Royal update: The rain was not a factor. A major storm front pushed through as I drove to the start line, but there wasn't a drop of rain during the 14 hours it took me to ride the 167-mile course. It never got much over 50F, never saw the sun, and the wind was very mean to us all day - headwinds for the first 80 miles, some tailwinds in the middle, but the last 15 miles was back into a stronger headwind. Winds started out of the East (odd) and by afternoon were coming from the Northeast. Weather reports for the region recorded wind speeds average 16 mph, with sustained speeds up to 24 mph and max gust at 32 mph. The course was up and down most of the river valleys in the area, so the low areas gave some breaks from the winds, but never enough!
We had 30 riders step up to the start line, out of 115+ registered. No race results were recorded (by design), but I'd estimate only 5 riders DNF.
Here's the Toad (white helmet and suffering) at the top of Shady Lane Trail - a tough climb early in the day, only 200 ft climb, but starts with 15+%. It was like this all day, over 11,000 ft of climbing with short-step hills.
Thanks Michael for the photo.
Finish line pic of the Breeze Radar Pro