Finally, finally, finally back on the bike after the big tour. Honestly, I have no one to blame but myself. There have been a few group rides this week I could have done. Shadow had a spa day on Monday and has been ready to rock since then, but I lacked the motivation to get out. On a side note, damn does he clean up well. Thankfully that lack of motivation ended yesterday. The past couple days I’ve had more in common with a potato than a cyclist. Wake up, drop into the couch, and fire up YouTube. Next thing I know the wife is home from work and shortly after I’m heading to bed. Yesterday I finally broke that cycle and got off the couch and got some things done. A shave, haircut, thank you cards (signed, sealed, delivered), Target, REI, Williams Sonoma, Trek, Von’s, cleaned my ball caps, cleaned the sleeping pad, and put almost all my bike camping gear away. Serious errands done. So imagine my excitement when Robert posted a ride leaving from the DFH Dunkin’ at 6:00 a.m. The momentum from getting errands done yesterday, thankfully, carried into this morning. I woke up just before my alarm went off at 4:15 and started getting ready. Started today with my pre-ride go-to breakfast of overnight oats and toast. I didn’t make coffee at the house, opting to pick up Starbucks along the way instead. I chose to drive to the DFH Dunkin’ versus riding. First, I thought we were doing a century. Second, I would have had to have left the house at 4:00 a.m, and that means waking up at around 2:30 a.m. Yeah not going to happen. I pulled into the parking lot at around 5:40 which is a few minutes later than I’d hoped. I unloaded Shadow and got him all dressed before getting dressed myself. I started seeing some cyclists rolling up across the way and I wasn’t sure if they were Adobo Velo riders or not. I’ve never had the chance to join Robert on one of his mid-week rides. For all I knew an entirely different group of riders could have shown up that I had never ridden with before. About 15 minutes later, when Robert and Kant rolled up, I learned the other cyclists were a part of their own group. Robert and Kant rolled up at pretty much the same time. I think they were surprised to see me. I know the two of them do Thursday mornings pretty frequently, and I would love to join them, but work is usually in the way. However, since I have this week off I was able to get over to that side of town and get some miles in. With our big group of three, we got organized pretty quickly and rolled out. HOLY COW! Right out of the gate riding with Shadow unloaded was a crazy experience. This was my first ride with no gear on him. Before today, I’d always had some baggage mounted. So to have all that extra weight gone was an eye opening experience. I would get out of the saddle and he felt insanely unstable. I think over the past six weeks I developed new muscle memory dealing with the extra weight, and with it now gone I need to reset. Thankfully, it was already getting more manageable by the end of the ride. Kant would joke later, “It’s like new bike day.” and he wasn’t wrong. So, if you’re feeling it’s time for a new bike but don’t have the funds let me know. I’ll bring over all my camping gear, let you log a few miles with it, and then pull everything back off. Boom new bike feeling. Not sure if the boys were going easy on me or not, but I was surprised the ride out to Blue Diamond and on to Late Night felt so easy. Hell in all honesty, I was feeling amazing for the entire ride. Once we started the loop I pulled away from the boys and started riding my own ride. I was pleasantly surprised to see on Strava I set a PR on the gate-to-gate segment, but I didn’t set PRs on all the individual smaller segments. Funny thing is there were several times I was coasting. I can only imagine how good my time would have been had I kept up the effort throughout. I had a great time riding with the boys. Really enjoyed the lengthy conversation and back and forth about the trip and how everything went. Nothing better than shooting the breeze while riding bikes. New bike fund: $22.17 (+$0.00) 0.62 new miles -- From Wandrer.earth 330 vehicles @ 5.9 per mile, 1.4 per minute, Speeds: 54.2 mph (avg), 84.8 mph (max) -- https://www.mybiketraffic.com/rides/view/50771 Give your activities the names they deserve. -- by Bandok.com Mostly sunny-Sunny, 91°F-99°F, Feels like 90°F-104°F, Humidity 25%-21%, Wind NW 4mph-NE 3mph - by Klimat.app -- myWindsock Report -- Weather Impact: -5% Headwind: 45% @ 2.9-17.2mph Longest Headwind: 32m 22s Air Speed: 14.5mph Temp: 90.4-98.4°F Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr -- END --