Today was a biggie. I chose a mountain route. It has cooled off a bit. I was reluctant to get out to early. I ended up getting out around 9:30 AM. The weather was ideal by that time. I wore the standard summer kit with a thick base layer and some newspaper in the jersey to get warmed up. I forgot to bring the printout telling the mail carrier to keep the blue bag in the mail locker. So, I had to stash it in the bushes. The legs felt ok to start. They needed to get warmed up. I felt better after making it to the summit of OTR. I made it there in good average time. I practiced using the Komoot navigation app. I'm getting better at it. The Banducci Wall had some traffic mitigation. So, I was on 6 O'clock alert. The Arosa climb was more enjoyable. I was able to take care of business without the danger anxiety. I was saving my matches for later, so I near max only on the later parts of the climb. I made my way around the backside. Reaching over 40 MPH on the downhill. I then headed to the summit of Banducci. I took a few moments to recover, let traffic by and then headed back down the mountain. In my mind, I was reminding myself that there was a LOT of descending coming up. The descent to OTR was safe. Minimal traffic off the Banducci Wall. The OTR descent was mostly fun and games. My patience was a bit better knowing I just completed a good chunk of the climbing. I made my way back to the mail lockers. The GoPro choked on the SD Card forcing me to stop and reformat the SD card to get it to work again. It worked from that point on. I grabbed the bag from the bushes and filled a bottle and put another in the saddle bag. From there, I headed to Keene. The legs were a bit heavy. Exaggerated by the headwind at that time. The descent to the base of Keene was mostly fun and games. I put in two digs on the risers. I stopped once to bio and made my way to the base. After making it to the base, I turned around and headed back up the mountain. I stopped at the Chavez Center as planned in order to feed and mix a bottle with powder sport drink. When I finished feeding, I got back on the road. It was mostly non-stop climbing. The landmarks helped. The morale was good. The legs felt good. I stopped once more to take a photo of an air plane sky writing. I was doing the numbers, I was within two minutes of my prediction. Making it to the summit in about 2:25 hours. After cresting the summit, I took a few moments to recover and stretch on the bike. Shortly after, making my way back to the mail lockers to get my blue bag from the bushes. I pushed modestly over Weston where I shut it down.

Concentration was good. The morale was good, with a bit of impatience in the first hour or so. I felt better as the ride progressed as my body was cooperating. Balance and form was good. Nutrition was good. I drank two sport drink bottles and a Clif Bar. Ailments, some hand numbness and the usual sensation of fatigue. Gear worked flawlessly, but the GoPro choked on the SD card. I'm guessing it's the SD card, so I will mark it as bad and not use it with the GoPro. I've decided that I will bring all of my good SD cards for the Spooktacular ride, given today's situation. Other notes, I saw one casual cyclist and a family in their car with lots of bikes on their rear hitch. I gave them a courteous wave.