a good day for a ride
So I was supposed to meet Jeremy and Steve for the PMBC ride this morning. Well, I woke up a bit late and missed the ride (woops!). I headed out on my own and had a great ride. I took Guadalupe to its very end just East of Crimson Rd (I could see Signal Butte Rd across the farm where it ended). Basically south of Apache Junction, almost to the edge of the County. I had a tail wind all the way out there and it only took me an hour and ten minutes (time the wheels were rolling) to reach the end. My legs felt great mostly due to the cool weather. I got home just after 10am and the average temperature for the whole ride was only 89, much of it with the sun behind clouds.
I got in 51.5 miles, which is my longest solo ride of the year (how pitiful is that?!). The only other time I exceeded 50 miles was an organized ride around Casa Grande back in March. Here's the cool part, in the March ride I had people to help break the wind, and only rode 8.3 miles longer. Even with that, I rode today *faster*. My average speed today was 18.1mph, a good 0.3mph better than the March ride. There was only 200ft more of elevation gain in March, so that was definitely not the difference. Also the average temperature was a good 30 degrees warmer today, and I ride better in the cold.
Oh yes, the legs are returning to form. Woohoo!