It’s a winter day. Cold, cloudy an modest winds from the North West. I chose to go to the Alpine Forest. I wore the full winter kit, from head to toe. Suffice it to say, I was comfortable. It didn’t take much to get warmed up. I made it to the end of OTR in good average time. The Banducci Wall had some traffic mitigation, otherwise went well. The Alpine forest was more relaxing, albeit more intense. As usual, there was minimal traffic, so I was able to get on with business. Before I knew it, I was at the speed bumps. I counted them off. I was close to max going over the top. I zipped around the backside, descending off the dips and made my way to the summit. When I arrived at the summit, I pulled over to recover and hydrate. Shortly after, I let traffic by and headed back down the mountain. I had to pull over once because the GoPro turned off by itself. Descending off the Banducci Wall was mostly safe. The wind was modest, so no buffeting. I made my way back to OTR and was able to relax on the descent. I was starting to get a bit cold in the extremities, but not so much. I pushed over Mariposa and shut it down when I reached the top of Weston.

Concentration was good. I was in the zone most of the time with minimal lapses and gremlins. Ailments were minimal. Perhaps some mild knee tenderness. My hands felt better today. Balance and form was good. Nutrition was good. I had slight hunger signs at the start of the ride. I ate part of a banana before departing. The sport drink held me over, so I didn’t have to feed. Gear worked flawless. Other notes, no cyclists out there today. There was one runner.