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Ride Report for Frank Hamlin's December 5th ride - Santa Rosa Cycling Club

The ride was scheduled to go from San Miguel school in Santa Rosa, up Pine Flat Rd. and back through Healdsburg.  Frank does a good job of organizing his rides and this was no exception.

The only thing he couldn't control was the weather.  It started out pretty darn cold (in the high 30's or low 40's).  At least it was sunny, but after a few miles on Chalk Hill Rd. even the sun disappeared behind some clouds.

This ride was a mix of brisk (very apt today) riders and some moderates,  so keeping it together was going to be difficult.  We did regroup at Chalk Hill and Hwy 128 before heading up Pine Flat.  We should have realized that while climbing Pine Flat, no one was getting even close to warm.  After stopping near the flat for just a few minutes, we started to get cold, really cold and the descent was bone-chilling.

About half-way down, we found LaValle trying to change a flat tire with frozen fingers and chattering teeth.  Wayne Kellam and I helped her fix the flat while dreaming of a hot cup of coffee at Jim Town store.  It was pretty nice once we got inside the store and began to warm-up.  Wayne, LaValle and I then headed back to San Miguel school and everything was going OK until LaValle mentioned that her on-bike computer thermometer read 42 degrees.  We were better off not knowing.

To top it all off, about 10 miles from home it started to rain.  I'll have to admit, the car was a welcome sight when we reached San Miguel school.  40 cold miles is about all we could stand today.