The Pass Almost Not Passable . . .

I drove the pass twice this week - once on Wednesday in the middle of a full gale (Picture this, I'm on my knees on the living room couch, face pressed against the window glass like a five year old that had to come inside because it was raining, watching the storm rage outside. "Honey, I think I'm going to go for a motorcycle ride." I ventured. "Of course you are," Goldfish replies. Do you see why she's perfect?) and once yesterday with a camera to confirm it was really as bad as I remembered.

It was actually maybe worse yesterday because the sun had thawed some of the snow and made it icy, and two or three vehicles had gone through since I did and had made ruts in the snow which made things tricky.

The most surprising part of the stormy Wednesday ride was right when I crested the pass the wind channeling through the notch was directly on my back, maybe 60 or 70 mph or better, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to have enough traction as I descended to make the first corner with that kind of push so I immediately shut down the bike and hopped off and walked it the first 50 feet until I was around the corner from the wind.

The top photo is interesting because it shows the valley the trail to Ugadaga Bay passes through - it gives you a different perspective from the ones I posted earlier this week. You can see the weather yesterday was absolutely perfect . . . .so, it is with a heavy heart that I acknowledge my lunchtime rides through the pass to blow off steam may be coming to an end until springtime as they do not maintain or plow that road!