Wet (some might even say moist) conditions

These are images from the Boulder/Nederland area yesterday. These innocent tourists from Oklahoma were caught in a storm and then had to dig their vehicle out. I heard they even ran the plows up in Ned to deal with about 8 inches of hail. I find it a bit ironic that the guy's last name is flood.

I just checked the weather all along the trail and there are nothing but flash flood warnings for the entire week all the way through. Looks like it's definitely gonna be a wet race this year. Temps are supposed to be low and that will be nice but some of these storms we're getting are dumping about 4 inches of rain in 2 hours so they're pretty stout. That could make things slower this year which actually might not be a bad thing for me at this point. My major concern (and one that keeps me awake at night) is what that weather is going to look like in the long, alpine sections of 22 and 23 and then again near the end over Blackhawk Pass. Things could really be sketchy up there. The portion of the trail that I have never seen that far down south is full of some pretty hairy knife-edge crossings.

I could say, "Wish I had sacked up last year and finished" but then I'd sound like Skee-Lo (I wish I was a little bit taller....I wish I was a baller....Wish I had a girl who looked good I would call her). Sorry...he's getting a lot of play time on my iPod right now.

The other sketchy news along the route came from CDOT this morning. Highway 550 (which we ride from Silverton to the top of Molas Pass) is being repaved and is down to one lane. It's up hill and will have loads of RV's in a hurry to get their vacations started. Hope they will play nicely.