Dirt Alpine on a Road bike or Misery is required to balance the transcendent

With nothing on the family calendar this morning it was off for a ride.  Had my heart set on driving out to Canada Rd and then riding over 92 to Half Moon Bay and south along the coast to 84 and back to the car.  However, it was plain to see there clouds on Skyline and rain pockets here and there ( drove through some rain getting to my start). In light of the apparent precipitation, a plan B was called for.

Still, I don't have the fitness to do some of the rides I might like to, but am super bored of all the alternatives.  I opted to check out one of my favorite old rides despite the intermittent showers.  Up Dirt Alpine Rd seemed an ok idea and the paved section up to the gate was beautiful.

So far so good.  Yes the trail was a little slick for the road bike, but nothing too bad.  The last time I was on this, the whole bottom of the trail near the creek was a total hash.  Now it is a straight forward smooth trail.  If it had been dry, it would have been no problem.  

The old washed out section is longer than I remembered, thought it was only a 100 meters or so, it is more like a quarter mile and there was little choice other than walking up it. This is how I have discovered that Shimano 105 pedals suck if there is even a hint of dirt or mud in them.  For two decades I road my Time pedals and shoes in all kinds of less than pristine conditions without a problem.  A little bit of mud rendered my clip less pedals  essentially useless.  They wouldn't work again until I found a puddle at the top of the climb to stamp around in to wash them out.  

Used to be a fire road, now single track

The last mile of climbing was in rain and unrelenting hail, I had unknowingly been climbing up into a  micro-cell storm. Here is where I opted to shorten the ride further.  It was now hailing and raining, the temperature was between 30 and 40 degrees and it seemed clear that hypothermia was going to be the result of the day, so down Page Mill knowing it would be a cold descent.  Hail continues to fall until I get down a mile or so.  Oh, and along with this, I haven't actually ridden in pouring rain for a while, so all the accumulated salt of a years worth of rides proceeds to wash out of my helmet and into my eyes resulting in near blindness.  

Long story short, I got down and made my way home in the car, heater set to incinerate.  

I love the idea of miserable rides, they have to happen occasionally and suck as they are happening, but they serve as a reset, a reminder of what comfort is and is not.  With 6 miles to go, I was resigned to a mild case of hypothermia and being painfully cold, but these things are transitory and help to remind me of the incredible, but subtle beauty of a cool spring or fall ride in , obviously, better weather.