This was probably the hardest double century I've ever done just because it was so hot. The forecast going into the weekend was 33C/92F but it had dropped to 28C/82F the day before. On the day, my Garmin was showing 40C/104F throughout the afternoon. The morning wasn't at all what I expected as it was colder because of a strong headwind that was also unexpected. At the first rest stop, I ran into Jeremiah Maller who was there with his friends, Vic and Abra. Vic had ridden up from Berkeley the day before. Then at the lunch I ran into Eileen Bai and Robert Kosai. It was nice to hang out throughout the day. The day was quite a blur honestly. We got into a great paceline on the way to the first rest stop. After that was the cold and strong headwinds. Then after the 2nd rest stop it was like going from the fridge to the oven. The sun on my back was so hot as it was heating up my bibs and jersey. The roads were in pretty bad shape for much of the route too. Lots of cracks and potholes. On one ripping descent, I was following Bob and he led us right through a huge pothole. Luckily I was okay but Bob pinch flatted. He needs to go tubeless. With the heat and the terrible roads sapping my energy and spirit, I didn't really feel like take many photos. And when there were photo ops, there were other riders in the way so I couldn't get the shots I wanted. At around mile 100 my left inner quad was feeling a little crampy, a little like it was strained. I was really hoping it didn't get worse. At the lunch stop they were giving out socks filled with ice that you could drape across the back of your neck. Boy did that help. I don't know if it was the food or the ice sock but when we got rolling again, I was feeling great and my thigh felt fine again. Bob was feeling better too because on the first climb he was doing way more watts than he instructed Sonny and I to keep our efforts at during the day. The day before Sonny declared he was weak and out of shape but he ended up pulling the most throughout the day. He suffered a lot less from the heat than Bob and I. After the Resurrection rest stop (#5), we were basically on our own for much of the rest of the ride. It was kind of weird. All the highway sections of the route were pretty terrible with too many drivers passing too closely. Hwy 16 was especially bad with many sections were there was no shoulder. It made pacelining hard as there weren't many safe opportunities to rotate. On the way back, everyone was pretty tired and in pain. All the contact points were on fire. At first it would be in waves of pain and sometimes I could find a comfortable position but by the time we were getting to the end, I just wanted off the bike. I really regret not bringing my floor pump. I wasn't sure how much the pressures would drop between Friday when I headed up to Davis and the double so I added extra air. Turns out it was probably too much and if my tire pressures were correct, I think it would've helped a lot on the terrible roads with the pain and fatigue. The anticipated headwinds were also present and very unwelcome. At one point we were riding next to a farmer's field with the wind blowing from the direction of the field. And to add insult to injury, beyond the pain and discomfort I was already feeling, the dust blowing off the field triggered my allergies. It took us longer than we had hoped but we ended up going at a decent pace despite the heat and winds.