I was at the top waiting for the others when I heard voices coming up the mountain. It was two female bicyclists, who pulled up beside me. I started talking with them and soon two more rode up. They were no spring chickens, one of them looking over 60. They are from Golden, Colo., and had driven their cars to a town about 40 miles from Steamboat Springs and rode over on Saturday and were heading back today. There seems to be lots of adventurous people around and it was fun to talk to these ladies. They apologized for the weather, put on their warm clothes, including insulated boots over their shoes and headed out. They knew something we didn't.

Nicole and Dan pulled up and we all got in the van to warm up. Nicole had tackled the mountain and didn't need to proceed. Dan and I decided to push on. Going down was much worse than going up. The rain got harder, the wind picked up and we were heading downhill fast. I headed down faster than Dan and was pelted by rain and sleet. Then the snow started. Ice was building up on my gloves and it was plenty cold.

Dan ran into a bit of a problem. Not far from the top, the road surface turned rougher and a rumble strip started along the shoulder. Dan got into the rumble area, which makes riding extremely difficult. He jerked his bike hard to the right and soon found himself riding through the deep weeds along the road and heading for the trees. He kept going and got back on the road but saw his life flash before his eyes.

We met at the bottom and decided that was enough for a while. We packed up and drove to Walden, CO., where we ate lunch and decided to get a motel. The weather cleared a bit, so Dan and I thought it would be a good idea to get some more miles in, so we headed out.

It was a beautiful ride, with fresh snow covering the mountains on our left and groves of Aspen trees on the right. We were thinking about climbing the next pass at over 10,000 feet. I stopped and talked to an old man who lived in a neat house with an incredible view of the mountains. “Isn't it cold to be riding a bike?” he asked me. He said the pass was another 10 miles and snow covered. It was getting late so we turned around for the 15 mile ride back to town.

After about five miles, the wind kicked up, and, of course, it was in our face. Then the rain started. It wasn't bad at first. I had pulled away from Dan and was having fun riding in the rain and just cruising along, enjoying the scenery. Then the sleet started and the wind got strong. The sleet was coming in horizontal and felt like it was penetrating my face. My fingers got so cold they felt like electricity was going through them when I tried to straighten them. The town looked great on the horizon after an hour of punishment.

Dan said that is the worst ride of his life. When he pulled into town he rode straight to the mini-mart and got a hot chocolate. He went to his room and took an hour-long shower with the hottest water he could get. He said it was 20 minutes before his hands warmed up.

The weather looked nasty as we headed out of Steamboat Springs..

Nicole was relieved to have survived making to it to the top. And yes, that is snow, which Nicole doesn't like in winter, much less June.