2013 Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo Pinarello Part 2

If you missed part 1 it is here.

Ride Day

When we picked up our packets, we were given our assigned start times and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. Where last yer I was able to ride the strip while it was still dark since our wave started at 6:00 am, this year we weren't starting until 8:20. The sun was well up by then and that was a bit of a disappointment.

With an 8:20 start it wasn't necessary to get there too early since we would be sitting around and waiting. We agreed that we would start loading up the bikes, etc. at 6:30 with an eye to a 7:00 departure for the 15 minute ride to Town Square for the start. Well I was up early as was my dad and we got the new bike rack sorted out and installed, the bikes loaded and were ready to go by 6:35. We didn't see a need to hang around at home so we headed over to Town Square with a stop for some gum and powerade on the way.

We got to town Square about 7:00 for our 8:20 start time. We unloaded the bikes, checked tire pressure, put our race numbers on our bikes, helmets and my jersey. Then we put our timing chips on and were ready to go with well over an hour to kill.

We decided to ride around a bit to warm up and check out the area.  We saw many riders on many different bikes.  As some of the longer waves hadn't left yet, there were many riders in full kit on expensive bikes.  There were also many others on hybrids, single speeds, hybrids, beach cruisers and even a pennyfarthing!  The rider was decked out in old fashioned dress, complete with knee socks and handlebar moustache.

Stock pennyfarthing photo

Since we had so much time on our hands we decided to find a bench and relax until it was time to line up so we found a bench and relaxed for a bit.  While we were sitting there we talked with a woman who was also riding the 17 mile route.  She was doing this as her first group ride.  She said that she rides just about every day and it wasn't the distance that had her worried, but riding with other riders.  I assured her it would be fine as this group would be very relaxed and tended to give each other lots of room.  She was suitably impressed that my dad had driven all the way from Michigan to do the ride.

The bench we had found was strategically placed near the open restrooms. As we were talking there I realized I had left my cycling gloves on top of the car so took a quick ride back to get them.  Fortunately they were right where I left them.  By 7:45 we both decided on one last trip was needed to be ready for the ride.

At 8:00 or so we rolled into the starting coral and I was surprised at how few riders were actually there.  I thought that maybe they had already let a wave of 17 mile riders go.  As we were there we noticed the gentleman on the pennyfarthing lining up near us towards the back of the group.  Also there was a tandem and a husband and wife with the husband pulling a trailer with their daughter.

Music was playing, the MC was talking to the crowd and the excitement was building.  Finally it was time to count it down - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 GO!!! everyone was starting out, some a little less sure than others, but it was a clean start as we headed out onto Las Vegas Blvd and made the left headed north towards the heart of the famous Las Vegas Strip.

We started off slowly but the main group quickly started moving away.  We knew we would be among the slowest riders on the day.  We actually were maintaining a faster average than my dad was normally used to.  Looking at the record from my garmin, we were running 15 to 18 mph down the strip.  We found ourselves with a group of cyclists including the tandem and the pennyfarthing we had been close to at the start.

They had warned us at the start that we would be detoured into the Southbound lanes near the Venetian as the police were investigating an earlier accident. Fortunately for the cyclists it appeared the crash involved 2 cars and no cyclists.  It certainly felt interesting riding along the strip while the police held up traffic for us.  As we passed each of the officers my dad and I thanked them.  We certainly wouldn't have had the experience without their work.

Farther down the strip we passed Gold and Silver Pawn of the TV show Pawn Stars fame.  Unbelievably there were probably 20 or 30 people already lined up to get into the store before 9:00 AM. Once past them, we were nearing Downtown Las Vegas.  This is where the old casinos are and it is experiencing a rebirth.

As we made the turn off Las Vegas Blvd, the officers near us were warning us to sty to the right as there was soon going to be traffic around us as we had left the closed road part of the ride.  Looking around we were astonished to see the pennyfarthing was still with us. Up until this point it was just a matter of turning the cranks for him, but now it was going to get interesting as we would be dealing with the stops and starts of traffic lights.  Pennyfarthings don't have brakes.

Having left Las Vegas Blvd, we realized the easy part of the ride was over and now we needed to do a bit more work.  We had enjoyed a relatively flat ride so far with a 1/2 - 1 % downgrade the length of the strip.  Now we had to deal with regaining the 200+ feet of elevation we had lost. Certainly not  lot of climbing, but it added a degree of difficulty to the ride.

Once back out of downtown we headed through much less picturesque parts of the city.  Along the way we crossed under the Sahara overpass and we decided to stop in the shade for a drink.  Pennyfarthing had kept going and we honestly never saw him again.  After a quick drink we got back at it. 

Further along we passed under the I-15 expressway and hit one of the steepest sections of the course as we climbed back up from the underpass.  I was super impressed with how well my dad did, pulling away from me on the uphill.  He had far less trouble on the climbs than I and I had more gear choices.  A bit farther along after  couple of more steep sections we hit Valley View and it was time for another drink.  We pulled over into a lot and had a nice drink.

We then took off to tackle the last 3 miles or so of the ride.  We rode down Valley View to Sunset road and made the left towards Town Square.  That's when the last obstacle came into view - the overpass back across the I-15.  It seemed a bit cruel to put the toughest climb of the day at the end of the ride. There was a slight downhill run up to the overpass and I took full advantage of it.  I made it up and over and was enjoying the wonderful downhill, but had to make a u-turn back to the service road under Sunset Road.   It wasn't fair that we had to slow down and stop for the light to make the turn.

Once under Sunset we were in the final stretch with a turn into the finishing chute.  There was the finish line.  We had done it!  We hit the dismount line and walked our bikes towards the volunteers. 

 

We were given our finisher medals and offered water bottles and Gatorade right at the finish.

 

Here are our official finishing times:

The official time was 1:45:11 but according to my Garmin it was over 12 minutes less than that.  The reason for this is the starting timing mat was well before the start and we crossed it heading up to wait for the start of the ride.

I have to say it was great fun and I totally enjoyed the ride with my dad.  At this point I'm not sure if he will do it again, but I just might.  Thank you Dad for doing this ride with me!

2013 Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo Pinarello Part 1

This year I was fortunate enough to ride this event with my father.  Here is the tale in 2 parts.

Background

Last year I rode the 2012 Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo Pinarello and I had a lot of fun.  You can read the report here.  I decided then that I would ride this event again this year.  It was a great ride and I loved starting in the dark and seeing the strip all lit up as we rode down it.

My father had done numerous bike rides with us as we were growing up in Michigan in support of the March of Dimes.  We had ridden several 50 mile rides and even done a 100 mile ride from Detroit, MI to Flint Michigan and back.  The thing was the last of these was over 30 years ago.

Back in May as I was talking about the upcoming rides I had planned, I knew that my dad had started riding a bit again and I threw out the idea of him riding in this event this September.  At first there wasn't a lot of enthusiasm for the idea.  It must have stuck, though as there was more discussion and eventually my dad said he might be interested in doing it, but he wasn't sure if he could do the distance.

My wife and I decided that as a bit of incentive, we would gift him with a registration as a combination Father's day and birthday gift.  My thinking was that it might keep him motivated to ride knowing that we had gotten his registration for him.  It seemed to do the trick.

He started riding almost every day throughout the summer in Michigan.  Personally I think it was a good thing this summer in Michigan was a bit cooler than normal as it kept him out there riding.

As August rolled around both he and my mom decided to take me up on my August Challenge.  My dad rode every day and my mom walked on the treadmill every day in the month of August.  In fact in terms of total miles, my dad actually rode 2 miles farther than I did for the month.  His longest ride of the year was only 12.8  miles, though.  He was still was leery of the 17.3 mile distance.

Finally on September 12, he got in a 17 mile ride. and was satisfied that he could make it the distance.

The Journey

Now Mom and dad had to get from Michigan to Las Vegas in order to ride in the event.  They don't like to fly, so they loaded up the motorhome and started a leisurely 6 day trip across the country.  They left on on Friday, September 13.  Unfortunately this would prove to have been an unlucky choice as there were several challenges on the way.

The first challenge was a leaking air line.  Fortunately, my dad being a mechanic and always prepared was able to make the repair and keep on going.

The second challenge happened on Tuesday, September 17and was a blown tire near Winslow Arizona.  It was the left front tire and not only was it blown, but as it blew it tore apart some of the wiring.  They stopped for the night in Winslow after the courtesy patrol helped him change the tire, putting on the spare.

On Wednesday, after a stop at an auto part store, they made it to Williams Arizona where they had planned on staying for 2 days to possibly do a side trip to the Grand Canyon. Then they were planning on rolling into Las Vegas Thursday evening.  Well, that day after they got set-up in the campground my dad set to repairing the wiring and making sure the motorhome would make it the rest of the way here.  He got it taken care of in a couple of hours.

Unfortunately Wednesday evening my mother started having severe abdominal pains which continued to get worse.  So my dad called the emergency numbers at the campground.  No answer.  He went back to the unit and started packing things up and getting ready to move.  Then he called 911.  The closest emergency room was 30 miles away in Flagstaff so rather than wait for them to come to him, that's where he went.

11:00 Wednesday evening I heard from him that they were there and getting her checked in but had no idea what was wrong as yet.  Eventually after an examination and a cat scan it was determined that she had a kidney stone.  The plan at 2:00 am was to fill her with fluids and hope that it would pass.

There was concern since my mom is 74 years old, has asthma and is diabetic.

By 9:00 am, it hadn't passed. So the day attending brought in the urologist who was concerned that there might be infection behind the stone.  He determined that the best course was to put in a stent and use a laser to break up the stone so that it would pass.  He said he would get her in as soon as he could.  Surgery was just after lunch and everything went well.

With her medical history, they decided to play it cautious and kept her overnight to make sure there weren't any complications from the anesthetic nor the medications.

Friday morning they determined she could, in fact, leave.  With the need for release signatures, etc.  they didn't get out of the hospital until after 11:00 and headed towards Las Vegas.

Now there was a bit of a time deadline as packet pickup was only open until 7:00 pm and the ride was Saturday morning.  The original plan had been to arrive Thursday evening and then we would have had time on Friday for a tune up ride to check the bikes and then take our time heading over to packet pick-up.  Obviously that didn't happen.

Getting away when they did, and with the need to stop for gas and lunch, we figured they would be showing up between 4:00 and 5:00 with plenty of time to do what we needed to.  At 2:40 I got a text that they were near Kingman, AZ and still on schedule.

Unfortunately Tom Tom led them a bit astray and at 4:52 my mom called for directions to get beck on track.  For some reason instead of coming all the way across the 215, Tom Tom had sent them on the 15 north.  They got turned back around and I had them come the most direct route via Blue Diamond Road.

At 5:11 I got another call, this time from my dad that they were off the side of the road near Blue Diamond and Buffalo (less than 2 miles from the house) and that they had blown a transmission line.  The motorhome was out of traffic so we decided that Michele and I would pick them up, get to packet pick up, drop off my mom's prescription at CVS, and then have dinner before attending to the motorhome.

We got to packet pick up and as usual things went smoothly.  I was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and on of the volunteers suggested I wear it for the ride hte next day.  I told her I had last year and will again this year.( you can see it in my photo here).

We then dropped off the prescription to be filled and had a great dinner at Montana Meat Company where our daughter met us.  The girls then left to pick up the prescription while my dad and I went to the motorhome for what was hoped to be a 5 minute fix.  Unfortunately it took a bit longer as the line had to be replaced and then the engine cover had to be removed to put enough transmission fluid in to get moving.  It took about 45 minutes, but the repairs were successful and the motorhome finally made it to the house.

More on this tomorrow.

August Challenge Wrap Up.

Its been a long month but I am happy to report I made the challenge of riding every day in August.  Surprisingly the last 2 days were among the hardest to get in as the weather wasn't very cooperative.

I am happy to report that I pedalled a total of 220.2 miles over the month.  That gives me an average ride length of 7.1 miles.  My longest ride was 12.5 miles on the 27th and the shortest was .48 miles on the 18th in the rain.

Looking ahead to the month of September I plan on challenging myself, but with an overall mileage goal and not with a daily riding goal.  My goal for the month is to better my August total by riding 240 miles.

Hope you are able to get ob your bikes and ride!!!!!

August Challenge Day 29 Ride 29

Well, the month is almost over and I'm happy to say that I've ridden 29 out of 29 days so far.  I was up and out at just after 4:00 am and had a pleasant and pretty unremarkable ride.  No wildlife.  No inconsiderate drivers.  I did see the honeydew wagon, but he must have done his job right as I didn't smell him.

One thing I want to mention is that I've registered for the Bike MS Las Vegas challenge ride in November.  I hope you will help to raise funds to fight MS, but I'll post more on that later.

Today's stats:

10.4 Miles
44:39 elapsed time

Month to date:

29/29 rides
216.7 Miles
17:09:22 Elapsed Time

Get on your bikes and RIDE!!!!!

August Challenge Day 27 Ride 27

Cool but humid morning this morning.  69 degrees with 71% humidity.  The original forecast last night said there might be showers this morning, but they were nowhere to be seen for which I am happy.

From my analysis this month, I've decided that Monday night must be a big party night here since Tuesday morning has the most traffic heading home between 4:00 and 5:00 am.  There must have been 12 or 13 cars making a left into the subdivision this morning.

I was up just a bit early this morning so I decided to extend the ride to 12 laps.  Felt good.

This morning's stats:

12.5 Miles
54:47 Elapsed Time

Month to date:

27/27 rides
195.9 Miles
15:39:31 Elapsed time

I hope you are able to Get On Your Bikes And Ride!!!!!

August Challenge Update - Rides 23, 24, 25, and 26

I have been remiss in my updates and for this I apologize.

Its been a rather busy few days and the good news is I have gotten in a ride everyday. I am still on track to ride all 31 days in August. The bad news is my oldest grandson went home to Michigan on Saturday. It was really tough this year as he has grown and matured so much. We were going to do a last ride on Saturday morning before he left, but it didn't happen as he slept a bit later and then had to get to the airport.

Friday's ride was a ramble to look at all the streets in the subdivision and the one next door. Sad to say after 3 years of living in the house there were streets in our small sub I hadn't been on. One interesting note, one of the bordering street has a single house on it, all alone. The other houses around it all face into the subdivision and are accessed off the internal roads. A nice, private oasis.

Saturday was a couple of laps around the block with Dillon, Nick and Ceanna, who only made it part way up the block and was too tired.

Sunday Dillon was the only taker and we re-rode most of the streets in the subdivision since he hadn't been down them.

This morning it was back to the usual 4:00 am ride of 10.4 miles. It was nice seeing the 2 women who were walking last week were back and they had a third woman with them. We exchanged greetings on one lap. 2 laps later the woman who seemed to be the leader was jogging while the others were walking.

So, month to date we have:

26/26 rides
183.4 miles
14:44:44 elapsed time

Hope you are able to Get On Your Bikes and RIDE!

August Challenge Day 22 Ride 22

This morning as I got on my bike I decided that I was getting just a bit bored doing the same loops morning after morning.  I had found and ridden a couple of other Strava segments in the neighborhood as I wrote about here, so I decided to see if I could do better on 2 of them.  I wanted to add a bit of variety to keep it interesting.

So I headed out and rode.  I refused to look at my Garmin the whole time I rode this morning.  I really didn't know how far I had gone, nor how fast, nor how long I'd been on the bike.  I wanted it to be a surprise.

I rode those different roads and threw in a couple of laps around my usual loop just to get in the miles.  One interesting note was that the 2 women were out walking again this morning.

When I decided I'd had enough for the morning, I stopped, turned off the Garmin and put my bike away.

I then headed inside to see exactly what I had done.  I was pleasantly surprised when I plugged the Garmin into my laptop and Training Center showed that I had ridden 9.66 miles in 41:59 this morning.  I really had thought I had only done about 7 miles.

I then uploaded the data to Strava and learned that I had set a PR (personal record) on both of the segments this morning.  I am very happy with that.

So for the month I am now at:

22/22 Rides
166.6 Miles
13:09:52 Elapsed Time

Oh, one more thing.  I officially registered my dad and I for the Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo Pinarello 17 mile rides on September 21.  Anyone else want to join us???

As the very wise Freddie Mercury said:

Get On Your Bikes And RIDE!

August Challenge Day 21 Ride 21

Having been awake since 2:00 AM I wasn't feeling it when 4:00 rolled around and it was my normal time to get up and ride.  I thought about putting it off, but decided that since I was up I might as well go and get in at least a short ride.  When I went out, I had every intention of taking it easy and only doing a couple of miles.

That changed within the first few pedal strokes  I felt good on the bike and decided I should just go ahead and push it a bit.  So I did.

According to Strava I did my 3rd fastest loop at 4:01 for my first lap and the next was at 4:04.  Not bad at all.  My finishing time for the same 10 miles I rode yesterday was almost 5 minutes faster!

One interesting note was that where I saw several pedestrians yesterday - there was no one out there this morning.

This morning's stats:

10.4 Miles
43:44 Elapsed Time

Month to date:

21/21 Rides
157 Miles
12:27:53 Elapsed Time

Do something good for yourself - Get on your bike and ride!!!!

August Challenge Day 20 Ride 20

Warm, humid start to the day.  I checked my tires before the ride as usual and was concerned when I found my front tire at less than 40 psi.  It seemed the issue was with the valve and not with a puncture.  I tightened the inner valve and pumped up the tire and it seemed to be holding air, but I didn't have faith in its staying inflated so I stopped a few times during the ride to check it out.

Overall it was a good ride.  It was interesting in that there were very few cars, but there were several pedestrians this morning.  Two women were out walking laps.  I passed the 4 or 5 times.  A gentleman was walking his dog and on the last last there was another man out for his morning exercise.  That's more people out and about in one morning than I've seen the rest of the month combined.

This morning's stats:

10.4 miles
48:33 elapsed time

Month to Date:

20/20 rides
146.6 miles
11:44:09 elapsed time

Heading into the home stretch of the challenge.

Get on your bikes and ride!!!!

August Challenge Day 19 Ride 19

The rain persisted on and off until about 3:30 this morning.  I know because it was raining at 10:00, it was raining at 2:00 and it was still sprinkling at 3:20 when I looked at the radar loop on my phone.  I was thinking that I would wait until after work to get my ride in today as I lay back down to try and get some sleep.

I kept thinking about how yesterday's ride was so short and mainly a token effort.  I thought about how the weather forecast was for more thunderstorms this afternoon and in all likelihood I would end up making only a token effort today.

I decided that for good or bad, I was getting up and riding this morning.  I am glad I did.

The roads were still wet when I got out there a little later than usual, but I decided to just start out nice and easy and see what I could do with the time I had.  There was a lot of sand and grit on the roads, especially on Quarterhorse by the construction site.

I did my first lap and thought to myself, "this isn't too bad."  The temperature was 73, and although a bit humid, it was nice riding weather.

I know I was slower than usual as I was taking it easy, but I decided 4 laps in that I could make the scheduled 10 laps in what time I had.  And that's what I did and I am happy.

Today's stats:

10.4 miles
48:31 Elapsed time

Month to date:

19/19 rides
136.2 Miles
10:55:36 elapsed time

Get on your bikes and ride!

August Challenge Day 16 ride 16

The plan last night was to get up this morning and go for a ride with the grand kids.  I was thinking we would get out pretty early to try and beat some of the heat.  Normally the kids are up by 7:00 or 7:30 so I was thinking if we rode by 8:00 or so it would be good.

Finally at 9:15 I said it was time for them to get up so we can go.  We got out there at 9:28 and it was already hot.  Jacob, Dillon, Nicholas and PT all went with me.  We did a nice ramble around the neighborhood and rode by the house about 1.9 miles into the ride  The kids wanted a break so PT and I went on a quick trip around the block while they came in and got a drink.

When e got back to the house.  Nick was inside and not going any farther.  Jacob, Dillon, PT and I took off for another "lap" but just at the corner, Jacob decided he was done and headed back to the house.

Dillon hung in there and completed a total of 4.1 miles today in the heat.  PT and I completed 4.6 miles.

I am proud of all of them for how far they went.  They are all riding better and better.

Today's Stats:

4.6 miles
33:29 elapsed time

Month to date:

16/16 rides
123.5 miles
9:54:21 elapsed time

Get on your bikes and ride!!!!

August Challenge Day 15 Ride 15

It was a little warmer this morning in the mid 70's and the humidity was up a bit as well to close to 30%.  I can hear everyone from other parts of the country say "you call that humidity?"  Just remember this IS the desert. My legs were feeling a bit tired and heavy as well.

I did see a rabbit twice this morning.  Not sure if they were 2 different rabbits or the same rabbit both times as the sightings were about 20 minutes and a quarter mile apart.  Traffic was also the lightest its been all week during my early morning, but there were a couple of drivers who slammed on their brakes at the last minute, obviously used to sailing through the stop signs.

I also saw a teenager on a mountain bike with a back pack.  Not sure where he was going to or from, but he was headed south on El Capitan Way at just the wrong speed where I had to slow way down to keep from impacting him as I made my turn onto Mackanos while he continued south.  He never knew I was there.

Stats:

10.4 miles
46:02 elapsed time

Month to date:

118.9 miles
9:20:52 elapsed time

Keep those pedals turning!

August Challenge Day 14 Ride 14

Feeling pretty good about the August challenge at this point.  Its been 14 days and I've ridden every one of them.  A couple of items to note regarding this morning's ride and they both have to do with distance.  This morning's ride took me over 100 miles for the month, but more importantly it took me to 567 miles for the year which surpassed last year's total of 566 miles.

I'm riding more this year and I'm feeling good.  The bike is working well as well.

Today's stats:

10.4 miles
44:21 Elapsed time

Month to date

108.5 miles
8:34:50 elapsed time

How are you doing this month?

Keep those pedals turning!

August Challenge ride 13

Before I talk about this morning's ride I want to wish my eldest grandson Jacob a Happy Birthday!!!  Today he turns 11.

Only 3 things to mention about this morning's ride - some wind,a rabbit and some creaking.

This morning there was a southwest wind blowing 12 to 15 mph which meant I was cycling into the wind on the slower parts of my route.  It was definitely a bit more work.

On my 4th lap as I was heading north on Quarterhorse, a rabbit almost committed suicide by running across in front of me.  He timed it poorly, though and successfully made it across with a couple of feet to spare.  I guess he misjudged how fast I was in fact riding.

At about the 9 mile mark this morning, I started to notice a creaking coming from the left pedal and/or bottom bracket area.  It seemed to only do it when I was pushing the left pedal so I need to look at it this evening.  To avoid possibly damaging anything I took it really easy on the last mile this morning.

Today's stats:

10.4 miles
47:09 elapsed time

Month to date

98.1 miles
7:50:29 elapsed time

A side note, as of yesterday both my mom and dad were still in the challenge having walked and ridden everyday so far in August respectively. I believe my dad was even slightly ahead mileage-wise for the month.  I am so proud of them!!!!

Keep those pedals turning.

August Challenge Rdies 11 and 12

So far so good on the August Challenge.  12 days - 12 rides.  Not a bad streak but I'm not even halfway there yet.

These 2 rides happened almost exactly 9 hours apart.  Ride eleven was a fun little ramble around the neighborhood with the grand kids.  We had fun and I'm amazed at how quickly they are progressing.  Where a few weeks ago they would complain and want to take a break before we completed one lap, yesterday they were raring to go for multiple laps.  The 3 boys actually did 4 or 5 laps and were doing great!

Stats for ride 11:

3.0 miles
0:21:45 elapsed time

This morning it was back at it - up at 4:00 and out riding by 4:07.  There were a few remarkable things about this morning's ride.  The traffic was awfully busy for that time of the morning.  I must have been passed by 20+ cars. I know that's not a lot for most people, but that is one of the reasons that I like the early morning rides - virtually no traffic.  Among the cars were an NHP cruiser and about 10 minutes later an LVMPD cruiser.  What was remarkable was they both headed in the same direction - south on Pebble towards Durango.

I also saw a group of 4 riders headed north on Pebble towards fort Apache all decked out in their matching kits.  I couldn't read what they said but they were all while and green.

One other item to note was I saw a young boy - probably 11 or 12 riding a much too big bike with no lights.  He slowed and was waiting to turn onto El Capitan Way, but I slowed to wait for him to see if he was all right, but he disappeared.  Not sure if he changed his mind about turning or rode into the new sub on the corner, but I couldn't find him.  He just seemed out of place at that time of the morning.

Ride 12 stats:

10.4 miles
0:46:31 Elapsed time

Month to date:

87.7 miles
7:03:20 Elapsed time

Keep those pedals turning!

August Challenge day 10

Today is the 10th day of August and I did my 10th ride for my August Challenge.  I'm glad I made this challenge as it has gotten me on my bike a couple of times when it would have been easy to just say I'll ride tomorrow there's no time today.

I decided it was a good day to head out towards the Gypsum mine by Blue Diamond.  Its just over a 12 mile round trip.  I felt pretty good on the ride and decided to spin along at an easier pace in my middle ring on the uphill away from home.  It seemed to work pretty well in terms of tiring out, but it did knock my pace down slightly.

There were a good number of cyclists out this morning taking advantage of the light winds and cooler morning temps.  It did warm up quickly, though and was 88 by the time I got home.

So the stats for this morning:

12.4 miles
1:05:14 Elapsed time

Month to date:

74.3 miles
5:55:04 elapsed time

How are you doing this month???

Keep those pedals turning!