At the top of that first climb, I wasn't in that good of shape. I had gotten pretty cold. So I threw on some jackets and pants and such. I also had a cup of top ramen chicken noodle soup. This soup did wonders for me, as my headache disappeared within 15 minutes. I later decided that it was a salt depletion problem! And who says those chicken soups have too much salt in them.

Zipped down the back side, getting colder, then started next climb, immediately overheating in the far too much clothing I was wearing. But the descent was amazing, it was fast and fun! The next climb was beautiful in the moonlight, and you could see the blinking red lights of riders in the distance behind me.

Pretty soon, I'm just cold all of the time, in fact freezing. But for some reason I don't really think about it. I just keep pedaling along, noting some nice scenery. One van comes up next to me for a while to talk. The rider in their group just stopped, I think it was due to food problems. They said their speedometer read 20mph. And I was really impressed! :)

Eventually I reach a checkpoint at a hotel at the base of mt. whitney. This poses a problem, since I've been encouraging myself for the last 30 or so miles with the single thought ''once I get to the top, I can go to bed''. And now I find out, I don't actually have to go to the top.

So we go in the checkpoint, and the volunteers realize that I'm soaking wet in my clothing, which explains my shivering and otherwise being cold. They throw me down on a bed and give me a massage and make me take a nice hot shower. When I get out, they encourage me to eat some warm food. I won't be making that wet clothing mistake again. :)

After being in the room for an hour being warmed up, and taken care of, we set off again for the last climb. After a few miles of climbing out of town, the headlights on my bicycle ran out. This served as the final mental issue, and I put my bicycle on the car and went back to the motel to go to bed.

I slept pretty well that night. ;-)