So it decides to rain on us after we arrived in Salida on Saturday. We had some keg and waited for the sun to reappear. As soon as it did we put together a haphazard ride out the door onto some local fireroads to Boss Lake. As we ascended it began to rain and the crew turned around and stopped at a local business (see photo). It let up and we attempted to climb the heinous fireroad. Scott, Matt and Ron made a left turn, leaving the others to their own fate. It began to hail and it hurt like hell. Ron and Matt stopped under a tree to make sure they were saturated with as much rain water before continuing. Kirby showed up and the 3 continued up a monster fireroad.
It never stopped raining and the temperature continued to drop. Lighting and thunder followed us up the steep hillside for over a mile until we crested onto Boss Lake. The fireroad literally ended in the lake waters and we had to skirt the bank until we reached uberknarl singletrack similar to the Worlds SS course.
We bombed down the wet and slimy trail, walking the blood prone sections, and landed on another fireroad back to basecamp. Kirby, Matt and Ron bombed the descent, absolutely frozen and soaked to the core.
Though only 3 of the 15 completed the first challenge of the week, it was a ride to be remembered by all.