Today was a great day to get out. The wind was from the North West and the temperature nice and cool, in the 60’s. I wasn’t sure what to wear, so I decided to take my jacket just in case. Turns out that I didn’t need it, but oh well. The legs were a bit sluggish to start. I made it to the top of OTR in good average time. The Banducci Wall had some traffic mitigation. I was better relaxed when I arrived at the base of Arosa. I settled into a tempo I could sustain. The GPS was announcing some metrics while the music was playing. I had it set to navigate for practice, too. I was near max when I made it to the speed bumps. I kept the tempo going and reached max at the top. I took a few moments to recover and then made my way around the backside. The dips were fun. From there, I made my way to the summit of Banducci. When I got there, I took a few moments to recover and let the traffic by. After the traffic passed, I headed down the mountain. There was minimal traffic from behind, so it was mostly safe. Descending off the Banducci Wall was quick and safe with minimal traffic. After making back to OTR, it was mostly fun and games on the downhill. I pushed over Mariposa and then the top of Weston where I shut it down. Concentration was good. The morale was good to start and I was in the zone most of the time. Balance and form was good. I moved my saddle forward. It feels good, but I think I have to raise it slightly now. Nutrition was good. I fed half a banana, apple sauce and some grapes before the start of the ride. That held me over. I had no hunger signs. I drank about 2/3rds of my sport drink, no water. Ailments were minimal. I had some hand numbness when digging out of the saddle. Gear worked flawlessly. I noticed that the announced metrics labored when I paused the music. So, for some reason it works better while music is playing over Bluetooth.
Other notes, I saw one recognizable recumbent cyclist as I was starting the descent on OTR return.