Mt.Hamilton with Tricia and snow

The required mirror photo at the Mt. Hamilton summit.

 We were so very proud of our Mt. Hamilton climb, right up until the couple on fixed-gear bikes rolled in behind us. It was Tricia's first time up, so we made sure to pick a nice cold morning so she could experience the maximum amount of suffering. Even though the sun was out a bit, the shadows were really cold, and there were still small piles of snow near the top.  Even with a cap and long gloves, the ride down was even colder. I tried to do some hard nine-minute efforts on the way up, and we both worked hard on the two uphills that come during the descent trying to warm up, but my biggest heart-rate spike was when a car came within inches of me on the way down.

Tricia, riding behind me, saw them swing out to pass her, then move back into our lane only to run up behind me as another car came in the opposite lane. It ended up as close to me as I've ever had a car come. We followed it on the descent for a mile or two, so clearly it was important that it pass us. It warmed us up, at least.

Other than a near death experience and losing feeling in my fingers, it was a grand day. Tricia is full of HTFU and just rocked the whole thing without even a trace of whimper or whine. I did almost as well. A good time was had by all.