Send Oxygen, Benadryl

September 10, 2006

We're back from the High Sierra Fall Century, and we have two suggestions: bring oxygen and Benadryl next time.

As for the oxygen, we suggest a kind of Camelback contraption. The support on this year's ride was so good, for food, water, hyper-water and "Ade" drinks, that there was no reason for anyone to carry backpack water on board. Instead, we suggest an oxygen bottle for the climbs to Sagehen Summit, Wildrose Summit (Omigod, those switchbacks, huh?) and to Watterson Divide.

The Benadryl is for the yellowjackets, which showed up in prodigious numbers. My pal Chris, barrelling down the Watterson grade at 40 miles an hour, was hit in the forehead—I am not making this up—by one of the S.O.Bees., and yelped all the way back to Berkeley.

The bees swarmed *everywhere,* but they weren't as problematic as, say, the rabbitbrush, which also caused some problems among the allergic among us.

Both conditions called for Benadryl, which everyone should carry.

Oxygen, meanwhile, seems like a simple enough thing to carry on one's back, right?

I personally came across one person who had converted religions to ask for more air, so what are you going to do about *that?* I thought he was going to be a goner.

Meanwhile, Iowa beat Syracuse, barely, and so there was a collective sigh of deep relief among the participants.

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