I have ridden Mt. Rainier via the west park entrance but never the east side entrance to Sunrise. It was a bucket list ride and today was the day. Joe Hall, a friend of ours and ex-bike racer said he would join me as he has done this ride many times. He is also a lot faster and at 40 something a lot younger.
Weather forecast was overcast with the possibility of a rain front moving thru later in the evening. Game on. Had to leave the house by 6 to meet Joe in the parking lot that is 6 miles outside the park. At the last minute, I threw in light weight gloves, a skull cap, the sleeves for my windbreaker and knee warmers. Not enough, especially when I left the knee warmers in the car.
Slight mist driving to the parking location but it stopped so the decision was to head up. Part of the road has a new shiny asphalt sealant and for the most part the weather was cool but no moisture. I mile from the ranger station a touch of rain so we did not stay long at the parking lot. Then the light rain started and the temp dropped and it is 20 miles to the car on very very slippery downhill road. Should have been a screaming downhill ride but anything over 20 mph felt extremely unstable. Joe was more aggressive but he would heal faster if things went wrong. But the slower you descend, the longer exposure you have to rain and cold temps. Joe described the descent as exciting/scarey. I described it as miserable/scarey but we made it. My grand plan of adding another 20 miles by biking to Greenwater went out the window once we got to the car.
Data: Joe went out like a rocket for the first 6 miles uphill and I went to level 1 but still could not stay with him. Once inside the park and the steady uphill, level 1 allowed me to stay with him and to demonstrate what level 2 would do allowed me to completely pull away from Joe.
Battery left: over 50%