Steve's got a bit of cabin fever. I thought calling for the McGary Grade route the last weekend of January was pushing the envelope. But a positive weather forecast and a judicious use of an informant (a colleague who lives at Kendrick), persuaded us it could be done.

This is a challenging route made for winter riding. Both slopes stay pretty well in the sun in the winter and, trust me, you don't want to climb McGary Grade in weather anywhere near 70 degrees.

Steve and I did this ride on Nov. 11th but Chris failed to show up for the challenge. He had a new bed for his bad back and Steve and I figured he'd just been unable to drag himself out of bed. We missed Chris last Sunday, too, since he had a sudden fit of maturity and responsibility. Said he had the bike in the truck already when it happened.

So, we were pleased to see Chris and his double crank bike today. But we had never expected to see One-Day Dave Tibbals (as One Day Dave will come and ride with us again) but there he was sporting slightly shabby chinwhiskers and looking for all the world like Green Arrow of DC comics.

McGary Grade is Granny country for ordinary bicyclists and Steve, Dave and I were well prepared with triples. But not Chris. Though he had promised himeself he'd switch from 12-23 to 12-27 cogs, he hadn't done so and now stood looking up at the climb before him and down at his double crank. "I'm going to die," I believe were his words.

So while the rest of us sought granny, Chris stood to power his double crank up that first mile at a pitch on a par with McIntosh. I fully expected to find him spread across the road, his heart burst, but he greated me cheerily as I neared the top. He was nurse maiding the rest of us one at time over the last climb.

The roads were excellent. All the gravel had been blown to the side and traffic was light especially on the Hubbard Gulch side. We had only one problem. Half way down Hubbard a farmer had a herd of cattle, happy cattle we hope, in the middle of the road. The spooked a little at Chris but the dog and farmer kept them aside to let us pass and gave us a friendly greeting.

Dave is a long distance cyclists but he hasn't been on the bike this winter. He's been running and lifting weights. He picked a fine ride to test his fitness on. Beside the major climb up McGary, there is Cottonwood Creek road, a gentle climb that ends with a couple of miles similar to WebRidge Road and WebRidge road as well.

We were all pleased that we were able to complete the 70 miles but agreed that while we might have been able to finish a century, we probably wouldn't want to ride again tomorrow if we did. Besides, there wasn't enough light anyway.

Though the day had been mostly cloudy and we had a distinct headwind coming back, by the time we left Jacques Spur and lunch, the skies had cleared a good deal. Back in the valley the clouds had vanished and Chris was whining about having to go back to Moscow where he'd have been lucky to get in 10 miles on the Chipman trail today.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must reveal that we did ride through a hail storm just before the second big hill. The stones were tiny, an 1/8 inch if that, scarcely discernible from flakes. The storm last only a minute though a few stones continued to fall. Cold and dry, the stones failed to dampen us or our spirits. True to the best of our traditions the real hail storm hit while we sat comfortably at Jacques Spur awaiting our burgers.

We had only one minor complaint for the day. Steve's got new tires on that Bianchi--cross knobbies. Thought he was slow before? (Bet you thought I wouldn't mention it, huh, Steve?)

Look for us tomorrow at the boat launch at 9 and again at 12:30. The grade is in the plan for the first loop and Buffalo Eddy for the second. We hope to see our new friends, Doug and Steve, and you too.

For the ride of it.