bikes in the back and allowed us to melt in their backseat on the way to the Rosebush gas station.  We freshened up with some coffee and hot cocoa and waited for our rides.  Maeghan and Emily took Kelsey and I, and Summer loaded her bike into Curtis' truck.  We all made it home safe and sound.  I am looking forward to Florida!  This is one girl who shall not wish for a snow storm, no matter how high the temperature rises!