Sunday Morning Ride

Chris and Dan both rode to the church (meet site). I drove. We hadn't even started our ride yet, and I already felt lazy.

It was just after 6 o'clock the sun was already high in the sky. The weather was perfect, but it had already started to get hot by the time we finished. We set a good pace on the ride out OST to Colossal Cave. My legs were still sore, so it took some extra effort on my part to keep up. But I managed to do so, and even finished the last quarter mile with a little push (It wasn't much, but it was everything I had left at that point). Total time, church to CC gate, just under an hour. Solid!

The break at the turn-around point was a little longer than usual. Nearly 30 minutes. Topics covered: Tom Waits, Scarlett Johansson, Jason Bateman, Crocodile Dundee and Aboriginal farming methods.

As usual, we made good time on the return leg. The fact that so much of it is downhill helps tremendously.

Chris got out ahead of us, so I had lost site of him by the time he turned down Melpomene for home (at least I assume he turned for home). I got back to my car right around eight-thirty. With Dan right behind me.

Towards the end of the ride, my back started to get a little tight and a little sore. I think this is something that happens on my first few long rides after a bit of a layoff. I am hoping it will pass with time.

I have a full day ahead of me and now that our morning ride is complete, it's time to get to it.

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.