So, I admit it. Yea sometimes I get swayed by Strava. I know some of you love it and some of you hate it. Well I don't go out to cherry pick, but when I do a ride and I miss the KOM by a margin that I know I can make up, it is enough for me to do the ride again. Even less than 48 hours later, instead of a local shop road ride. Only few dozen riders have uploaded this ride to Strava, but still!
I started in the morning, instead of my usual noonish or later start times. This was to beat the heat coming later. It was still a bit damp and humid, but the fog had burned off and most of the rocks in the gardens were dry. My short warm up was a little better too. I took 30 seconds off the 28 minute climb at the start, Still in 2nd by 8 seconds, oh well. I knew I could take the loop KOM as my Rolling time was better than Levi's KOM from last year (I bet he is faster now) and I spent a lot of time finding a cell signal to ward of my wives worries. I was happy getting a total time under my previous rolling time. The conditions did help. I was able to see more than a hundred feet, so I could go a little faster. Except for the trail near the edge of almost a cliff, but not quite. I still have a hammer mentality and am happiest moving at a healthy clip. I actually road more of the rock gardens the first time around. I am glad I went back. I had much more fun the second time around. I downloaded an app, so Tammy could follow me more closely via the phones GPS. This app did not need a cell phone connection. I also down loaded an app to tell me when I had a signal, so I could make more efficient use of stop time to check in. Helps my wife worry less when I am out there alone.
I got video of the final down hill. I edited out the fire road though. Fun to blast down, but makes for boring video.
I was treated to a nice view when leaving the National forest as well.
