Inaugural CC ride of '08

It's Thursday morning and once again BigDan and I are embarking on a morning ride. I got to our traditional meeting place and the church parking lot was blocked-off. drat! So, had to pick from one of the other dozen churches on the corners of Houghton and Old Spanish Trail.

I was annoyed with myself, because I forgot to charge the battery in my Garmin 305. So, Dan has to be the keeper-of-time on this trip. Since we have started riding regularly again, this was our first ride all the way out to Colossal Cave.

The weather was perfect. No wind to speak of, which is unusual, especially for the Vail area. About two miles from CC, we passed a group of cattle. Just kind of standing around as we rode by. The group seemed to have gotten larger on our way back. This was an entire heard. One Bull was just standing in the bike lane.

BigDan had a great ride. Extremely strong. He lead the whole way. I stayed with him on the way out, but he dropped me, big time, on the way back. I was about dead by the time we hit Sahuaro National Monument. My back was tight and sore. Lactose build-up in my legs was intense. Thank goodness the majority of the ride from that point is downhill. I had lost total visibility on BigDan at that point.

It's approximately 30 miles, round trip, from Houghton/OST to CC. Finally made it back to the church parking lot. Dan said he completed the entire trip in under two hours. We don't have official records, but by mutual agreement, that was probably our best CC ride ever. Geared down, racked the bike and made for home. What a ride.