Riding alone ... a reality.

The alarm went off at 5:30, and I got up - but only to turn off the alarm...

I did get up at 6 though and started getting ready to go for a ride. The weights didn't happen (and ended up not happening later either), but I was on the road by 6:30. And what do I see - with in the first 10 minutes I see Craig and then Gordon out riding. They were up before me as I'm just starting and they are almost done. I talk briefly with Craig as he is on a tight schedule and say "HI" to Gordon as we both pass going opposite directions at speed. Then on the out leg across the dam I pass Ron and say "HI" as his head is down and he's working hard (as is normal for him) preparing for an up coming time trial.

It was kind of encouraging to see my fellow riders out riding - even a little motivating to make the effort again and get up early. The other thing about seeing my friends: we were all out riding, but all riding alone. That's an unfortunate reality. I think we'd all like to ride together, but with different schedules, reasons for training, goals, time available for riding, etc, it's just too hard to make happen on a regular basis. So, we have to settle for rides together once every 'blue' moon. (I did see the moon this morning as I was heading out, but it wasn't blue.)

The wind was out, but that too has to be an accepted reality. Today was the 40 mile route - my longest ride since the May 6 day ride. The ride out was tougher due to the wind out of the South, but the ride back was funner as the speeds were higher. Numbers were 18.8 avg, 43.9 max, 40.2 miles, 2:08. The 1/2 mile across the bridge on the return where I like to do my very short time trial was 36.1 avg, 50 seconds, 113 avg cadence. HR info was off a little but shows 144 avg, 173 max.

Nutrition wise - no M&M's today!! I got my green in the form of spinach again - much better.

The last photo is of the sun in the sky as I head back across the dam on my way back home. You can see the snake sign in the bottom corner.