It has gotten much colder. It was cloudy and in the upper 40's. Winds from the North West. I wore the entire winter kit plus newspaper in the jersey and my helmet cover. I was sufficiently warm for most of the ride. The legs felt pretty good to start. I made it to the summit of OTR in good average time. The Banducci Wall had minimum traffic mitigation. I was near max over the top, but had energy left in the tank for later. The remainder of the climb was mostly moderate tempo depending on the gradient. There was a bit more traffic from behind, so I was constantly looking around. After reaching the summit, I pulled over to take a breather. I adjusted some settings on the Garmin Connect app. I forgot to check my time at the summit, but the metrics show that I made it there in average time. From there, I headed down the mountain. I had to let a car by, so I used a turn-out. From there it was smooth sailing to the base. The trek through the farmlands went as usual. The first leg was boring. I kept my tempo steady and stretched when I felt like it. I made it past Boss Hogs in about 1:03-ish hours. So, I was doing good time. The last climb felt good. I planned on feeding at the summit, so that gave me something to look forward to. I tried to keep the tempo no less than moderate. I pushed over the summit and then found a good spot to stop and feed. I fed a Clif Bar with some water. From there, I got back on the road and made my way to Route 202. When I got there, I let traffic by before heading down the road. I had to let another car go and merged with traffic to make the left turn onto OTR. The descent off OTR was mostly fun and games and a good time to recover. I pushed over Mariposa and made my way back home. I shut it down at the top of Weston.

Concentration was good. I was in the zone most of the time. I had minimal lapses and no gremlins worth mentioning. I had my GPS announcing directions (as a test for future rides). It was a welcome distraction. Balance and form was good. Ailments were minimal. The joints felt good and the hands were moderately sore on a few occasions, but nothing worse. Nutrition was good. I drank most of my sport drink and some water. Gear worked flawlessly. I had the GPS set to announce alerts. I paired my speaker with my smartphone so that I could hear the verbal announcements. It worked like a charm. This will be perfect for rides that I am unfamiliar with or, just to keep me company. It announced other stuff like heart rate, average speed and one or two other things. Other notes, no cyclists today.