# Death Ride Weather



## bucknet (Jul 14, 2008)

Wow, being a virgin Death Rider I had heard the weather could change and be prepared to expect anything, but I had no idea it could change so quickly like it did this year. It started warming up and got pretty hot around 1pm as I was using my car as a pit stop just past Turtle Rock. Hot enough that I put my feet in an ice water chest and put a wet towel around on my head. It was baking to Woodfords where it was hot, sunny and they were still spraying people with a hose. Just before I got to Picketts was when the clouds started coming in and we thought it was great! I made it up to the Carson Summit at 3:24 and it was Sunny and baking hot. Ice cream in the Sunshine was fantastic. I took a long break and headed down just after 4pm. Holy smokes, you gotta be kidding me it was coming down like a tropical rain forest just past the bend at the Summit. I'm talking thunder, lightning, hail, and huge amounts of rain. Pretty surreal to think that on one side of the mountain people are baking in the sun eating Ice Cream and the other side they are in a Monsoon... Nothing like nail biting it down Carson when your rims are so wet your brakes hardly work and you are being absolutely assaulted by hail... painful. By the time I got to Picketts there were little rivers going across the road way and a few folks headed for Darwin awards were in full tucks like it was normal weather conditions? Soaked head to toe, didn't let up till we got back down towards Woodfords and still rained all the way back to Turtle rock. Just adds to the lore - fun ride, could have lived without the extra excitement at the end.


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## velogirl (Oct 14, 2005)

yay, we got hit with hail descending the front side of Ebbetts, then got stuck in the storm ascending Carson. if I wanted to ride in the rain, I wouldn't live in CA!

;-)


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## robwh9 (Sep 2, 2004)

bucknet said:


> Nothing like nail biting it down Carson when your rims are so wet your brakes hardly work and you are being absolutely assaulted by hail... painful. By the time I got to Picketts there were little rivers going across the road way and a few folks headed for Darwin awards were in full tucks like it was normal weather conditions? Soaked head to toe, didn't let up till we got back down towards Woodfords and still rained all the way back to Turtle rock. Just adds to the lore - fun ride, could have lived without the extra excitement at the end.


Yep!
I had some extra excitement descending the backside of Ebbits. A bee hit me in the forehead and then got stuck between my eye and glasses, buzzing around. Luckily I dislodged it without crashing or getting stung.


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

It was great fun. 40mph in the rain! How can you beat that for a story. This is the second time I've gotten stuck in a crazy downpour. It always adds some excitement.


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## bucknet (Jul 14, 2008)

*Bummer*

Yeah, I just heard from another buddy who was asking me about the ride that a friend of his got stopped at Picketts. Not sure, but sounds like they stopped people from going up. As I watched the river go by at Picketts and some guy was jumping across the road to tell me to slow down I'm not sure that wasn't the right thing to do. However, if I had gotten to Picketts before the cut off and they told me that I couldn't get my 5th sticker I would've been pretty upset... Hopefully everyone that made the cutoff got to enjoy ice cream, even if it was in a warm rain!


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## NadiaMac (Jan 13, 2008)

The rain and hail hit as I began the Ebbetts descent. It was freaking cold! I heard later that riders were held at the Ebbetts summit until the rain passed, but didn't talk to anyone who actually experienced this.


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