I still needed some miles in order to complete this year's Rapha 500 challenge, and last night I remembered that Robert usually does a ride on Tuesday mornings. After a brief text exchange I figured I'd give it a go. With the ride scheduled to start at 6:00 it would mean leaving the house at 4:00. With such an early start I decided I'd take a unique route to the DFH Dunkin' in order to get some Wandrer miles on roads that are usually too busy during the day for cyclists. With all that settled it was time to crash, or at least attempt to. Slept like absolute garbage waking up several times throughout the night. When the alarm first went off I nearly turned it off, calling it a day, and going back to sleep. Thankfully, I made my feet hit the floor, got dressed, and hit the door. During Shadow's pre-flight check, I found his rear tire was very low on air. Instead of just topping it up and rolling I swapped out the tube. Not feeling certain I'd completely removed the torn or metal fragment I'd pulled out, I aired up and went inside to use the restroom one last time. When I came back out and checked the pressure again the tire was down 5 pounds. Rather than risk a slow leak, I swapped out another tube and did another thorough check of the tire. In hindsight, I think I failed to close the valve on the first tube and that was the cause of the "leak". Either way I ended up starting about 20 minutes later than I'd hoped. I sent Robert a text that I was on the way and to roll if I ended up late. The ride over to Dunkin' on DFH was solid, and easily divided into two halves. The first half was from the house to the intersection of Decatur and Charleston, and the second half was from that intersection to Dunkin'. The first half was pretty quick with the route being either flat or a slight descent. It took me 75 minutes to cover the 23 miles. The second half was a long 8 mile slog of nearly 1,000 feet of elevation gain which took me nearly 40 minutes. I can't remember exactly when, but I received a text from Kant saying that I didn't need to rush as the group was enjoying some coffee before the start. I was relieved that they were willing to wait, but I wasn't about to back down. Overall the ride to Dunkin' took me just shy of two hours. I'm pretty happy that if I'd left when I originally intended, I would have arrived at Dunkin' right on time. I'll take a flat at the house in my garage before the ride ever starts over a flat out on the road. After meeting up with Kant, Moose, Robert, Stuart, and Tom at DFH we rolled out for Calico Basin, Red Rock, and eventually Cottonwood Station. Getting back on the bike and moving after the brief rest was daunting. It took a while before I started feeling warmish again. Even then the hands and feet never really warmed up, at least not until the loop exit. I could have certainly used some thicker layers at the start, but then again by the end of the ride I would have been cooking. We had a solid ride through the loop and eventually made our way over to Cottonwood Station for some breakfast pizza and coffee. Along the way, we spotted a GVC contingent going the opposite direction doing a flyby. Cottonwood Station was certainly a welcome break, and the temperatures came up just enough to make the remainder of the day bearable. I could have easily just gone straight home from there, but what fun would that be. Instead of making for Blue Diamond, we back tracked to Dunkin'. At one point we spotted Remko and Andy going the opposite direction, and they must have flipped around somewhere because they came back past us. I jumped onto Andy's wheel and we hung together for a bit before I went around bringing Tom with me. Then another random rider came around and took a mega pull just before the flood control bridge. When he pulled off, I took things up and pulled hard until West Tech. After our regroup at West Tech, Moose and Stuart made for Dunkin' because that is where the two of them had parked. This left Kant, Robert, Tom and I to make for Pedal & Pour. We made pretty good time and rolled up just as GVC was rolling out. Unfortunately, I didn't really get to talk to anyone other than a quick hello to Richard. I'm never one to pass up a nice coffee at Pedal & Pour, and today was no different. I had my holiday usual of a Peppermint Mocha and a nice apple danish. Both were just enough to get me home. However, before I left I checked a quick route home on RideWithGPS and after ensuring I'd hit 100 I rolled out along with the boys. I said my goodbyes as they went west on Maule and I went east. Overall today was another great day on the bike. A great way to end the year to boot. Ended the year the same way I started with a century ride. Looking forward to a chill afternoon and evening before, hopefully, hitting the sack early. New bike fund: $79.84 (+$0.00), €0.52 (+€0.00), ₱10.00 (+₱)0.00, ֏10.00 (+֏0.00) 15.19 new miles -- From Wandrer 448 vehicles @ 4.3 per mile, 1.2 per minute, Speeds: 38.6 mph (avg), 66.1 mph (max) -- by MyBikeTraffic Give your activities the names they deserve. -- by Bandok Mostly clear-Sunny, 45°F-58°F, Feels like 46°F-61°F, Humidity 41%-22%, Wind WNW 3mph-N 6mph -- by Klimat -- myWindsock Report -- Weather Impact™: 2.3% Headwind: 48% @ 1.8 - 5.8 mph Longest Headwind: 54m 52s Air Speed: 17.5 mph Temp: 38.9-54.8 °F Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr -- END --